On The Presence And Absence Of "Empty Space" In I.M.Pei's Architecture

At the earliest beginning originating from Chinese painting,"empty space" refers to a place in which there is not any painting as to his or her works. Afterwards, the "empty space" in form has developed into reservation in the expression of thought, and now, it has been widely applied to all kinds of fields of arts and design. Architecture is a art of researching space, and art of empty space is to deal with space, so both of them has common research point. Nowadays, research on architecture design is not complete and systematic enough, so it is necessary to illustrate the "empty space" culture in architecture design. Many architecture works of Ieoh Ming Pei directly reflects traditional culture's influence on him. The thesis discusses covert "empty space" in his architecture works from a new research field, and has new research value.This dissertation researches in the presence and absence of "empty space" ideas in I.M.Pei's architectural works by means of literature data collection and field studies. In the former part, the author illustrates historical origin and aesthetic value in terms of philosophy, cognition and phychics, and researches and generalizes ordinary form of "empty space" in architecture design. Then the author takes Ieoh Ming Pei's representative works for example, analyses and researches hidden existence of empty space" thought in his contemporary western architecture and the architecture with feature of Chinese garden. Finally, the values of "empty space" in Pei's works are expounded.By the analysis and study in this paper, we can better understand "empty space" culture in architecture, which is seen popular in the field of arts and demand for its times. We have learned more from a different perspective about the master Pei's intention in creation and the cultural differences between east and west reflected in his works through the interpretation of the "empty space" culture in Pei's architectural works. Practice of architecture is temporary, emphasizing emptiness in space, which makes space more flexible and adaptive, provides more possibilities for the future. The study process is also that of researching on some cultural phenomena, which is of great significance for guiding the design practice of the architects.