MASTERS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Eliel Saarinen

Eliel Saarinen

BornAugust 20, 1873

Rantasalmi, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire

DiedJuly 1, 1950 (aged 76)

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S.

NationalityFinnishOccupationArchitectSpouse(s)Loja SaarinenChildrenEero SaarinenAwardsAIA Gold MedalBuildingsHelsinki Central railway station

National Museum of Finland
Vyborg railway station
Hvitträsk

Kleinhans Music HallProjectsFinnish pavilion at the World Fair of 1900DesignFinnish markka banknotes introduced in 1922

Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (/ˈsɑːrɪnən/, Finnish: [ˈeliel ˈsɑːrinen]; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was the father ofEero Saarinen.

Life and work in Finland

Saarinen was educated in Helsinki at the Helsinki University of Technology. From 1896 to 1905 he worked as a partner with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren at the firm Gesellius, Lindgren, and Saarinen. His first major work with the firm, the Finnish pavilion at the Paris 1900 World Fair, exhibited an extraordinary convergence of stylistic influences: Finnish wooden architecture, the British Gothic Revival, and the Jugendstil. Saarinen's early manner was later christened the Finnish National Romanticism and culminated in theHelsinki Central railway station (designed 1904, constructed 1910–14).

From 1910 to 1915 he worked on the extensive city-planning project of Munksnäs-Haga and later published a book on the subject. In January 1911 he became a consultant in city planning for Tallinn, Estonia and was invited toBudapest to advise in city development. In 1912, a brochure written by Saarinen about the planning problems of Budapest was published. He was runner up behind Walter Burley Griffin in an international competition to design the new Australian capital city of Canberra in 1912, but the following year he received the first place award in an international competition for his plan of Reval. From 1917 to 1918 Saarinen worked on the city-plan for greaterHelsinki. He also designed a series of postage stamps issued 1917 and theFinnish markka banknotes introduced in 1922.

After the divorce from his first wife, Mathilde (who then married Herman Gesellius), on March 6, 1904 Saarinen married his second wife, Louise (Loja) Gesellius, a sculptor in Helsinki, and the younger sister of Herman Gesellius. They had a daughter Eva-Lisa (Pipsan) on March 31, 1905 and a son Eero on August 20, 1910.

Move to the United States

Eliel Saarinen moved to the United States in 1923 after his competition entry for the Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois won second place and so was not built; the most faithful realization of it is the 1929 Gulf Building in Houston. Saarinen first settled in Evanston, Illinois, where he worked on his scheme for the development of the Chicago lake front. In 1924 he became a visiting professor at the University of Michigan.

In 1925 George Gough Booth asked him to design the campus of Cranbrook Educational Community, intended to be an American equivalent to the Bauhaus. Saarinen taught there and became president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932. Among his student-collaborators were Ray Eames (then Ray Kaiser) and Charles Eames; Saarinen influenced their subsequent furniture design.

In c. 1929-34, Eliel Saarinen was produced in product design for the Wilcox Silver Plate Co. / International Silver Company inMeriden, CT.[1] His iconic tea urn (c. 1934) was first exhibited in 1934–35 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[2]Over the years, the tea urn has been widely exhibited, including in St. Louis Modern (2015–16) at the St Louis Museum of Art,[3] Cranbrook Goes to the Movies: Films and Their Objects, 1925–1975 at the Cranbrook Art Museum (2014–15).,[4] and in 2005-07, in the touring exhibition Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design, organized by the Dallas Museum of Art, which also travelled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.[5] In 1951–52, the tea urn was featured in the Eliel Saarinen Memorial Exhibition which travelled to multiple venues across the United States. In addition to Cranbrook, the Dallas Museum and the St Louis Museum, The British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art also hold tea urn-related Eliel Saarinen designs.[6]

Eliel Saarinen became a professor in the University of Michigan's Architecture Department.

His son, Eero (1910–1961), became one of the most important American architects of the mid-20th century, as one of the leaders of the International style. Saarinen's student Edmund N. Bacon achieved national prominence as Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970.

