Back when NYU superblocks didn’t throw the neighborhood into unbridled rage (or did they?), Pei designed the Silver Towers of University Village. In 2008, the three-tower complex was designated a landmark, which effectively stopped NYU’s plans for building another tower on the block as part of its 2031 expansion plan. “When lists of Pei’s greatest structures surface, they tend to include the glass and steel pyramids of the Louvre in Paris, the geometric design of the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, the Bank of China tower in Hong Kong,” Rebecca Bengal wrote last year for Curbed. “The Silver Towers in Greenwich Village rarely, if ever, make these lists.” Perhaps it’s time for a re-evaluation.

Kips Bay Plaza was the first major New York City project of Pei’s career. The development consists of twin 20-story apartment buildings with a large plaza between them. They have a total of 1,118 units, and the design was inspired by Courbusier’s Unite de Habitation in Marsielle, France. Pei Cobb Freed calls it a “prototypical experiment in architectural low-cost housing”; per The AIA Guide to New York City, the “giant and beautifully detailed concrete buildings” are “rooted, confident, and permanent” compared to today’s new developments.

Pei designed this 11-story building with several references to traditional Korean design. A key feature is the central atrium that brings light to the interior and extends over a central staircase. The facade design was not very well-received. One architecture book reads, “Despite the meticulous detailing and the syncopated window pattern, the overall effect was flat and lifeless.”

The project description of Pei’s 54-story Four Seasons Hotel says the building “was designed to possess a classic elegance that transcends both time and fashion.” The hotel opened in 1993, but Pei was unsatisfied with the penthouse, as it wasn’t as magnificent as he wanted it to be because of budget constraints. But in 1999, new owner Ty Warner commissioned Pei to redo the penthouse (pictured). It took seven years and $50 million, but Pei did just that, creating a nine-room, 4,300-square-foot suite that goes for $30,000/night.

When completed in 1992, Pei’s Guggenheim Pavilion at Mt. Sinai Medical Center was extremely well-received. In the New York Times, Herbert Muschamp called the atriums “lofty,” “radiant,” and “luminous,” writing: “It resembles, rather, a health spa, a tranquil oasis where trees grow and space soars amid urban bustle and big-city hospital commotion.” The AIA Guide, meanwhile, says it “brought elegance to the hospital patient.”

By far one of Pei’s lesser known projects, this superblock was created in 1969 in response to urban blight. The goal was to create a neighborhood focal point and public amenities. St. Mark’s Avene between Albany and Kingston Avenues was reimagined with a central park and two half-block parking areas. The other side of the block, Prospect Place, saw the sidewalks widened and more trees planted. It should be noted that while this project is called the “Bed-Stuy Superblock,” this block is most definitely located in Crown Heights.