SOLIDQUALITY

Saarinen's TWA Terminal at JFK

The Museum of the City of New York has an exhibit about the architect/designer Eero Saarinen. The exhibit is worth it, covering all his major buildings. I wish there were a few more models for the corporate headquarter work he has completed. The interiors were great also. The MIT chapel seems special. I think I will have to visit next time I’m in Boston.

The TWA terminal at JFK airport still has to be my favorite. I used to use the terminal when I was living in SF. It was a pleasure. It really made you ofeel like why can’t all buildings be like this.

Overall I was pleased to learn about this great modernist and began to realize the influence he has had on today’s architects. Especially one of my current favorites Santiago Calatrava. You really can’t look at any of Calatrava’s works with out seeing the TWA terminal or the Dulles Airport terminal. It is always cool to make these connections.

Calatrava's Liege Train Station

Ofcourse, Calatrava did take it to a whole new level of light airiness that I’m sure Eero would have approved.

So I have always been a fan of modernist chair designs and I have always heard the names of the designers. BUt I never really have learn much about the designers and how they approached design. I recently was given a book on Charles and Ray Eames and perhaps I will write a review of it here once I get into it.

However, I came across this article that originally appeared in Playboy magazine, July 1961. Probably back when folks read Playboy for the articles and not for the naked girls. The language in the artcile is a little flighty, but overall a good quick summation of the major designrs of the day. Whats nice is that the article is contemporary to when these designers were still producing  their designs and it adds to the imagination looking backfrom 2009 and the fact that their designs are still relavant and very saleable.

Read the article