Eero Saarinen
Encyclopedia
Eero Saarinen (ˈeːro ˈsɑːrinen) (August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish American
architect
and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.
. Saarinen emigrated to the United States of America in 1923 at the age of thirteen. He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
, where his father was a teacher at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and he took courses in sculpture and furniture design there. He had a close relationship with fellow students Charles and Ray Eames, and became good friends with Florence Knoll (née Schust)
.
Beginning in September 1929, he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
in Paris, France. He then went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture
, completing his studies in 1934. Subsequently, he toured Europe and North Africa for a year and returned for a year to his native Finland, after which he returned to Cranbrook to work for his father and teach at the academy. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1940. Saarinen was recruited by his friend, who was also an architect, to join the military service in the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS). Saarinen was assigned to draw illustrations for bomb disassembly manuals and to provide designs for the Situation Room in the White House. Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944. After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates". Eero Saarinen died of a brain tumor in 1961 at the age of 51.
. They had a son, Eames, named after his collaborator Charles Eames.
", like all other Saarinen chairs, was taken into production by the Knoll
furniture company, founded by Hans Knoll
, who married Saarinen family friend Florence (Schust) Knoll
. Further attention came also while Saarinen was still working for his father, when he took first prize in the 1948 competition for the design of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
, St. Louis
, not completed until the 1960s. The competition award was mistakenly sent to his father. He designed furniture with organic architecture.
During his long association with Knoll he designed many important pieces of furniture including the "Grasshopper" lounge chair and ottoman (1946), the "Womb" chair and ottoman (1948), the "Womb" settee (1950), side and arm chairs (1948–1950), and his most famous "Tulip
" or "Pedestal" group (1956), which featured side and arm chairs, dining, coffee and side tables, as well as a stool. All of these designs were highly successful except for the "Grasshopper" lounge chair, which, although in production through 1965, was not a big success.
One of Saarinen's earliest works to receive international acclaim is the Crow Island School
in Winnetka
, Illinois
(1940). The first major work by Saarinen, in collaboration with his father, was the General Motors Technical Center
in Warren
, Michigan
. It follows the rationalist design Miesian style
: incorporating steel and glass, but with the added accent of panels in two shades of blue. The GM technical center was constructed in 1956, with Saarinen using models. These models allowed him to share his ideas with others, and gather input from other professionals. With the success of the scheme, Saarinen was then invited by other major American corporations to design their new headquarters: these included John Deere
, IBM
, and CBS
. Despite their rationality, however, the interiors usually contained more dramatic sweeping staircases, as well as furniture designed by Saarinen, such as the Pedestal Series. In the 1950s he began to receive more commissions from American universities for campus designs and individual buildings; these include the Noyes dormitory at Vassar
, as well as an ice rink, Ingalls Rink
, and Ezra Stiles College
at Yale University
.
He served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House
commission and was crucial in the selection of the now internationally known design by Jørn Utzon
.
Eero Saarinen and Associates was Saarinen's architectural firm; he was the principal partner from 1950 until his death in 1961. The firm was initially known as "Saarinen, Swansen and Associates", headed by Eliel Saarinen
and Robert Swansen from the late 1930s until Eliel's death in 1950. The firm was located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
until 1961 when the practice was moved to Hamden, Connecticut
. Under Eero Saarinen, the firm carried out many of its most important works, including the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
(Gateway Arch) in St. Louis, Missouri
, the Miller House
in Columbus, Indiana
, the TWA Flight Center
at John F. Kennedy International Airport
that he worked on with Charles J. Parise, and the main terminal of Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.
. Many of these projects use catenary
curves in their structural designs. One of the best-known thin-shell concrete structures in America is the Kresge Auditorium
(MIT), which was designed by Saarinen. Another thin-shell structure that he created is the Ingalls Rink
(Yale University), which has suspension cables connected to a single concrete backbone and is nicknamed "the whale." Undoubtedly, his most famous work is the TWA Flight Center, which represents the culmination of his previous designs and demonstrates his expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.
