I. M. Pei designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum building in Cleveland.
The Chinese-American architect was commissioned to create the museum after Cleveland was selected as its permanent home in 1986. Pei was already celebrated for major modernist projects, including the Louvre Pyramid in Paris and the National Gallery of Art’s East Building in Washington, D.C.
The Cleveland building opened in 1995 on the shore of Lake Erie. Its design combines a geometric glass entrance pavilion, a tall tower, and angular forms intended to suggest the energy and boldness of rock music. The tower was reduced from Pei’s original proposed height because of the site’s proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport.
A common mix-up is confusing the building’s architect with its structural engineer, Leslie E. Robertson Associates, or with later renovation architects. The original museum design is specifically associated with Pei, whose name also appears among the project’s notable works.