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Michael Graves, the prolific postmodern architect who designed the famed and often despised Portland Building, died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 80.

His death was confirmed by his architecture and design firm, Michael Graves Architecture & Design.

鈥淪ince founding the firm in 1964, Michael transformed the role of architects and designers, and even the place of design in our everyday lives,鈥� read a on the firm’s website. 鈥淔or those of us who had the opportunity to work closely with Michael, we knew him as an extraordinary designer, teacher, mentor and friend.鈥�

Graves’ design of the Portland Building, completed in 1982 to house city government offices, helped launch his architecture career. The controversial structure has been heralded as one defining the emergence of postmodern architecture and criticized as an architectural atrocity.

When he visited Portland last fall to give a lecture on the project and defend his design, Graves said he was baffled why Portland residents don’t share his love for the iconic city-owned building.

鈥淚 don’t know where the hostility comes from; that disturbs me,鈥� he told the sold-out crowd at the Portland Art Museum. 鈥淚 think you all would be happy to pick up any history of architecture in the 20th century and find your building. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with you?鈥�

Shortly after its completion, the Portland Building was praised as a break from the modernist architecture typical of public buildings and appeared on the cover of TIME magazine. In 2012, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

But last year a city report concluded that $95 million worth of repairs are needed to fix structural problems and leaks. After considering several options, including building demolition, city officials are now planning a remodel.

In 1980, Graves won an architecture competition to design the building for the city of Portland. At the time, he was a little-known architecture professor at Princeton University, and it became his first major project.

Graves went on to leverage this success to win other design competitions. His work includes the Humana Building in Louisville, Ky., the Denver Public Library and lines of kitchen products and furniture for Target and J.C. Penney.

After an infection in 2003 rendered him unable to walk, Graves leaned on personal experience to design disabled veteran housing and products such as wheelchairs, collapsible canes and showerheads.