Eero worked with his father, mother and sister designing elements of the Cranbrook campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, including the Cranbrook School, Kingswood School, the Cranbrook Art Academy and the Cranbrook Science Institute. Eero's leaded glass designs are a prominent feature of these buildings throughout the campus.
http://www.arkitekturanyc.com/cat3.htm
Saarinen died while undergoing an operation for a brain tumor at the age of 51. His wife, Aline, coincidentally, would also die of the same ailment. His partners, Kevin Roche
and John Dinkeloo, completed his ten remaining projects, including the St. Louis Arch. Afterwards, the name of the firm was changed to "Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates", or Roche-Dinkeloo
.
of the American Institute of Architects
in 1952. He is also a winner of the AIA Gold Medal
.
Saarinen is now considered one of the masters of American 20th Century architecture. There has been a veritable surge of interest in Saarinen's work in recent years, including a major exhibition and several books. This is partly due to the Roche and Dinkeloo office having donated their Saarinen archives to Yale University, but also because Saarinen's oeuvre can be said to fit in with present-day concerns about pluralism of styles. He was criticized in his own time—most vociferously by critic Vincent Scully
—for having no identifiable style; one explanation for this is that Saarinen adapted his modernist vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.
National Building Museum
Finnish American
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number about 700,000.-History:Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, that existed in mid-17th century....
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.
Biography
Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father, Eliel SaarinenEliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
. Saarinen emigrated to the United States of America in 1923 at the age of thirteen. He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
, where his father was a teacher at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and he took courses in sculpture and furniture design there. He had a close relationship with fellow students Charles and Ray Eames, and became good friends with Florence Knoll (née Schust)
Florence Knoll
Florence Knoll Bassett is an American architect and furniture designer who studied under Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan as Florence Schust and is known in familiar circles simply as "Shu"...
.
Beginning in September 1929, he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. The school was founded in 1902 by the Swiss Martha Stettler , who refused to teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts. It opened the way to the "Art Indépendant"...
in Paris, France. He then went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture
Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. It is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the world.- History :...
, completing his studies in 1934. Subsequently, he toured Europe and North Africa for a year and returned for a year to his native Finland, after which he returned to Cranbrook to work for his father and teach at the academy. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1940. Saarinen was recruited by his friend, who was also an architect, to join the military service in the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS). Saarinen was assigned to draw illustrations for bomb disassembly manuals and to provide designs for the Situation Room in the White House. Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944. After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates". Eero Saarinen died of a brain tumor in 1961 at the age of 51.
Personal life
He had two children from his first marriage, Eric and Susan. Following his divorce from the sculptor Lilian Swann Saarinen, his first wife, in 1954, Saarinen married Aline Bernstein Louchheim (March 25, 1914 – July 13, 1972), an art critic at The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. They had a son, Eames, named after his collaborator Charles Eames.
Furniture
Saarinen first received critical recognition, while still working for his father, for a chair designed together with Charles Eames for the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition in 1940, for which they received first prize. The "Tulip ChairTulip chair
The Tulip chair was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1955 and 1956 for the Knoll company of New York City. It was designed primarily as a chair to match the complementary dining table. The chair has the smooth lines of modernism and was experimental with materials for its time...
", like all other Saarinen chairs, was taken into production by the Knoll
Knoll (company)
Knoll is a design firm that produces office systems, seating, files and storage, tables and desks, textiles , and accessories for office and for the home. The company also manufactures furniture for the home by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll , Frank Gehry, Maya Lin and...
furniture company, founded by Hans Knoll
Hans Knoll
Hans G. Knoll was a German American who, together with his wife, Florence Knoll, founded Knoll, the well known design company and furniture manufacturer.-Biography:...
, who married Saarinen family friend Florence (Schust) Knoll
Florence Knoll
Florence Knoll Bassett is an American architect and furniture designer who studied under Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan as Florence Schust and is known in familiar circles simply as "Shu"...
. Further attention came also while Saarinen was still working for his father, when he took first prize in the 1948 competition for the design of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, not completed until the 1960s. The competition award was mistakenly sent to his father. He designed furniture with organic architecture.
