| Eero Saarinen was
born in Finland in 1910, but was introduced to the United States in 1923 when his family emigrated.
Eero's parents had a great influence on him, for they were both designers. His father, Eliel Saarinen,
founded the Cranbrook Institute in Michigan, and Eero was always surrounded by art and architecture. After studying at Yale,
Eero returned to Cranbrook to teach and practice with his father. When Eliel died in 1950, Eero's independent practice began.
Amazingly, Eero Saarinen's practice only lasted eleven years before his own death in 1961. Saarinen produced a great and lasting body
of work in that period - the TWA terminal, Dulles Airport, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to name but a few.
The John Deere Adminstrative Center was to be Saarinen's last design, and it was completed after his death.
When Saarinen received the commission, the client expressed a desire for a metal building. Saarinen shared that thinking, feeling that steel
would best embody John Deere's corporate persona. However, Saarinen felt that most metal buildings ended up being mere glass boxes,
and that such a treatment of steel would be inappropriate for the John Deere project. Saarinen stated that "...farm machinery is not slick,
shiny metal but forged iron and steel in big, forceful, functional shapes" (Architectural Record, July 1964).
Thus, Saarinen's intention caused him to select the structural system. Saarinen chose to use a type of steel known as Cor-ten which had formerly been used in railroad. Cor-ten has a unique property - over time it oxidizes and forms a reddish-brown protective coating of rust. The rust actually protects the inner steel, and it requires no painting or further maintenance. The use of Cor-ten steel allows the building to become a part of its site. The building takes on the exact qualities which Saarinen intended - those of a farm implement, sitting out in a Midwestern field through sun, wind, rain, and snow. Saarinen’s treatment of the site also helps him to achieve this goal. Saarinen placed the length of the administrative building across a gentle ravine. Bridging the ravine, the building seems prominent but deeply anchored to the land. In the administrative building, Saarinen places metal louver sunscreens on the exterior of the building. The sunscreens, which are themselves made from Cor-ten steel, hang from the ends of the Cor-ten beams of the structural system. This arrangement allows Saarinen to achieve two things. First, he satisfies the shading requirements of the building. The sunscreens, combined with reflective glass on the upper floors, help the internally-loaded building from taking on too much solar heat gain. However, aside from their functional characteristics, the sunscreens factor into Saarinen’s intention of creating a steel building which matches the qualities and ambitions of John Deere and Company. The bluntness of the primary structural system meshes seamlessly with the intricacy of the sunscreens. As a result, the administrative building is at once sophisticated and rugged. It achieves exactly what the architect and client intended. John Deere wanted a facility which could become a trademark building. They wanted that facility to be architecturally significant and technologically advanced enough to accommodate the company well into the future. However, John Deere also had to consider their Midwestern clientele, and avoid any design that might alienate them. Although he died before its completion. Saarinen must have been confident that his design would satisfy the client, in terms of both program and architectural intention. Saarinen once said to a friend, “I hope that some of my buildings will have lasting truths” (Cheek, 1). In the case of John Deere, Saarinen’s building clearly expresses the simple truth of what it is and what it was intended to be. The harmony of the building’s components give it a simple self-expression. Its expression is the same as its occupants: an entity rooted in the permanence of the American midwestern land, but with an eye pointed toward the future. |
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