Eliel received the AIA Gold Medal in 1947.

Significant works

Saarinen designed entire city districts of Helsinki, but they were never built due to cost. This picture shows his plan for the Haaga district.

WorkLocationFinishedPictureFinnish Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle Designed with Herman Gesellius and Armas LindgrenParis1900HvitträskKirkkonummi1902National Museum of FinlandHelsinki1904Helsinki Central railway stationHelsinki1909Lahti Town HallLahti1911Vyborg railway stationVyborg1913Joensuu Town HallJoensuu1914Saint Paul's ChurchTartu1917Marble PalaceHelsinki1918Munkkiniemi Pension houseHelsinki1920Koussevitzky Music ShedLenox1938Kleinhans Music HallBuffalo1940Crow Island SchoolWinnetka1940–41First Christian ChurchColumbus, IN1942Cranbrook Educational CommunityBloomfield Hills1940'sDes Moines Art CenterDes Moines1948Christ Church LutheranMinneapolis1949

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen

BornAugust 20, 1910

Kirkkonummi, Grand Duchy of Finland

DiedSeptember 1, 1961 (aged 51)

Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.

NationalityFinnish
AmericanOccupationArchitectSpouse(s)Lilian Swann Saarinen (1939-1954 div.)
Aline B. Saarinen (1954-1961)AwardsAIA Gold Medal (1962)PracticeAssociated architectural firm[s]BuildingsSee list of worksDesignGateway Arch
Washington Dulles International Airport
TWA Flight Center
Tulip chair

Eero Saarinen (/ˈeɪroʊ ˈsɑːrɪnən, ˈɛəroʊ -/, Finnish: [ˈeːro ˈsɑːrinen]; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect andindustrial designer noted for his neo-futuristic style. Saarinen is known for designing the Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., the TWA Flight Center in New York City, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of noted Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.

Early life and education

Eero Saarinen was born on August 20, 1910, to Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and his second wife, Louise, on his father's 37th birthday.[1][2] They immigrated to the United States in 1923, when Eero was thirteen.[1][2] He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father taught and was dean of theCranbrook Academy of Art, and he took courses in sculpture and furniture design there.[3] He had a close relationship with fellow students Charles andRay Eames, and became good friends with Florence Knoll (née Schust).[4]

Saarinen began studies in sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumièrein Paris, France, in September 1929.[4] He then went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture, completing his studies in 1934.[5][1] Subsequently, he toured Europe and North Africa for a year and returned for a year to his native Finland.[6]

Architectural career[edit]

Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

After his tour of Europe and North Africa, Saarinen returned to Cranbrook to work for his father and teach at the academy. The firm was "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.

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 Chair", 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 Gateway Arch National Park (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis. The memorial wasn't completed until the 1960s. The competition award was mistakenly sent to his father because both he and his father had entered the competition separately. When the Committee sent out the Letter stating Saarinen had Won the Gateway Arch Competition the Letter was mistakenly addressed to his Father.

Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

Kleinhans Music Hall in Symphony Circle, Buffalo, New York

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),[7] 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.

TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport

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, which 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, which 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 such as John Deere, IBM, and CBS to design their new headquarters or other major corporate buildings. Despite their rationality, however, the interiors usually contained more dramatic sweeping staircases, as well as furniture designed by Saarinen, such as the Pedestal Series.[8] In the 1950s he began to receive more commissions from American universities for campus designs and individual buildings; these include the Noyes dormitory atVassar, Hill College House at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an ice rink, Ingalls Rink, Ezra Stiles & Morse Colleges at Yale University, the MIT Chapel and neighboring Kresge Auditorium at MIT and the University of Chicago Law Schoolbuilding and grounds.

