ARCHITECT:

EERO SAARINEN

1.0 LIFE & LIFETIME1.1 BORN

1910, Kirkkonummi, Finland1.2 DIED

1961, Ann Arbor, Michigan1.3 FAMILY

Father : Eliel Saarinen (Architect)born 1873, Rantasalmi, Finlanddied 1950, Michigan

1.4 EDUCATIONFurniture & Sculpture Design Crankbrook Academy of ArtArchitecture Yale University, 1934

1.0 LIFE & LIFETIME1.5 PROFESSION

Architect1.Practiced under father Eliel Saarinen from 19372.Own practice started under the name of Eero Saarinen and Associates, 1950

Furniture DesignerUnder his father he designed and entered his furniture designs in competitions. Later were entered into production by the Knoll Furniture Company.

1.0 LIFE & LIFETIME1.6 INFLUENCES

1.Cranckbrook Academy of Art, MichiganHe grew up among the buildings of the university. Later on completed furniture and sculpture design from the university.

2.Eliel Saarinen His father who also taught in the Cranckbrook

Academy. His father was a propagandist of Art Nouveau at that time.

1.0 LIFE & LIFETIME

3.Yale UniversityHis formal education of architecture was

completed there.4.Travel

Visited he toured Europe and north Africa for a year and spent another year back in Finland, after which he returned to Cranbrook to work for his father.

2.0 PHILOSOPHY2.1 ARCHITECTURAL THEORIES/ STYLES/ PRINCIPLES/

CONCEPT/ BELIEF

The Company Headquarters were designed very much in the rationalist MIESIAN STYLE, in steel and glass.

Individual structures like TWA flight Centre and also his furniture designs were ORGANIC or ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST.

His design of USA embassy in London is considered to be an example of CLASSICAL ECLECTISM.

2.0 PHILOSOPHYHe was criticized by Vincet Scully in his own time for having no identifiable style.

Saarinen's work can be said to fit in with present-day concerns about pluralism of styles.

‘An explanation for this is that Saarinen adapted his modernist vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.’

2.0 PHILOSOPHY2.2 QUOTES

“ I feel strongly that modern architecture is in danger of falling into a mold too quickly- too rigid a mold. What was once a great hope for a great new period of architecture has some how become an automatic application of the same formula over and over again everywhere. I feel, therefore, a certain responsibility to examine problems with the specific enthusiasm of bringing out h particular problem the particular solution… in this sense, I align myself humbly with Le Corbusier and against Mies van der Rohe.”

3.0 WORKS3.1 MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL WORKS

3.1.1 JEFFERSON NATIONAL EXPANSION MEMORIAL

Took first prize in the design competition.

Place: St Louis, MissouriTime: 1948-1960

3.0 WORKS3.1.2 GENERAL MOTORS

TECHNICAL CENTRE

Place: Warren, MichiganTime: 1949-1955Style: Rationalist

Miesian StyleMaterials: Steel and Glass

Saarinen employed a consistent vocabulary of metal and glass curtain walls for the long elevations, and colourful, glazed brick walls on the short ends of simple rectangular volumes.

3.0 WORKS3.1.3 TWA TERMINAL

Place: John F.Kennedy Airport, New

YorkTime: 1956-1962Style: ExpressionistMaterials: Concrete, Glass and Metal

3.0 WORKS3.1.4 DULLES TERMINAL

Place: Chantilly, Virginia

Time: 1958-1963Style: ExpressionistMaterials: Concrete,

Glass and Metal

PLANS

VIEWS OF THE TERMINAL

3.0 CRONOLOGY OF WORKSTIME WORK REMARK

1940 Chair designed together with Charles Eames for the "OrganicDesign in Home Furnishings" competition

Won first prize

1948 Jefferson National Expansion, Memorial, St. Louis.

Won first prize, not completed till 1960

1949-1955

General motors technical centre First major architectural commission

3.0 CRONOLOGY OF WORKSTIME WORK REMARK

1949-1955

General motors technical centre First major architectural commission

1953 Kersge Auditorium, MIT

1955 MIT Chapel, Cambridge

1956-1962

John F. Kennedy Airport, New York The most internationally acclaimed work of his.

TIME WORK REMARK

1958-1963

Dulles terminal Another free flowing concrete shell.

He served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House commission and was crucial in the selection of the internationally-known design by Jørn Utzon.