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==Biography==
==Biography==
Eero Saarinen coincidentally shared the same birthday as his father, [[Eliel Saarinen]].<ref>http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3870, a very important architect in his own right, Eero Saarinen and http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3871 Eliel Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (Finnish)</ref> Saarinen immigrated to the United States of America in 1923 at the age of thirteen.<ref>[http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3870 Eero Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (in Finnish)]</ref> He grew up in [[Bloomfield Hills, Michigan]], where his father was a teacher at the [[Cranbrook Academy of Art]] where he took courses in sculpture and furniture design. He had a close relationship with fellow students [[Charles Eames|Charles]] and [[Ray Eames]], and became good friends with [[Florence Knoll|Florence Knoll (née (Schust)]].
Eero Saarinen coincidentally shared the same birthday as his father, [[Eliel Saarinen]].<ref>http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3870, a very important architect in his own right, Eero Saarinen and http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3871 Eliel Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (Finnish)</ref> Saarinen immigrated to the United States of America in 1923 at the age of thirteen.<ref>[http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3870 Eero Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (in Finnish)]</ref> He grew up in [[Bloomfield Hills, Michigan]], where his father was a teacher at the [[Cranbrook Academy of Art]] where he took courses in sculpture and furniture design. He had a close relationship with fellow students [[Charles Eames|Charles]] and [[Ray Eames]], and became good friends with [[Florence Knoll|Florence Knoll (née (Schust)]].


Beginning in September 1929, he studied sculpture at the [[Académie de la Grande Chaumière]] in Paris, France.<ref name ="Shaping the Future">Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht (eds), ''Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future'' (2006)</ref> 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.<ref>art-and-debate.webs.com</ref> Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944.<ref name ="Shaping the Future" /> After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates".
Beginning in September 1929, he studied sculpture at the [[Académie de la Grande Chaumière]] in Paris, France.<ref name ="Shaping the Future">Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht (eds), ''Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future'' (2006)</ref> 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.<ref>art-and-debate.webs.com</ref> Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944.<ref name ="Shaping the Future" /> After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates".
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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]]" became the basis of the seating used on the original ''[[Star Trek]]'' television series. The "[[Tulip Chair]]", like all other Saarinen chairs, was taken into production by the [[Knoll (company)|Knoll]] furniture company, founded by [[Hans Knoll]], who married Saarinen family friend [[Florence Knoll|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, Missouri|St. Louis]], not completed until the 1960s. The competition award was mistakenly sent to his father. He designed furniture with organic architecture.
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]]" became the basis of the seating used on the original ''[[Star Trek]]'' television series. The "[[Tulip Chair]]", like all other Saarinen chairs, was taken into production by the [[Knoll (company)|Knoll]] furniture company, founded by [[Hans Knoll]], who married Saarinen family friend [[Florence Knoll|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, Missouri|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 chair|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
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 chair|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.
[[Image:Gateway Arch complete.jpg|thumb|right|Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis]]
[[Image:Gateway Arch complete.jpg|thumb|right|Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis]]
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|Warren]], [[Michigan]]. It follows the rationalist design [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe|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 College|Vassar]], as well as an ice rink, [[Morse College]], and [[Ezra Stiles College]] at [[Yale University]]. Both the Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges at Yale have received criticism from students for failing to fulfill basic dormitory needs.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}
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|Warren]], [[Michigan]]. It follows the rationalist design [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe|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 College|Vassar]], as well as an ice rink, [[Morse College]], and [[Ezra Stiles College]] at [[Yale University]]. Both the Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges at Yale have received criticism from students for failing to fulfill basic dormitory needs.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}
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==Reputation==
==Reputation==
Eero Saarinen was elected a [[FAIA|Fellow]] of the [[American Institute of Architects]] in 1952. He is also a winner of the [[AIA Gold Medal]].
Eero Saarinen was elected a [[FAIA|Fellow]] 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.<ref name="Shaping the Future"/> 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&mdash;most vociferously by critic [[Vincent Scully]]&mdash;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.
Saarinen is now considered one of the masters of American 20th Century architecture.<ref name="Shaping the Future"/> 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&mdash;most vociferously by critic [[Vincent Scully]]&mdash;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.
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* {{cite book | last = Pelkonen | first = Eeva-Liisa | title = Eero Saarinen | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 2006 | isbn = 0300112823 }}
* {{cite book | last = Pelkonen | first = Eeva-Liisa | title = Eero Saarinen | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 2006 | isbn = 0300112823 }}
* {{cite book | last = Saarinen | first = Aline B. (ed) | title = [[Eero Saarinen on His Work]] | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 1968 }}
* {{cite book | last = Saarinen | first = Aline B. (ed) | title = [[Eero Saarinen on His Work]] | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 1968 }}
* {{cite book | last = Knight| first = Richard | title = Saarinen's Quest, A Memoir | publisher = William Stout Publishers| location = San Francisco | year = 2008 | isbn = 9780974621449 }}
* {{cite book | last = Knight| first = Richard | title = Saarinen's Quest, A Memoir | publisher = William Stout Publishers| location = San Francisco | year = 2008 | isbn = 9780974621449 }}
An exhibition of Saarinen's work, ''Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia'', has been organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in collaboration with [[Yale School of Architecture]] and the [[Museum of Finnish Architecture]]. The exhibition will tour in Europe and the USA from 2006 to 2010. The exhibition is accompanied by the book ''Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future''.
An exhibition of Saarinen's work, ''Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia'', has been organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in collaboration with [[Yale School of Architecture]] and the [[Museum of Finnish Architecture]]. The exhibition will tour in Europe and the USA from 2006 to 2010. The exhibition is accompanied by the book ''Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future''.


