Designer Colin Cantwell, who was responsible for the design of the Death Star and several iconic ships in the Star Wars saga, has passed away at the age of 90. The news was confirmed by the designer’s partner, Sierra Dall, and reported first by the Hollywood Reporter.

Born in San Francisco in 1932, Cantwell earned a degree in animation from the University of California, Los Angeles. Cantwell was in fact the first animation graduate in the history of UCLA, having suggested to the school that they add an animation major.

In tandem with his love of space and animation, Cantwell described architecture as his other major passion. During his studies, Cantwell spent months creating building designs with the goal of attracting the attention of Frank Lloyd Wright. Cantwell ultimately traveled unannounced to the architect’s School of Architecture at Taliesin, Wisconsin to personally present his work to Wright.

As Cantwell described on his website, the encounter resulted in Wright inviting the young designer to attend his school. Asked by Cantwell if there was a waiting list for admittance, Wright replied “Not for you.” However, before Cantwell could raise the money to afford tuition, Wright passed away in 1959, thus putting an end to Cantwell’s plans to study at Taliesin.

His architecture pathway curtailed, Cantwell began working at NASA in the 1960s to create publicly-orientated educational programs on recent developments in space exploration. From the 1970s, Cantwell blended his passions for space, animation, and architecture by collaborating on several space-themed Hollywood productions, beginning with 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In 1974, Cantwell was hired to work on the original Star Wars film, working in collaboration with George Lucas to design numerous iconic spacecraft, including the X-wing fighter (whose design was inspired by Cantwell seeing a dart being thrown in a British pub), the Y-wing, the TIE fighter, the Star Destroyer, and the Tantive IV (which was originally intended to be the Millennium Falcon).  

Cantwell’s most iconic contribution to the saga was the original Death Star, including an accidentally-designed trench which became the setting for the thrilling climax of the original film. At the end of the film, Luke Skywalker flies a lone X-wing fighter through the trench in order to attack and destroy the seemingly invincible space station.

“I didn’t originally plan for the Death Star to have a trench, but when I was working with the mold, I noticed the two halves had shrunk at the point where they met across the middle,” Cantwell told a Reddit AMA in 2016. “It would have taken a week of work just to fill and sand and re-fill this depression. So, to save me the labor, I went to George and suggested a trench. He liked the idea so much that it became one of the most iconic moments in the film.”

Cantwell is survived by his partner of 24 years, Sierra Dall.