The Organic Modernist

February 2, 2010

Being a great architect really takes a lot of dedication and time. It seems throughout history, seldom do architects really come into prominence before they enter their 40’s, if not much later. Often great designers continue working tirelessly beyond their "golden years" when many others are retiring or at least scaling back. However, there are some that make an incredible impact on history and style without ever making it to professional maturity.

Eero Saarinen was one of these people. Although he only lived to 51, and most of his iconic projects were completed after his death, he is recognized as one of the most influential Modernist architects in history. I recently visited a retrospective exhibit called "Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future" at the Museum of the City of New York. Besides his famous buildings like the TWA Terminal and the St. Louis Gateway arch, the exhibit reviews the numerous contributions he made to defining a new direction for furniture design during the boom years of the 1950s. One of the best known examples, the Tulip chair, designed for a MoMA competition on "organic home furnishings" and later licensed by Knoll Associates, is still in production today.

Although I was familiar with many of his projects, I was intrigued to learn that Saarinen was often criticized for not having a consistent style. Sure, not all his buildings look alike, but I feel that’s ideal because different [design] problems shouldn’t be solved the same way. Regardless of the naysayers, Saarinen’s place in history as one of the most influential mid-century Modernists and a top Finnish export, along with Nokia phones and saunas, remains intact. I can only imagine how much larger his contribution would’ve been if not for his untimely death.