Graves, Michael

Graves, Michael, 1934–2015, American architect, b. Indianapolis, Ind., educated at the Univ. of Cincinnati and Harvard. He taught at Princeton from 1962 to 2002. Graves was a member of the New York Five or white modernist architects during the 1960s, the other four being Richard Meier, Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey, and John Hejduk. In the 1970s, Graves emerged as a leading proponent of the American postmodernist style (see postmodernism). Extremely prolific, he designed more than 350 buildings worldwide. His completed projects include the Portland Building in Portland, Oreg.; the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in The Hague; the Swan and Dolphin Hotels in Walt Disney World, Fla.; the Walt Disney Company Corporate Headquarters in Burbank, Calif.; the Newark Museum in Newark, N.J.; the Emory Univ. Museum of Art and Architecture in Atlanta, Ga.; and the Central Library in Denver. Graves is also known for his design of furniture, furnishings, and housewares, e.g., his well-known teakettle and pepper mill.

See M. Graves, Buildings and Projects 1966–81 (1983), Buildings and Projects 1982–89 (1990), Buildings and Projects 1990–94 (1995), and Buildings and Projects 1995–2003 (2004); B. M. Ambroziak, Michael Graves: Images of a Grand Tour (2005).

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