I.M. Pei

[Jersey Boss]

Died today at 102. He definitely made his mark and influenced the world of modernist architecture.

[jedicurt]

Died today at 102. He definitely made his mark and influenced the world of modernist architecture.

yes, both positively and negatively... but my critique of his architecture aside... 102, that's a long full life. i hope i get that much time on this earth.

[PaddyShack]

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

[TheTravellers]

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

Nah, they'd just tear it down in a decade or so to put up a parking lot...

[jedicurt]

Nah, they'd just tear it down in a decade or so to put up a parking lot...

they also would have to destroy our most historic building and put it there in the first place

[hoya]

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

[jedicurt]

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

actually a statue with a miniature of the Pei plan, i would actually support

[TheTravellers]

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

I was going to mention that I thought I had heard that his plan was actually decent and would've been a good thing, but we stopped halfway through, did the demo, but didn't build anything to his plan/specs afterwards. It would've blunted the impact of my joke, though. I need to bone up on what actually happened now that I've gotten more interested in how things develop around here since I've been back.

[Dob Hooligan]

I recall an original model is in OKC somewhere. Maybe the Museum of Art located at State Fair Park?

[Roger S]

I recall an original model is in OKC somewhere. Maybe the Museum of Art located at State Fair Park?

I think it is located in one of the buildings on Film Row.

[bchris02]

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

I say it should go on the Stage Center site.

[Ross MacLochness]

Model is located in the Hart building, second floor. Well worth a visit!!

[mugofbeer]

Here is a video of what was, in the mid 60s, and what would be, with the Pei Plan:

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/...ecture/589666/

A couple of pics of the model of the Pei Plan:

[mugofbeer]

Another pic:

[mugofbeer]

So much of downtown was emptying out and moving to the burbs, so the Urban Renewal Authority could buy the property and tear down the buildings. I think about the only significant things built back are the Myriad Convention Center (in a different configuration), the Myriad Gardens Tube and what was the Liberty Bank building.

[Ross MacLochness]

^^galleria, two grotesque parking structures, E.K. Gaylord, Robinson widening are some more projects I can think of that happened and including the projects you listed are depicted in the Pei Plan

[KayneMo]

Eerily, there's a fountain in the model where the Murrah Building would stand 13 years after this model was built.

[Ross MacLochness]

^^^wow...

[Dob Hooligan]

Galleria did not get built, IIRC. Kerr-McGee headquarters and CenturyCenter is all I remember right now.

I watched the full video and the script includes every concept being sold for a modern downtown right now. I honestly think that if we hadn't dozed so much then, we would never have been able to build to MAPS 1 and beyond. The desolation period was really "only" 15-20 years between Myriad, Myriad Gardens etc. and MAPS. That period was mostly filled with the failure of the Galleria developer/development, the "Oil Bust" and the "Savings & Loan Crisis".

[Dob Hooligan]

Damn! I gotta admit I forgot the "New" Mummers Theater, which became Stage Center. My sainted father (whose job made him a tool of "The Man", yet he was a very libertarian thinker) always hated Stage Center for it's lack of functionality.

[Ross MacLochness]

^^oops that's what I meant, Century Center, not the Galleria