The son of architect Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen was born on August 28, 1910 in Kirkkonummi, Finland, where he lived at the family villa Hvitträsk until the age of 12. In 1923, the family emigrated to the United States where Saarinen finished school and went on to study architecture.

A student becomes as master

The family came back to Finland every summer. From 1929–30, Saarinen studied sculpture in Paris. After graduating from the Yale School of Architecture in 1934, Saarinen received a two-year grant to travel in Europe.

One important stop was Helsinki, where he worked at the agency of the architect Jarl Eklund. After returning from Europe, Eero Saarinen worked together with his father Eliel Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan from 1938-50. After Eliel's passing, Eero opened his own agency, Eero Saarinen and Associates.

The General Motors Technical Center

Saarinen's first major work in the States was the General Motors Technical Center in Detroit, built between 1948 and 1956. The building achieved international recognition, and it is still regarded as one of the greatest works of industrial architecture.

Thanks to the attention and popularity of the building, many other companies - among them IBM, John Deere and CBS - commissioned Saarinen to design their new headquarters.

Gateway Arch

Saarinen's breakthrough was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (also known as the Gateway Arch) built between 1959 and 1964, after he won the design competition in 1948. It was the first time that Eero Saarinen and his father entered the same competition with different designs.

The work epitomizes Saarinen's powerful, sculptural style of architecture, combining the technical possibilities of reinforced concrete with a sense of drama. Perhaps the best example of this technique is the TWA terminal at New York's JFK airport, completed in 1962.

The TWA and Washington Dulles International Airport, also designed by Saarinen, captured the optimism of the time and the glamour of flying in their graceful concrete arches.

Furniture designer

Like his father, Eero Saarinen also became renowned for his furniture designs. The Tulip series and the Womb chair are some of his best-known pieces.

The 1956 Tulip series was designed to reduce clutter - the jungle of chair and table legs on ordinary furniture bothered Saarinen. Each Tulip had a single, pedestal-like leg.

One of the most respected and productive designers

As a seeker of a new kind of architectural language, Eero Saarinen became one of the most controversial architects of his time, but also one of the most respected and productive.

He was popular with both the media and the public, but critics accused him of not creating a distinct style or school of his own. Saarinen consciously took each commission as a new and unique opportunity and allowed the architectural form to take shape organically.

Saarinen's designs fascinate people still

Eero Saarinen died at the young age of 51 on September 1, 1961 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Many of his works were in progress at the moment of his death.

Interest in Saarinen's works has increased significantly in recent years, as has the appreciation of his rich and individual style. Today, he is regarded as one of the most important American architects of the 20th century.