AR EERO SAARINEN

BIOGRAPHY

• Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect and industrial

designer born in the year 1910.

• His father Eliel Saarinen was a noted and respected

architect.

• And mother was Loja Saarinen, a gifted sculptor, weaver,

photographer, and architectural model maker.

• He is famous for shaping his neofuturistic style according to the

demands of the project.

• His designs involved simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or

machine-like rationalism.

• He took courses in sculpture and furniture design at the Cranbrook

Academy of Art.

• He died of a brain tumour in 1961 at the age of 51.

PHILOSOPHY

• He learnt at an early age that each object should be designed in its "next largest context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a
house in an environment, environment in a city plan.“

• His opinion was that, "...all parts of an architectural composition must be parts of the same form-world.“

• He was an architect who refused to be restrained by any preconceived ideas.

BIOGRAPHY
Name City State/Country Designed Completed Other Information

Cranbrook School for Boys Bloomfield Hills Michigan 1925 1931 With Eliel Saarinen
furnishings
Saarinen House furnishings Bloomfield Hills Michigan 1928 1930

Kingswood School for Girls Bloomfield Hills Michigan 1929 1931

furnishings

Hvitträsk Studio and Home Kirkkonummi Finland 1929 1937 Remodel

Swedish Theatre Helsinki Finland 1935 1936 Remodel. With Eliel Saarinen

Fenton Community Center Fenton Michigan 1937 1938 With Eliel Saarinen

J. F. Spencer House Huntington Woods Michigan 1937 1938 First building designed independently

Charles and Ingrid Koebel House Grosse Pointe Farms Michigan 1937 1940 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson

Kleinhans Music Hall Buffalo New York 1938 1940 With Eliel Saarinen. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989

Crow Island School Winnetka Illinois 1938 1942 With Eliel Saarinen and Perkins & Will. Designated a National
Historic Landmark in 1990

Berskhire Music Centre buildings Lenox Massachusetts 1938 1959 Tanglewood Shed in 1938 (with Eliel Saarinen and Joseph Franz),
Chamber Music Shed in 1947 (with Eliel Saarinen), Edmund Haws
Talbot Orchestra Canopy in 1959

Centre Line Defence Housing Centre Line Michigan 1941 1942 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson. 477 housing units
 Name City State/Country Designed Completed Other Information

Albert and Muriel Wermuth Fort Wayne Indiana 1941 1942

House

Willow Lodge Willow Run Michigan 1942 1943 Demolished

Grasshopper Chair n/a n/a 1943 1946 Chair design for Knoll Associates

Lincoln Heights Housing Washington District of 1944 1946 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson.
Columbia

Hugh Taylor Birch Hall at Yellow Ohio 1944 1947 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson.
Antioch College Springs

Des Moines Art Centre Des Moines Iowa 1944 1948 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson. Listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 2004

Case Study House #9 Los Angeles California 1945 1949 With Charles Eames. Saarinen also provided an original plan for House #8, but
Eames completely redesigned it. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 2013

Models 71 and 73 n/a n/a 1945 1950 Chair design for Knoll Associates

Birmingham High School Birmingham Michigan 1945 1952 With Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson

Drake University plan and Des Moines Iowa 1945 1957 Harvey Ingham Hall of Science, Fitch Hall of Pharmacy, Women's Dormitory &
buildings Dining Hall (all in 1945 with Eliel Saarinen and J. Robert F. Swanson), Bible School
& Prayer Chapel in 1952, Women's Dormitory #4 in 1957, Jewett Union addition in
1957

Womb Chair & Ottoman n/a n/a 1946 1948 Chair design for Knoll Associates

Christ Church Lutheran Minneapolis Minnesota 1947 1949 With Eliel Saarinen; solo addition in 1962. Designated a National Historic
Landmark in 2009.
 Name City State/Country Designed Completed Other Information

Eero Saarinen House Bloomfield Michigan 1947 1959 Renovation of a Victorian house
Hills
Gateway Arch St. Louis Missouri 1947 1965 Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987

UAW–CIO Cooperative Flint Michigan 1948 1948 Renovation. Demolished.

