isms, placed together to form a long, thin square column topped by twin antennas, have been condemned by many of the territorys superstitious residents (United Press International, 1990). Though the citizens of Hong Kong may inhabit one of the highest-tech corners of the planet, they set great store by feng shui, the ancient art, part mysticism, part architecture, of arranging buildings and other objects so that they are in harmony with nature and dictate luck (Bremner, 1990). Local residents fear that many spirits have been offended by the skyscrapers notoriously bad feng shui.It is ironic that I.M. Pei is of Chinese origin yet chose as his motif the triangle, which transforms the building as a whole into the very form that brings bad feng shui. This shows that Pei is an artist who is not willing to sacrifice his innovative vision in order to conform to societys or a cultures traditions. This is one of the main characteristics that make him an avant-garde artist.What is of great interest in I.M. Peis work is the fact that his firm has been a temple of modernism, an architectural office in which ornament has been scarce, sleekness has remained sacrosanct, and buildings have been seen as isolated, abstract objects (Goldberger, 1989). Because of their cutting-edge uniqueness, the firms projects exhibit qualities of the avant-garde: I.M. Pei & Partners distance from the architectural trends of the late 1970s and early 1980s made the firm . . . something of a rallying point for critics who disliked post-modernism (Goldberger, 1989). Peis masterful implementation of basic geometric form into the design of his buildings is another point of interest that contributes to his originality. Some critics think that the design of many of Peis buildings are impractical because they either do not seem to meet or even may exceed the spatial needs of the people who visit and work in them. In particular, critics have noticed incredible wasted space in lob...
