Renowned Argentine-American architect Cesar Pelli dies at 92 [View all]

[sandensea]

César Pelli, the Argentine designer behind the iconic Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, has died aged 92, marking the passing of one of the contemporary architectural greats.

Pelli established himself as a visionary and educator, making a name for himself in the United States where his main studio was based in the Yale University campus.

Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, in northwestern Argentina, in 1926, Pelli studied architecture at the University of Tucumán. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1952 to attend the University of Illinois School of Architecture, where he received his master's degree in 1954.

He became partner for design at Gruen Associates in Los Angeles in 1968, and many of Pelli's earliest works in the U.S. were in Southern California - including the the Lawrence Welk Plaza building in Santa Monica, CA (1969-71); the San Bernardino City Hall (1972); and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood (1975).

In 1977, Pelli became dean of Yale University’s School of Architecture and founded Cesar Pelli & Associates - since renamed Pelli Clarke Pelli, and which lists offices in New York, Abu Dhabi, San Francisco, Tokyo and Shanghai.

His most famous works include:

·World Financial Center, in Manhattan (1982-88)
·Norwest Center, in Minneapolis (1986-88)
·Carnegie Hall Tower, in Manhattan (1987-91)
·Key Tower, in Cleveland (1988-91)
·777 Tower, in Los Angeles (1988-91)
·One Canada Square, in Canary Wharf, London (1988-91)
·Bank of America Center in Charlotte, NC (1989-92)
·Terminals B and C at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC (1993-97)
·Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1993-96) - at the time the tallest buildings in the world
·International Finance Centre, in Hong Kong (2000-03)
·Gran Torre Santiago, Chile (2006-12)
·and Abenu Harukas, in Osaka (2010-14)

He also designed four office buildings in his native Argentina, in downtown Buenos Aires: República (1994-96); BankBoston (1998-2001); YPF (2005-08); and Banco Macro (2013-16).

Pelli was named one of the ten most influential living American Architects by the American Institute of Architects in 1991.

At: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-cesar-pelli/csar-pelli-argentine-architect-behind-the-petronas-towers-dies-aged-92-idUSKCN1UE2RM

Argentine-American architect César Pelli (1926-2019) in his Yale studio.

He once remarked that "one of America's strengths has always been its openness to the new: both new ideas and new people."