General Motors Technical Warren Michigan 1948 1956 Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014
Centre
Aspen Music Center Aspen Colorado 1949 1949 With Eliel Saarinen. Demolished in 1963.

Brandeis University plan and Waltham Massachusetts 1949 1952 With Matthew Nowicki. Ridgewood Quadrangle Dormitories (1950), Hamilton
buildings Quadrangle Dormitory & Student Centre (1952), Sherman Student Centre (1952)

Loja Saarinen House Bloomfield Michigan 1950 1950 House for Saarinen's widowed mother
Hills
J. Irwin and Xenia Miller District of Ontario 1950 1952
Cottage Muskoka

Irwin Union Bank and Trust Columbus Indiana 1950 1954 Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000

Massachusetts Institute of Cambridge Massachusetts 1950 1955 MIT Chapel and Kresge Auditorium
Technology buildings

University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan 1951 1956

School of Music

Milwaukee County War Milwaukee Wisconsin 1952 1957

Memorial
 Name City State/Country Designed Completed Other Information

Eero Saarinen & Associates Building Bloomfield Hills Michigan 1953 1953

Stephens College Chapel Columbia Missouri 1953 1956

Miller House Columbus Indiana 1953 1957 Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000

Concordia Senior College Fort Wayne Indiana 1953 1958

Pedestal Series n/a n/a 1954 1957 Furniture design for Knoll Associates. Includes the tulip
chair

Emma Hartman Noyes House at Vassar Poughkeepsie New York 1954 1958
College

United States Chancellery Building Oslo Norway 1955 1959

United States Chancellery Building London England 1955 1960

University of Chicago plan and buildings Chicago Illinois 1955 1960 Women's Dormitory & Dining Hall (1958; demolished 2001),
Law School (1960)

David S. Ingalls Rink New Haven Connecticut 1956 1958

IBM Manufacturing & Training Facility Rochester Minnesota 1956 1958

TWA Terminal New York City New York 1956 1962 Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005

Hill College House (Hill Hall) Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1957 1960 undergraduate dormitories at the University of
Pennsylvania
 Name City State/Country Designed Completed Other Information

IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Yorktown New York 1957 1961

Centre Heights

Bell Telephone Corporate Laboratories Holmdel New Jersey 1957 1962

Deere & Co. Administrative Centre Moline Illinois 1957 1963

Ezra Stiles & Morse College New Haven Connecticut 1958 1962

Dulles International Airport Chantilly Virginia 1958 1963

Vivian Beaumont Repertory Theatre & New York New York 1958 1965
Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts City
Library & Museum

North Christian Church Columbus Indiana 1959 1964 Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000

Hamden Office Hamden Connecticut 1960 1961 Became new headquarters

Saarinen House New Haven Connecticut 1960 1961 Renovation of a Tudor Revival house

CBS Building New York New York 1960 1965

City

Athens Airport Athens Greece 1960 1969

 FA M O U S A R C H I T E C T U R A L W O R K S

• Gateway Arch
• MIT Chapel
• TWA Terminal
• Miller House

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. 1951-53

Miller House, Columbus, Indiana-1957

MIT
CHAPEL

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Height: 30 feet (9.1m)

Diameter: 50 feet (15 m)
Year of design: 1950
Year of completion: 1955
FORM + DESIGN

• The MIT Chapel is a simple cylindrical volume.

