As I was reading through the section in chapter 35 on architecture I had a flashback to earlier in the semester when we discussed the work of Constantine Brancusi when I saw the work of Eero Saarinen. While I think that Brancusi’s works are pleasing to look upon, I would never in my wildest imagination see a bird in his gold pointy statue or a fish from a rock on a pedestal. On the other hand, Saarinen did capture the essence of a bird in flight in his work at Kennedy Airport in New York. While it still may not be the first thing I think of when I see the building, I can definitely picture a soaring bird when I look at the building. It is really cool how he made a building resemble a bird at an airport. His designs were location specific and each one fit perfectly for the location and purpose of what it was to be used for.
Another of his famous works is close to home in St. Louis Missouri. The Gateway Arch was actually designed by Saarinen. Again the building is symbolic and he captures the symbolism and beauty in the building and created an icon that became quite famous. The design and engineering required to complete the arch seems overwhelming. Besides looking really cool, it also is functional and has a tram in each leg that can carry forty passengers to a viewing deck at the top of the arch. I can only imagine what it would have been like to build the arch, though. It looks awesome on paper and looks awesome now, but making a building that is so high and curved would be a massive project to undertake. For example, if one of the legs had been off 1/64 of an inch, the two legs would not have met up perfectly at the top. That is quite a small margin to work with!
Other works of Saarinen include the North Christian Church in Indiana that has a hexagonal shape and a spire that reaches 192 feet and the Kresge auditorium at MIT in Massachusetts. The building is one eighth of a sphere but is cut off on its sides so it only reaches the ground in three points.
I hadn't seen a picture of the Kennedy Airport until reading this blog, but I can definitely see the Brancusi connection. I think Brancusi did a good job of capturing the essence of a bird, but by looking at Saarinen's design of the Kennedy Airport, I think Saarinen's work is far more impressive. In my opinion he did a great job of capturing the essence of flight on a much larger scale than Brancusi. I find Saarinen's work really impressive.
ReplyDeleteI am also impressed by the ability of Saarinen to design the building to look like a bird in flight. It is very visually pleasing. However I do have a theory about Brancusi's Bird In Space. At first I didn't see a brid either, but maybe that is because I was looking for the wrong kind of bird. In my opinion, the Bird In Space is a penguin gliding through the emptiness of space... or maybe that is just my simple mind trying to find a rational answer for an abstract question...
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