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Breaking news: Argentine-American architect César Pelli has died aged 92.

The AIA Gold medal-winning architect was best known as the designer of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the world’s former tallest building.

Pelli, who was a senior principal of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, passed away on the 19th July 2019.

Along with the Petronas Towers, Pelli’s most significant buildings include One Canada Square in London, World Financial Center in New York City and the National Museum of Art, in Osaka.

Pelli was born in 1926 in Tucumán, northern Argentina. He studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán before moving to the United States to attend University of Illinois School of Architecture.

After graduating Pelli joined the studio of Eero Saarinen, where he would work for ten years on projects including the TWA terminal at JFK Airport, which has recently reopened as a hotel.

In 1977 Pelli established his own firm Cesar Pelli & Associates, which he would run for the next four decades, with the name changing to Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in 2005.

In 1995 he was awarded the AIA Gold Medal.

Pelli architect of tallest buildings

Pelli was known as a skyscraper architect and he created tall buildings in cities across the world.  The most prominent of these was the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The pair of 451-metre-tall towers were the tallest building in the world between twin 1998 and 2004, and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. The building was also awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

In the UK Pelli designed the 235 metre-tall One Canada Square tower in Canary Wharf. London, which was the tallest building in the country between 1990 to 2012.

His studio was also the architect of the Gran Torre Santiago. Completed in 2010 the 64-storey tall skyscraper in Santiago, Chile, is the tallest building in Latin America.

In 2018 Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects completed the Salesforce Tower in San Fransisco, which at 326 metres is the tallest building in the city. The tower was named “Best Tall Building Worldwide” by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in its 2019 architecture awards.

“Pride for Argentines”

Pelli was one of Argentina’s most prominent architects and the president Mauricio Macri tweeted his condolences.

“The works he leaves throughout the world as a legacy is a pride for Argentines,” he said.

More to follow.

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