Eero Saarinen Quotes

United States, Architect
August 20, 1910 – September, 1, 1961.

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his neo-futuristic style. Saarinen is known for designing the Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., the TWA Flight Center in New York City, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of noted Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.

Function influence but does not dictate form.

Eero Saarinen
I wanted to clear up the slum of legs… I wanted to make the chair all one thing again.

Eero Saarinen
- Wanted
- Legs
- Clear Up

Egyptian pyramids or obelisks – seemed to be the basis of the great memorials that have kept their significance and dignity across time. Neither an obelisk nor a rectangular box nor a dome seemed right on this site or for this purpose. But here, at the edge of the Mississippi River, a great arch did seem right.

Eero Saarinen
Confusion comes from trying to amalgamate several conflicting ideas.

Eero Saarinen
I have come to the conviction that once one embarks on a concept for a building, this concept has to be exaggerated and overstated and repeated in every part of its interior so that wherever you are, inside or outside, the building sings with the same message.

Eero Saarinen
To me the drawn language is a very revealing language: one can see in a few lines whether a man is really an architect.

Eero Saarinen
- Language
- Architect
What you newspaper and magazine writers, who work in rabbit time, don't understand is that the practice of architecture has to be measured in elephant time.

Eero Saarinen
The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his existence.

Eero Saarinen