John Portman, who pioneered modern hotel design and whose reach spanned from his native United States to Asia, has died aged 93, his firm said on Saturday. "A pioneering architect, entrepreneur, artist and philanthropist, Mr Portman changed the skylines of cities around the world and impacted the lives of many in Atlanta and abroad," John Portman & Associates said on its website.
Portman made history in 1967 with the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, whose 22-storey sky-lit atrium marked a break from the "confining environment" of traditional city hotels, the firm's biographical website on the architect said. The hotel is one of three anchoring the convention district in his home city of Atlanta, Georgia, where Portman's 14-block Peachtree Center, which opened in 1961, helped establish Atlanta as one of the nation's leading convention cities, the site said. It added that he designed and developed the center without any public funds.
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