![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
John Portman in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta in 2006. His atrium hotels were widely imitated by other architects.
Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times; thumbnail, T. Lynne Pixley for The New York Times, 2011
John Portman
Died on December 29, 2017 at age 93
An architect and developer, Mr. Portman revolutionized hotel designs with soaring futuristic atriums, built commercial towers that revitalized the downtowns of decaying postwar American cities and transformed Asian skylines from Shanghai to Mumbai.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.