SAARINEN, Eero

(1910-1961)

   Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-born American architect who first studied architecture with his father, Eliel Saarinen, is known for his curvilinear, organic constructions. One of the first 20th-century architects to question the stark aesthetic that characterized early modernism, he sought instead to imbue his structures with a more expressive quality. Raised around the Cran-brook Academy of Art in Michigan, where his father taught, Eero displayed an early interest in architecture, studied at Yale University, and then traveled around the world before returning to Michigan to teach at Cranbrook. He later established an architectural firm in New Haven, Connecticut.

   Eero Saarinen's early career was linked to that of his father. In 1942, Eliel Saarinen completed the first contemporary church designed in the United States, the First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana. The modernist building set in motion a series of architectural commissions in this small town that established it as one of the premier locations for modernist architecture and public sculpture in the United States. Eero Saarinen's Irwin Union Bank was the second modernist structure in Columbus, completed in 1954. Here the architect sought to diminish the imposing, formal design of the traditional bank and instead to build a structure that was more open and welcoming. Accordingly, this bank, which is surrounded by trees, features large glass windows on the exterior and an open, well-lit interior. The town of Columbus today features over 70 important buildings constructed by numerous internationally known architects, including Gunnar Birkerts, Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, and I. M. Pei.

   The Trans World Airport Terminal, built at JFK Airport in New York (1956-1962), is Eero Saarinen's most famous work and demonstrates his desire to integrate the function of the building into its design. Here, the walls swoop upward like a bird in flight, and the huge roof, made of reinforced concrete, is shaped like two broad wings. The inside of the terminal features broad spaces that flow from one to another, providing an open interior where people can move quickly from ticket counters to gates. As flying was becoming a more accessible mode of travel, record numbers of people were beginning to fly. Thus the TWA Terminal, with its innovative design, records this period of excitement in air travel, the booming travel industry, and American idealism.

   Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis, known as the "Gateway to the West," is a famous tourist destination that has come to symbolize the city as well as to express American idealism in terms of modern American technical innovations. Designed just before his death, the arch was completed from 1963 to 1965 by Saarinen's partners Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo. At a cost of 15 million dollars, the arch is a feat of engineering. It stands 630 feet tall, is made of stainless steel wrapped over reinforced concrete, and is shaped like a parabolic arch of equilateral triangles. With its internal elevators for visitors to travel to the top, it has become one of the most famous tourist destinations in the Midwest.

   See also EXPRESSIONISM.