Saarinen, Eero, << SAHR uh nehn, AY roh >> (1910-1961), was an American architect noted for his daring use of sculptural form. In 1948, his design of a giant stainless steel arch won a competition for a memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. The arch was completed in 1965. Saarinen gained his greatest recognition for his boxlike steel-frame buildings for the General Motors Technical Center (1945-1956) in Warren, Michigan. His Kresge Auditorium (1953-1956) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a reinforced concrete dome with only three points of support. His MIT chapel (1953-1956) is a small brick cylinder. Saarinen’s Trans World Airlines terminal (1956-1962, now closed) at Kennedy International Airport in New York City uses winglike forms of reinforced concrete.
Saarinen was born on Aug. 20, 1910, in Kirkkonummi, Finland, near Helsinki. He moved to the United States in 1923. From 1937 to 1950, he worked with his father, Eliel, who was also a famous architect. Eero Saarinen died on Sept. 1, 1961.
