Li Chung (Sandi) Pei earned his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 1972 and a Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design in 1976. He began his career at I.M. Pei & Partners, where he practiced from 1976 to 1992 before co-founding Pei Partnership Architects (now PEI Architects) with his brother, the late C. C. (Didi) Pei.
Over nearly five decades, Sandi has contributed to numerous award-winning projects across the world. His work includes the MIT Arts + Media Technologies Facilities in Cambridge, MA (1984), and the Creative Artists Agency Headquarters in Los Angeles, CA (1988). He played a key role in the design of the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong (1989), as well as the Bank of China Head Office Building in Beijing (2001). Other notable projects include the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou, PRC (2006), the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Washington, D.C. (2008), and the House of Dancing Water Theater in Macao, PRC (2010). More recently, his firm designed The Centurion Residences in New York (2014), and the Yonge Street Residential Tower in Toronto, Ontario (2020).
Sandi has been instrumental in preserving and promoting the legacy of his father, I. M. Pei. He played a key role in organizing I. M. Pei: Life is Architecture, the first-ever retrospective on his father’s work, which debuted in Hong Kong in July 2024 and is set to travel internationally over the next two years. Alongside his brother, he established the I. M. and Eileen Pei Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Additionally, he has pledged to transfer his extensive archives to Harvard and other institutions, ensuring that future generations of students and researchers have access to this globally significant body of work.
Committed to advancing the architectural profession, Sandi has served as a Director of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and as a juror for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has lectured at numerous institutions, including the Building Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Asociación de Oficinas de Arquitectura (AOA) in Santiago, Chile; the Intermarmomach Stone Fair in Verona, Italy; the World Architectural Congress in Shanghai, China; and the Integral Conversation Forum in Guilin, China. He has also spoken at The Asia Society and the Urban Land Institute in Manila, Philippines, as well as at Cooper Union in New York and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In addition, he has served as a juror for international competitions and award programs in cities such as Seoul, New York, Chicago, and Hong Kong, and has acted as a design critic at architectural schools worldwide. Most recently, he delivered the keynote speech at the 2024 AIA Middle East Conference in Doha, Qatar.
A passionate advocate for the arts, Sandi has cultivated close relationships with major cultural institutions. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Christie’s, the international auction house, and has been part of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) since 2002, where he serves as Vice President and Assistant Secretary on its Executive Board.
