As Portman's philosophy gained weight and his buildings took form, he began to translate his ideas
to projects across the country and overseas. In San Francisco, he revived a warehouse district to
create Embarcadero Center, with four high-rise office towers, an atrium hotel, pedestrian bridges,
and landscaped plazas. In Los Angeles, his Bonaventure Hotel started a renewal of activity and
development in Bunker Hill. To Belgium, he took his merchandising concepts for the Brussels
International Trade Mart.
By the 1970s, Portman and Associates would have been welcomed in any city in the world, but the
firm decided to keep its headquarters in Atlanta. "We were pulled to the West and the East,"
Portman says. "We have a very diverse staff, a cross-section of the world, and we discussed where
we should be. We decided to stay put where we could have a better, more affordable life and in the city
that has the world’s largest airport." A fitting location, given that Portman sold newspapers as a
boy on the very blocks where he built Peachtree Center and that he completed the first study for the
central business district, helping city government make decisions on where to position the airport, how
to tie interstates to surface streets, and pinpointing prime locations for infill.
Wherever he works, Portman starts with understanding the local culture and context. "Every site has
its peculiarities and circumstances. We don’t want to go in and impose. Rather, we study the context and
let indigenous projects evolve," he says.
That approach is no less evident in Asia, where Portman’s group expanded in 1980. The entrée came after
Chairman Deng Xiao Ping’s historic visit to Atlanta in 1979 as China was beginning to modernize. Ping
stayed in the Westin Peachtree Plaza, a Portman people-oriented design with grand public spaces that had
been completed three years earlier, and the Chinese leader also toured Peachtree Center. Impressed with
what he saw, Ping in return invited a small delegation that included Portman and his son, John C. (Jack)
Portman III, to visit his country. By the early 1980s, the Portmans had received financing to develop
Shanghai Centre, what they envisioned as a community of life that incorporated housing, office, retail,
and the Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel.
In recently reflecting on the 15th anniversary of Shanghai Center, the Portmans wrote, "We wanted
our architectural forms to have a continuum with the past, yet be an abstraction of the spirit of the
culture and recognize the time and place with an eye to the future."
Top photograph: Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, Photography by Timothy Hursley. Bottom photograph: Shanghai Center, Shanghai, China, Photography by Michael Portman.
Office of Communications and External Affairs
Robinson College of Business,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Tel: 404-413-7080; Fax: 404-413-7076; E-mail: External Affairs
As Portman's philosophy gained weight and his buildings took form, he began to translate his ideas
to projects across the country and overseas. In San Francisco, he revived a warehouse district to
create Embarcadero Center, with four high-rise office towers, an atrium hotel, pedestrian bridges,
and landscaped plazas. In Los Angeles, his Bonaventure Hotel started a renewal of activity and
development in Bunker Hill. To Belgium, he took his merchandising concepts for the Brussels
International Trade Mart.
That approach is no less evident in Asia, where Portman’s group expanded in 1980. The entrée came after
Chairman Deng Xiao Ping’s historic visit to Atlanta in 1979 as China was beginning to modernize. Ping
stayed in the Westin Peachtree Plaza, a Portman people-oriented design with grand public spaces that had
been completed three years earlier, and the Chinese leader also toured Peachtree Center. Impressed with
what he saw, Ping in return invited a small delegation that included Portman and his son, John C. (Jack)
Portman III, to visit his country. By the early 1980s, the Portmans had received financing to develop
Shanghai Centre, what they envisioned as a community of life that incorporated housing, office, retail,
and the Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel.
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