• From the outside, the chapel is a simple, windowless brick cylinder set inside a very shallow concrete moat.
• It is topped by an aluminium spire.
• The brick is supported by a series of low arches.
• From a distance, Saarinen’s chapel appears as a brick building that contextually aligns with the dormitories and the older buildings
on campus.
EXTERIOR + VOLUME

• The MIT Chapel is a simple cylindrical volume that has a complex and mystical quality within.
• The chapel’s cylindrical form breaks the rigidity of the campus’s orthogonal grid.
• Tucked away in a small forested area on campus, the windowless chapel sits as a simple object in the Kresge Oval.
M AT E R I A L + E N V I R O N M E N T

• Upon approaching the chapel, one

encounters a shallow concrete moat that
surrounds the chapel that seeps into the
interior around a series of low arches that
provide the structure for the chapel.
• Saarinen chose bricks that were
rough and imperfect to create a
textured effect.
• The whole is set in two groves of
birch trees, with a long wall to the
east.
• The wall and trees provide a uniform
background for the chapel, and isolate
the site from the noise and bustle of
adjacent buildings.
INTERIOR + LIGHTING

GLASS BLOCK THAT ALLOWS LIGHT INSIDE

• Saarinen’s simple design is overshadowed by the interior form and

light that were meant to awaken spirituality in the visitor.
• Due to the windowless façade, the interior of the chapel is
completely masked by the exterior of the volume.
• The interior is inundated with a high level of detail and
atmospheric qualities that are enhanced by filtered natural light.
TEXTURE + FEEL

• Once inside, the visitor is transported to a completely unexpected interior space that is unknown from the exterior
façade.
• Unlike the smooth uninterrupted façade, the interior brick walls undulate around the circumference of the chapel,
which creates a new spatial dynamic that is illuminated by the moat that slips into the interior from outside.
TEXTURE + FEEL

• Above the white marble altar, there is a metal sculpture by Harry Bertoia
that hangs from the circular skylight that shimmers in the sunlight
reflecting and distributing light into the interior of the chapel.
• The sculpture appears as a cascading waterfall of light that is constantly
adjusting, moving, and redefining the interior of the chapel.
L I G H T + T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

• Natural light filters upward from shallow slits in the walls catching rippling reflected light from the moat.
• This dim ambient light is complemented by artificial lighting.
• The chapel's curving spire and bell tower was designed by the sculptor Theodore Roszak and was added in 1956.
L I G H T + T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

• The dynamic interior essentially transforms into a light box

that absorbs and filters the light from the small moat and
the skylight.
• Light transforms the simple chapel into a chapel of light that is
consistently undergoing changing atmospheric and
dematerializing effects.
• Saarinen’s meticulous attention to detail regarding light
transforms the spiritual space into a religious architectural
experience.
T WA
TERMINAL

Location – New York City, New York, US.

Year of design: 1956
Year of completion: 1962
Became an official landmark: 1994, voted on by
the Landmarks Preservation Commission
Shut down in the year: 2001
DESIGN CONCEPT

• The client wanted this building to capture the "spirit of flight“.

• In order to capture the concept of flight, Saarinen used curves
to create spaces that flowed into one another.
• The exterior's concrete roof imitates a bird in flight with two
massive "wings.“
INTERIOR + FORM

"All the curves, all the spaces and elements right

down to the shape of the signs, display boards,
railings and check-in desks were to be of a matching
nature. We wanted passengers passing through the
building to experience a fully-designed environment,
in which each part arises from another and
everything belongs to the same formal world," stated
Eero Saarinen during construction in 1959.

• The interior consists of a continuous ribbon of elements, all whisking themselves in from the exterior, so that ceilings
continuously run into walls and those walls become floors.
• The swooping concrete curves that embraced flyers into the jet age.
STRUCTURE + DESIGN

• The structure consists of a shell of reinforced concrete with four segments that extend outward from a central point.
• The concrete "wings" then unfold on either side of the exterior, preparing for flight.
• Within the concrete, the structure is reinforced with a web of steel.
C O M B I N AT I O N O F M AT E R I A L S

• The large panels of glass beneath the concrete are also supported with steel, and have a contemporary
purple-tint.
• These glass walls are tilted towards the exterior at an angle as they reach the ceiling, as if intended for viewers to
imagine looking out from a plane to the earth below.
• These windows also highlight the purpose of the structure, providing views of departing and arriving jets.
E L E VAT I O N D R A W I N G
E L E VAT I O N D R A W I N G