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ARGENTINA-DEATH-ARCHITECTURE-PELLI
Cesar Pelli, creator of Malaysia’s Petronas Towers dies aged 92
BUENOS AIRES, July 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Cesar Pelli, the Argentine
architect and creator of Malaysia’s Petronas Towers and New York’s One World
Financial Center, died Friday at the age of 92, his family said.
“I want to send my condolences to the family and friends of the talented
Cesar Pelli,” President Mauricio Macri wrote on Twitter.
“The works he leaves throughout the world as a legacy are a pride for all
Argentines.”
After graduating from the University of Tucuman, Pelli left for the US in
1952, where he studied on a scholarship.
He was dean of Yale’s architecture faculty from 1977 to 1984, and counted
the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal among his many accolades.
His most high-profile achievement was the Petronas Towers in the Malaysian
capital Kuala Lumpur — a 452-metre high structure that was the world’s
tallest building when it was completed in 1998.
Pelli’s legacy also includes dozens of theaters and cultural centers
across the world, and he oversaw the expansion of New York’s Museum of Modern
Art in 1984.
He also designed the International Financial Centre that towers over Hong
Kong’s waterfront and the Gran Torre Santiago in Chile.
His last project was the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco, a
transport hub that lies beneath the city’s tallest skyscraper and blends
green space and shopping areas.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1309 hrs