Born April 26, 1917, Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei is renown for many modern projects worldwide. However, Pei's 1989 glass pyramid at the Mus'e du Louvre in Paris sparked a cultural ripple of praise, contempt and even urban legends. Some said it was sacrilegious to pair the modern glass with the French Renaissance architecture. Later, critics claimed the pyramid contained 666 glass frames, the number of the Biblical beast. Actually, the pyramid has 672 windows, according to the I.M. Pei offices. The pyramid serves as the new entrance to the ancient museum, distributing the weight and motion of the 9 million visitors per year underground to a large lobby then up again to various buildings.
Editor's Note: Pei will be 100 on April 26, 2017.