During his long association with Knoll he designed many important pieces of furniture including the "Grasshopper" lounge chair and ottoman (1946), the "Womb" chair and ottoman (1948), the "Womb" settee (1950), side and arm chairs (1948–1950), and his most famous "Tulip
Tulip chair
The Tulip chair was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1955 and 1956 for the Knoll company of New York City. It was designed primarily as a chair to match the complementary dining table. The chair has the smooth lines of modernism and was experimental with materials for its time...
" or "Pedestal" group (1956), which featured side and arm chairs, dining, coffee and side tables, as well as a stool. All of these designs were highly successful except for the "Grasshopper" lounge chair, which, although in production through 1965, was not a big success.
Buildings
Crow Island School
Crow Island School is an elementary school significant for its progressive philosophy and its architecture. The design of its building was a collaboration between the Chicago firm of Perkins, Wheeler and Will and Eero Saarinen...
in Winnetka
Winnetka
Winnetka may refer to:One of the following places in the United States:* Winnetka, Los Angeles* Winnetka, Illinois* Winnetka Heights, Dallas, TexasOr to the following educational experiment:* The Winnetka Plan...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
(1940). The first major work by Saarinen, in collaboration with his father, was the General Motors Technical Center
General Motors Technical Center
The GM Technical Center is a General Motors facility in Warren, Michigan. The campus is home to 16,000 GM engineers, designers, and technicians and has been the center of the company's engineering effort since its inauguration in 1956....
in Warren
Warren, Michigan
Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census places the city's population at 134,056, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb....
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It follows the rationalist design Miesian style
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
: incorporating steel and glass, but with the added accent of panels in two shades of blue. The GM technical center was constructed in 1956, with Saarinen using models. These models allowed him to share his ideas with others, and gather input from other professionals. With the success of the scheme, Saarinen was then invited by other major American corporations to design their new headquarters: these included John Deere
John Deere
John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Despite their rationality, however, the interiors usually contained more dramatic sweeping staircases, as well as furniture designed by Saarinen, such as the Pedestal Series. In the 1950s he began to receive more commissions from American universities for campus designs and individual buildings; these include the Noyes dormitory at Vassar
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, as well as an ice rink, Ingalls Rink
Ingalls Rink
David S. Ingalls Rink is a hockey rink in New Haven, CT designed by architect Eero Saarinen and built between 1953 and 1958 for Yale University. It is commonly referred to as The Whale, due to its appearance. The rink stands at the intersection of Prospect and Sachem Streets. The building was...
, and Ezra Stiles College
Ezra Stiles College
Ezra Stiles College is a residential college at Yale University, built in 1961 by Eero Saarinen. Architecturally, it is known for its lack of right angles. It is adjacent to Morse College.-Origin:...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
He served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
commission and was crucial in the selection of the now internationally known design by Jørn Utzon
Jørn Utzon
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , AC was a Danish architect, most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzon became only the second person to have received such recognition for one of his works during his lifetime...
.
Eero Saarinen and Associates was Saarinen's architectural firm; he was the principal partner from 1950 until his death in 1961. The firm was initially known as "Saarinen, Swansen and Associates", headed by Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
and Robert Swansen from the late 1930s until Eliel's death in 1950. The firm was located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
until 1961 when the practice was moved to Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
. Under Eero Saarinen, the firm carried out many of its most important works, including the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
(Gateway Arch) in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, the Miller House
Miller House (Columbus, Indiana)
The Miller House, also known as Miller House and Garden, is a Mid-Century modern home designed by Eero Saarinen and located in Columbus, Indiana, United States. The residence, commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia Simons...
in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 44,061 at the 2010 census, and the current mayor is Fred Armstrong. Located approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the east fork of the White River, it is the state's 20th largest...
, the TWA Flight Center
TWA Flight Center
The TWA Flight Center or Trans World Flight Center, opened in 1962 as a standalone terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport .for Trans World Airlines...
at John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
that he worked on with Charles J. Parise, and the main terminal of Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. Many of these projects use catenary
Catenary
In physics and geometry, the catenary is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola...
curves in their structural designs. One of the best-known thin-shell concrete structures in America is the Kresge Auditorium
Kresge Auditorium
Kresge Auditorium is an auditorium building for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located at 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was designed by the noted architect Eero Saarinen, with ground-breaking in 1953 and dedication in 1955...
