Editing John C. Portman Jr. (section)

==Early life and career==
Portman was born on December 4, 1924, in [[Walhalla, South Carolina]], to John C. Portman Sr. and Edna Rochester Portman. He had five sisters. He graduated from the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]] in 1950. His firm completed the Merchandise Mart (now [[AmericasMart]]) in [[downtown Atlanta]] in 1961. The multi-block [[Peachtree Center]] was begun in 1965 and would expand to become the main center of hotel and office space in Downtown Atlanta, taking over from the [[Five Points (Atlanta)|Five Points]] area just to the south. Portman would develop a similar multiblock complex at [[San Francisco]]'s [[Embarcadero Center]] (1970s), which unlike its Atlanta counterpart, heavily emphasized pedestrian activity at street level.

The [[Hyatt Regency Atlanta]], Portman's first atrium hotel, would lead to many more iconic hotels and multi-use complexes with atria, including the [[Westin Bonaventure Hotel]] in [[Los Angeles]] (1974–1976), the [[New York Marriott Marquis]] (1982–1985), and the [[Renaissance Center]] in [[Detroit]] (first phase 1973–1977), whose central tower remained the [[List of tallest hotels in the world|tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere]] until the completion of [[1717 Broadway]] in 2013.

His signature work in China, the [[Shanghai Centre]] (1990), was the first of many major projects in China and elsewhere in Asia. The 5-star hotel inside, The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai (formerly Portman Shangri-La Hotel), was named after him.

In 2009, Portman's work was featured in a major exhibition at Atlanta's [[High Museum of Art]].

Portman was a Fellow of the [[American Institute of Architects]].