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* http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Crow_Island_School.html
* http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Crow_Island_School.html
* [http://archivesofamericanart.si.edu/guides/curators-picture/index.cfm/fuseaction/items.detailItem/ItemID/3191 Letter from Eero Saarinen to Florence Knoll]
* [http://archivesofamericanart.si.edu/guides/curators-picture/index.cfm/fuseaction/items.detailItem/ItemID/3191 Letter from Eero Saarinen to Florence Knoll]
*[http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1952732,00.html Lines of Authority] Time Magazine retrospective article
*[http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1952732,00.html Lines of Authority] Time Magazine retrospective article
*[http://www.designdictionary.co.uk/en/saarinen_eero.htm Eero Saarinen - Design Dictionary] Illustrated article about Eero Saarinen
*[http://www.designdictionary.co.uk/en/saarinen_eero.htm Eero Saarinen - Design Dictionary] Illustrated article about Eero Saarinen
*[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/11/07/saarinen_rising?pg=full Saarinen rising: A much-maligned modernist finally gets his due]
*[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/11/07/saarinen_rising?pg=full Saarinen rising: A much-maligned modernist finally gets his due]

Revision as of 15:12, 6 December 2010

Eero Saarinen
BornAugust 20, 1910
Kirkkonummi, Finland
DiedSeptember 1, 1961(1961-09-01) (aged 51)
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
NationalityFinnish American
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsSee list of works
DesignGateway Arch
Tulip chair

Eero Saarinen (Finnish pronunciation: [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.[1]

Biography

Eero Saarinen coincidentally shared the same birthday as his father, Eliel Saarinen.[2] Saarinen immigrated to the United States of America in 1923 at the age of thirteen.[3] He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father was a teacher at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he took courses in sculpture and furniture design. 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.[1] 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.[4] Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944.[1] After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates".

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 Times. They had a son, Eames, named after his collaborator Charles Eames.

Work

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 Chair" became the basis of the seating used on the original Star Trek television series. 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 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.

Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis

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, Morse College, and Ezra Stiles College at Yale University. Both the Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges at Yale have received criticism from students for failing to fulfill basic dormitory needs.[citation needed]

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.

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 TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 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.[1]

Eero worked with his father, mother and sister designing elements of the Cranbrook campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, inc the Crabrook School, Kingswood School, the Cranbrook Art Academy and the Cranbrook Science Institute. Eero's leaded glass designs are a prominent feature of these buidlings 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.

Reputation

Eero Saarinen was elected a Fellow 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.[1] 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.

Bibliography

Selected projects

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht (eds), Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future (2006)
  2. ^ http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3870, a very important architect in his own right, Eero Saarinen and http://www.mfa.fi/arkkitehtiesittely?apid=3871 Eliel Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (Finnish)
  3. ^ Eero Saarinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture (in Finnish)
  4. ^ art-and-debate.webs.com

References and further reading

  • A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: Newspaper Moguls, Pittock Mansion, Cranbrook House & Gardens, The American Swedish Institute. A&E Television Network.
  • Roman, Antonio (2003). Eero Saarinen. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568983409.
  • Serraino, Pierluigi (2006). Saarinen, 1910-1961: a Structural Expressionist. KöLn: Taschen. ISBN 3822836451.
  • Merkel, Jayne (2005). Eero Saarinen. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 071484277X.
  • Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa (2006). Eero Saarinen. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300112823.
  • Saarinen, Aline B. (ed) (1968). Eero Saarinen on His Work. New Haven: Yale University Press. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  • Knight, Richard (2008). Saarinen's Quest, A Memoir. San Francisco: William Stout Publishers. ISBN 9780974621449.

An exhibition of Saarinen's work, Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia, has been organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in collaboration with Yale School of Architecture and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The exhibition will tour in Europe and the USA from 2006 to 2010. The exhibition is accompanied by the book Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eero Saarinen.

National Building Museum

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