High Modernism of Scandanavia

Alvar Aalto, Baker residence hall, MIT, Cambridge MA, 1947-48

Town Hall, Saynatsalo, Finland, by Alvar Aalto, 1949-52

Vuoksenniska Church, Imatra, Finland, by Alvar Aalto, 1956-59

Villa Mairea, by Alvar Aalto, c1956

In 1947, both Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero entered the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition in St. Louis, Missouri. The winner was announced as “Mr. Saarinen,” and the family assumed that this reference was to Eliel. In fact, it was the younger “Mr. Saarinen” who had actually garnered first prize.

The resulting form is now commonly dubbed “the St. Louis Arch because of its tall parabolic arch (631 feet) soaring on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The arch was completed in 1961 and remains a symbolic gateway to the west. This project thrust Eero Saarinen, who had studied architecture at Yale University, into the orbit of the premiere architects of the country.

TWA Terminal, Idlewild (JFK) Airport, Long Island NY, by Eero Saarinen, 1956-62

Opera House, Sydney, Australia, by Jorn Utzon, 1957-73