Precedent: Louvre Museum, Paris France/ architect: I.M. Pei
	S o c i a l A r c h i t e c t u r e
	Brief history: Louvre was begun around 1190 as a fortified castle by king Philippe Auguste in a forest where wolves once roamed. In 1365, Charles V transformed the fortress into his royal residence. Francois I later razed the fortress and erected on the site a new group of buildings, which were added to by Henry 4, Louis 15, Napoleon 1, and Napoleon 3.
	"I have a great respect for the past. I have to, because I'm coming from a civilization that is very old. The past is not unimportant to me. I do care about the past, but I am also capable of making a selection as to what should be preserved entirely and what should be preserved partially…………….The Louvre is a very good example. All of the Louvre of Philippe Auguste, of Charles V would be buried, nobody would see it. Now, five million people have gone to Philippe Auguste, already, since the opening a couple of years ago - five million people! Why? Because it is part of a complex, one energizes the other. - I.M. Pei
	Analysis: One of the fundamental early design issues was how to enter the reorganized museum. A conventional or normal design solution was suggested using the three existing entrances; however, for Pei the suggested solution wasn’t enough to transcend the norm to make the museum a more vital part of the city fabric. Pei’s glass pyramid proposal, very radical solution in Parisian’s point of view, spurred extreme opposition at the outset.
	Chronological view of Louvre Museum
	Pei’s design approach was closely tied to the historical interpretation of the Louvre, and he also tried to reflect vernacular context of Parisian landscape. Pei had read widely on the works of Le Notre, the greatest of French landscape architects, and was intrigued by the crisp geometry of his arrangements of plants pathways, and water elements. Such a pattern resembled the floor plan of a pyramid. Its stylistic neutrality which would blend with the classical symmetry of the Louvre and the gardens of the Tuileries to the west was understood by Pei, and he incorporated glass which is virtually transparent and will intrude only minimally on the view of the existing architecture. Also Smaller pyramids were planned to bring in light and to allow visitors to orient themselves in the large UG museum space. Monumentality can bee seen in Pei’s pyramid, but we shouldn’t assimilate Pei’s with Egyptian’s; Egyptian precedent was about mass and impenetrability, while his pyramid was about lightness and transparency. Glass pyramid allows view of the old buildings through the glass from below overcoming negative bias about being underground, and it actually amplifies the appreciation of what had gone before by looking upward. The glass pyramid entrance by Pei is very dramatic and contentious regarding its surrounding historical context. It might seem to be very offensive to its urban context but its pure and simple form and monumental scale are in keeping with the grandeur of the courtyard with no conflict; Pei’s very stark and contrast design concept is neither aggressive nor subservient but to complement through restraint, heightening the impact of history.
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