SAARINEN, Eliel

Finnish architect, urban planner and designer. From 1893 to 1897, Saarinen studied painting at Helsinki University and architecture at Helsinki Polytechnic. He later painted only as a hobby. In 1896, while still a student, he founded the architectural firm of Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen, known as GLS, together with Herman Geselius (1874-1916) and Armas Eliel Lindgren (1874-1929). Alongside public buildings, they also designed private villas, in which they realized the principle of total work of art (e.g. Suur-Merijoki manor house in Viipuri, 1903). For this reason, from the 1890s onwards, Saarinen also designed furniture, like his buildings drew upon Finnish tradition.

Saarinen's first buildings were strongly influenced by the Finnish Gothic RevivalGLOSSARYArchitectural style that drew its inspiration from medieval architecture and competed with the Neoclassical revivals in the United States and Great Britain. Only isolated examples of the style are to be found on the Continent. The earliest documented example of the revived use of Gothic architectural elements is Strawberry Hill, the home of the English writer Horace Walpole. As in many of the early Gothic Revival buildings, the Gothic was used here for its picturesque and romantic qualities without regard for its structural possibilities or original function. Another early example of the tendency toward ornamentation and decoration was Fonthill Abbey, designed by James Wyatt, a country house with a tower 82 metres high. Nothing could more clearly illustrate both the impracticality of usage and the romantic associations with medieval life. The earliest manifestations of an interest in the medieval era were in the private domain, but by the 1820s public buildings in England were also being designed in the Gothic mode. Perhaps no example is more familiar than the new Houses of Parliament (1840), designed by Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin. In that large cluster of buildings, the haphazard picturesque quality of the early revival was replaced by a more conscientious adaptation of the medieval English style. Other structures built around mid-century were within this basic pattern. Later, the desire for more elegant and sumptuous landmarks created the last flowering of the style. and the English Arts and Crafts MovementGLOSSARYThe Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that began in Britain and flourished in Europe and North America between about 1880 and 1920, emerging in Japan in the 1920s as the Mingei movement. It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms, and often used medieval, romantic, or folk styles of decoration. It had a strong influence on the arts in Europe until it was displaced by Modernism in the 1930s, and its influence continued among craft makers, designers, and town planners long afterwards. The movement was inspired by the ideas of architect Augustus Pugin, writer John Ruskin, and designer William Morris. It developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America.. Their interiors, which frequently originated from the workshop of Gallen-Kallela, revealed predominantly Art Nouveau elements. In his later buildings, forms became more abstract. His most important work was Helsinki Central Station (designed 1904, built 1910-14).

Despite individual projects, however, the dominant theme of Saarinen's work in the decade from 1910 was urban planning. He attempted to solve the traffic and commercial space problems of the growing Helsinki by proposing two new roads for the city centre. Saarinen's 'total' approach to design is seen in these new city streets, for which he also designed buildings, including their interiors. The most comprehensive of Saarinen's urban visions was his plan for Munkkiniemi-Haaga (1910-15), a new suburb of Helsinki for 170,000 inhabitants, to be built with private funds.

In 1922, Saarinen took part in the American Chicago Tribune Competition and won second prize. His proposal, with a stepped-in profile and avoiding overt historical references, proved very popular, differing clearly from other entries representing the European avant-garde. Many American buildings of the 1920s reflected Saarinen's vision. In 1923, he emigrated to the United States, where he opened an office in Evanston, Illinois, transferring it to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1924.

The architecture of Saarinen's late period was marked by the arrival of his son Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) in the office in the late 1930s.