Architect Michael Graves Dies At 80

By Krishnadev Calamur / NPR

Published March 12, 2015 at 2:58 PM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Michael Graves sits in his Princeton, N.J., studio holding a bathtub handle he designed to help the handicapped and elderly, on Sept. 11, 2009. Graves died today at age 80.

Michael Graves, one of the country's most prominent architects, has died at his home in Princeton, N.J. of natural causes, his firm, Michael Graves Architecture & Design said in statement. He was 80.

NPR's Neda Ulaby tells our Newscast unit that Graves "was celebrated for designing everything from grand hotels to teapots."

Here's how Neda describes those iconic teapots: "The Michael Graves teapot is sleek and dome-like, with a circle for a handle. Like so much of his work, it's designed to be easy to use – and beautiful."

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Later in life, Graves designed houses for people with disabilities, including veterans. Graves became paralyzed in 2003 after a spinal cord infection and spent his final years in a wheelchair.

The New York Times adds:

"Mr. Graves was first associated with the New York Five, a group of prominent architects that achieved cultish stature by helping to redefine modernism during the 1970s. But he went on to design projects like the Portland Building in Oregon and the Humana Building in Louisville, Ky., which exemplified postmodernism and made him a celebrity."