(MIT), which was designed by Saarinen. Another thin-shell structure that he created is the Ingalls Rink
Ingalls Rink
David S. Ingalls Rink is a hockey rink in New Haven, CT designed by architect Eero Saarinen and built between 1953 and 1958 for Yale University. It is commonly referred to as The Whale, due to its appearance. The rink stands at the intersection of Prospect and Sachem Streets. The building was...
(Yale University), which has suspension cables connected to a single concrete backbone and is nicknamed "the whale." Undoubtedly, his most famous work is the TWA Flight Center, which represents the culmination of his previous designs and demonstrates his expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.
Eero worked with his father, mother and sister designing elements of the Cranbrook campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, including the Cranbrook School, Kingswood School, the Cranbrook Art Academy and the Cranbrook Science Institute. Eero's leaded glass designs are a prominent feature of these buildings throughout the campus.
http://www.arkitekturanyc.com/cat3.htm
Saarinen died while undergoing an operation for a brain tumor at the age of 51. His wife, Aline, coincidentally, would also die of the same ailment. His partners, Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche is an Irish-American architect known for his creative work with glass.Born in Dublin, Roche spent his formative years in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork before he graduated from University College Dublin in 1945. He then worked with Michael Scott from 1945-1946...
and John Dinkeloo, completed his ten remaining projects, including the St. Louis Arch. Afterwards, the name of the firm was changed to "Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates", or Roche-Dinkeloo
Roche-Dinkeloo
Roche-Dinkeloo, otherwise known as Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates LLC , is an architectural firm based in Hamden, Connecticut founded in 1966....
.
Reputation
Eero Saarinen was elected a FellowFAIA
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects is a postnomial, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects...
of the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
in 1952. He is also a winner of the AIA Gold Medal
AIA Gold Medal
The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture."...
.
Saarinen is now considered one of the masters of American 20th Century architecture. There has been a veritable surge of interest in Saarinen's work in recent years, including a major exhibition and several books. This is partly due to the Roche and Dinkeloo office having donated their Saarinen archives to Yale University, but also because Saarinen's oeuvre can be said to fit in with present-day concerns about pluralism of styles. He was criticized in his own time—most vociferously by critic Vincent Scully
Vincent Scully
Vincent Joseph Scully, Jr. is Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art in Architecture at Yale University, and the author of several books on the subject...
—for having no identifiable style; one explanation for this is that Saarinen adapted his modernist vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.
See also
- Eero Saarinen structures
- Thin-shell structureThin-shell structureThin-shell structures are light weight constructions using shell elements. These elements are typically curved and are assembled to large structures...
- Tensile architecture
- List of notable brain tumor patients
External links
- http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Crow_Island_School.html
- Eero Saarinen letter to Florence Knoll Bassett, 1935-1936, Florence Knoll Bassett papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
- Lines of Authority Time Magazine retrospective article
- Eero Saarinen - Design Dictionary Illustrated article about Eero Saarinen
- Saarinen rising: A much-maligned modernist finally gets his due
- Great buildings online entry
- Earl V. Moore Building School building designed by Eero Saarinen
- 860 photos of 19 buildings designed by Saarinen from the Balthazar Korab Collection at the Library of Congress
- Saarinen's Village: The Concordia Campus Through Time
- Digital image database at the Yale University LibraryYale University LibraryYale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It is the second-largest academic library in the North America, with approximately 12.5 million volumes housed in 20 buildings on campus...
, contains 1296 images and drawings from Saarinen's archives- Finding aid to the Eero Saarinen Collection at Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
- Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future The 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the Museum of Finnish ArchitectureMuseum of Finnish ArchitectureThe Museum of Finnish Architecture is an architectural museum in Helsinki, Finland. Established in 1956, it is the second oldest museum of its kind devoted specifically to architecture...
- Saarinen Tulip Chair
- Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia
- Eero Saarinen Exhibitions at Cranbrook Art Museum
National Building Museum
- http://www.nbm.org/about-us/publications-news/blueprints/eero-saarinen.html