American art-itect
- Source: Global Times
- [03:53 April 18 2011]
- Comments
Architect John C. Portman, Jr.
By Lin Kan Hsuang
The Yintai Center, just off the east third ring of Beijing, demands not to be ignored. Its iconic three towers seem designed to embolden the capital city's skyline, just as they embody the aesthetics of their architect, John C. Portman, Jr: simple, straightforward but considerate. "I am a humanitarian," said the 87-year-old Portman, who prefers functionality over flamboyance, with a humorous blink.
Portman was one of the earliest architects invited to China after reform and opening-up, invited by former vice-premier Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to bring his flourishing John Portman & Associates (JPA) and Portman Holdings businesses to the Middle Kingdom.
Not for profit
Three decades later, hot on the heels of Portman's "Art & Architecture" exhibition in Shanghai last year, Beijing's Capital Museum, in collaboration with the High Museum of Art Atlanta, is hosting a Portman retrospective from April 15 till June 12, featuring not only his architectural projects, but also furniture design, paintings, and sculptures.
A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1950, within three years Portman would establish JPA, whose innovative multi-storied atrium building designs won him both fame and wealth. Now the firm is an internationally recognized architecture and engineering company with offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Shanghai.
