If you write it, I.M Pei will come? Not exactly.

Earlier this week I was skimming my favorite state-owned Chinese newspapers when I came across this rather startling People’s Daily headline regarding I.M. Pei, the last of the great modernist architects:

According to the article, the developer of the museum “has invested 50 million yuan to invite Pei to design the museum” and “[r]eporters also learned that the museum will be Pei’s 75th design.”

Well.

An I.M. Pei commission is big news whenever and wherever it happens, but particularly in China, where the Guangdong-born architect designed a mere two buildings, and the last one – the Suzhou Museum (2006) – was widely rumored to be his last. If he were to take on a third building, it would be major news – major China and architectural news – and surely People’s Daily and other influential state-run newspapers would have the story on the first day. But, curiously, even two days after the People’s Daily story, no other newspaper in China or outside of it was reporting that I.M. Pei had just accepted his 75th commission.

So I contacted Mr. Pei’s office and asked whether or not there was anything to this Nanjing commission. This morning, I received the following emailed response from Nancy Robinson, I.M. Pei’s Executive Assistant:

We received your message about the report in the Chinese press about the Nanjing project. I was not familiar with this, so I asked Mr. Pei about it. He has no involvement in the project described in the press.