Saarinen served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House commission in 1957 and was crucial in the selection of the now internationally known design by Jørn Utzon.[9] A jury which did not include Saarinen had discarded Utzon's design in the first round; Saarinen reviewed the discarded designs, recognized a quality in Utzon's design, and ultimately assured the commission of Utzon.[9]

After his father's death in July 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates". He was the principal partner from 1950 until his death in 1961. Under Eero Saarinen, the firm carried out many of its most important works, including the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, Gateway Arch National Park (including theGateway 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, the main terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport, the new East Air Terminal of the old Athens airport in Greece, which opened in 1967, etc. Many of these projects usecatenary curves in their structural designs.

In 1949-1950, Saarinen was hired by the then-new Brandeis University to create a master plan for the campus.[10]Saarinen's plan A Foundation for Learning: Planning the Campus of Brandeis University (1949; second edition 1951), developed with Matthew Nowicki, called for a central academic complex surrounded by residential quadrangles along a peripheral road.[11] The plan was never built but was useful in attracting donors.[10] Saarinen did build a few residential structures on the campus, including Ridgewood Quadrangle (1950), Sherman Student Center (1952) and Shapiro Dormitory at Hamilton Quadrangle (1952).[11][10] These have all been either demolished or extensively remodeled.[citation needed]

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 Yale's Ingalls Rink, 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 neofuturistic expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.[12][page needed] In 2019 the terminal was transformed into the TWA Hotel.[13][14][15]

Eero Saarinen designed the Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, New York together with his father Eliel Saarinen. He also designed the Embassy of the United States in London, which opened in 1960, and the Embassy of the United States in Oslo.

Saarinen 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 Saarinen's leaded glass designs are a prominent feature of these buildings throughout the campus.

Non-architectural activities

Tulip Chair and Seat Cushion, designed 1956, Brooklyn Museum

Womb Chair, Model No. 70, designed 1947–1948, Brooklyn Museum

Saarinen was recruited by Donal McLaughlin, an architectural school friend from his Yale days, 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.[16] Saarinen worked full-time for the OSS until 1944.[12][page needed]

Honors and awards

Eero Saarinen was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1952.[17]He was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1954.[18] In 1962, he was posthumously awarded a gold medal by the American Institute of Architects.[19]

In 1940, he received two first prizes together with Charles Eames in furniture design competition of MoMA. In 1948, he won the first prize in Jefferson national monument competition. Boston Arts festival in 1953 gave him Grand architectural award. He received the First Honor award of the American Institute of Architects twice, in 1955 and 1956, and their gold medal in 1962. In 1965 he got the first prize in US Embassy competition in London.[20]

Personal life

Saarinen became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1940.[21]

Saarinen married sculptor Lilian Swann in 1939, with whom he had two children, Ericand Susan. The marriage ended in divorce in 1954. That same year Saarinen married Aline Bernstein Louchheim, an art critic at The New York Times, with whom he had a son, Eames, named after Saarinen's collaborator Charles Eames.[22][23]

Death

Saarinen died on September 1, 1961, at the age of 51 while undergoing an operation for a brain tumor. He was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, overseeing the completion of a new music building for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.[24] He is buried at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, in Troy, Michigan.[25]

Legacy

Saarinen is now considered one of the masters of American 20th-century architecture.[12][page needed] There has been a surge of interest in Saarinen's work in recent years,[when?] including a major exhibition and several books. This is partly because the Roche and Dinkeloo office has donated its 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 Yale's Vincent Scully—for having no identifiable style; one explanation for this is that Saarinen adapted hisneo-futuristic vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.[12][page needed]

The papers of Aline and Eero Saarinen, from 1906-1977,[26] were donated in 1973 to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (by Charles Alan, Aline Saarinen's brother and executor of her estate[27]). In 2006, the bulk of these primary source documents on the couple were digitized and posted online on the Archives' website.[28]

An exhibition of Saarinen's work, Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, was organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in collaboration with Yale School of Architecture, the National Building Museum, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The exhibition toured in Europe and the US from 2006 to 2010.[29] From May to August 2008, the exhibit was at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.[30] The exhibition was accompanied by the book Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future.[31]

In 2016 Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future, a film about Saarinen (co-produced by his son Eric), premiered on the PBS American Masters series.[32]