Eero Saarinen Overview

Professionalism and an appreciation of the arts were qualities instilled in Eero Saarinen at an early age. His father was a world-famous architect and head of the Cranbrook Institute of Architecture and Design near Detroit, while his mother was a sculptor,... [more]

Professionalism and an appreciation of the arts were qualities instilled in Eero Saarinen at an early age. His father was a world-famous architect and head of the Cranbrook Institute of Architecture and Design near Detroit, while his mother was a sculptor, photographer, and weaver. After graduating from Yale's architecture program, Saarinen joined his father's firm and became an instructor at Cranbrook. He won a design competition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch in 1947 -- a project which helped him to establish a career separate from his father. During the 1940s Saarinen began working with American designers Charles and Ray Eames on a variety of furniture projects. The designers shared a fascination with organic shapes and a penchant for using cutting-edge materials such as plastics and plywood laminates. However, while Saarinen received wide recognition for his furniture designs, he is better known as one of the most important post-war architects. Saarinen's first major work was the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Conceived in 1955, this design intimates a connection with the Bauhaus style, particularly the influence of Mies van der Rohe. The John Deere headquarters is another example of the wit and sensitivity of Saarinen's work. The building pioneered the use of unpainted, high-tensile steel, which was allowed to rust in order to create a natural coating against further rust and deterioration. It rests serenely in a wooded landscape, where two lakes further set off the natural qualities of its materials. Throughout his career, Saarinen carefully blended material qualities with color and physical balance in his structures, helping to set trends that would dictate the direction of architecture into the 1950s. Other Saarinen architectural designs include the TWA terminal at JFK Airport in New York and the Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. Even after his untimely death in 1961, he posthumously received the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects. [show less]