Cesar Pelli

César Pelli (San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, October 12, 1926-New Haven, Connecticut, United States, July 19, 2019) was an Argentine nationalized American architect of great prestige and international recognition. He was the brother of the architect Víctor Pelli, who is dedicated to the development of popular housing.

Biography

He studied architecture at the National University of Tucumán, graduating in 1948. Later he began working in his country, until in 1952 he moved to the United States with his wife, the architect Diana Balmori, where obtained US citizenship. Their two sons were born there: Denis in 1953 and Rafael in 1956. Between 1964 and 1976 they lived in Los Angeles.

Pelli was a partner in the law firm of Eero Saarinen and later in Gruen Associates.

He was dean of the Yale University School of Architecture from 1977 to 1984.

He lived in New Haven, Connecticut, and ran the Pelli Clarke Pelli studio.

His most famous work is the Petronas Towers, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which from 1998 to mid-2003 were the tallest buildings in the world with 88 stories and a height of 452 meters.

Death

Pelli died on Friday, July 19, 2019, at age 92.

Trajectory

In 1977, Balmori and Pelli had settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where together with Fred Clarke they formed the firm César Pelli and Associates. The studio began with a commission of great importance: the multi-award winning project for the renovation of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the following years the study grows with the World Financial Center and the Winter Garden in Battery Park, also in New York. This consists of four towers and an open public square. The study obtained the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects for the firm in 1989. Balmori left the firm in 1990, to which his son Rafael is now integrated.

In 2006, he led the Gran Torre Santiago project in the Costanera Center complex, the largest building in Latin America and the largest commercial building in Latin America, located in Santiago (Chile).

In Madrid the construction of another of his designs was carried out: La Torre de Cristal, one of the four skyscrapers that were built in the Cuatro Torres Business Area business complex. It has a height of 249 meters above ground, making it the tallest building in Spain, according to data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and its construction was completed in 2007.

In addition, Pelli was in charge of the construction of the Iberdrola Tower in Bilbao, being the tallest building in the Basque Country. He also designed the Torre Sevilla (Seville) project, a 178-meter, 43-storey skyscraper that has become the tallest building in the city of Seville and Andalusia.

Main works

• 1975, Pacific Design Center (Los Angeles)
• 1992-1998, Petronas Towers (Kuala Lumpur)
• Ohio Dramatic Arts Centre (Cincinnati)
• NTT corporate building (Tokio)
• St. Regis Hotel & Residences (Mexico City)
• 1996, Banco República Building (Buenos Aires)
• Loeb Art Museum, Vassar University (New York)
• Torres Gemelas de Polanco (Mexico City)
• Dramatic Arts Centre (Charlotte)
• Cheung Kong Center Tower (Hong Kong)
• 1991, One Canada Square (London)
• Mattatuck Museum of Waterbury (Connecticut)
• Herring Building, Rice University (Houston)
• World Financial Center (New York)
• Residential tower, Museum of Modern Art (New York)
• U.S. Embassy. (Tokio)
• 2001, Torre BankBoston (Buenos Aires)
• 1997-2003, International Finance Center (Hong Kong)
• 2004, Universidad Empresarial Siglo 21 (Córdoba)
• Cira Center (Filadelfia)
• City Council of San Bernardino (California)
• Kukai Gardens (Honolulu)
• Laboratorios COMSAT (Clarksburg, Maryland)
• Worldway postal centre (Los Angeles)
• 2006, Adrianne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts (ex Carnival Center) (Miami)
• 2008, Torre de Cristal (Madrid)
• 2005-2009 Torre YPF (Buenos Aires)
• 2006-2015, Gran Torre Santiago, Costanera Center (Santiago de Chile)
• 2006, Centro Cultural Universitario (Guadalajara)^{[chuckles]required]}
• 2007-2011, Iberdrola Tower (Bilbao)
• 2007-2013, Torre Sevilla (Sevilla)
• CityCenter; ARIA Resort & Casino (Las Vegas)
• Overture Center for Arts (Overture Center for the Arts) (Madison, Wisconsin)
• 2008-2019, Torre Mitikah (Mexico City)
• 2009-2010, Torre Chiapas (Tuxtla Gutiérrez)
• 2009-2014, Porta Nuova Project (Milán)
• 2012-2016, Torre Macro, Buenos Aires
• 2014, Cira Centre South (Pensilvania).
• 2018, Salesforce Transit Center (San Francisco)
• 2020, Mirador del Valle (Salta)
• 2013-2022, Maral Explanada (Mar del Plata).

Gallery

• 

  La Gran Torre Santiago, in Santiago

• 

  The Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

• 

  World Financial Center, before the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York

• 

  Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood

• 

  La Torre de Cristal, Madrid

• 

  La Torre YPF, Buenos Aires

Acknowledgments

Pelli received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 for the design of the Petronas Twin Towers. In 2006, he received the Life and Work Award, an award granted by the Cemex Works Award. In 2012 the Konex Foundation awarded him the Konex Brillante Award as the most relevant figure of the Argentine Visual Arts of the decade.

He has been honored with the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects (The American Institute of Architects, AIA).

The recipient of 13 honorary degrees, more than 300 awards for excellence in design, and was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, the International Academy of Architecture, and of l'Academie d'Architecture de France.