Eero Saarinen - Architect Who Saw The Future (2016).EN Subtitles

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00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:20,[music]

00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:25,Our architecture is too humble.

00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,It but should be prouder,
more aggressive, much richer,

00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,and larger than we see today.

00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,I would like to do my part
in expanding that richness.

00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:50,[music]

00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:05,One finds that many different shapes
are equally logical, some exciting,

00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,some earthbound, some soaring. The
choices really become a sculptor's choices.

00:01:35,000 --> 00:02:00,[music]

00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:15,[sil.]

00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,My grandfather was Eliel Saarinen.

00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,My father was Eero Saarinen.
And my name's Eric Saarinen.

00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:30,And they were architects, they
were both world-famous architects.

00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,When he was starting out, my
father worked under his father.

00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,He worked within the
structure of his father's work.

00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,He would do what he was asked to do,
and he would be assigned to do details,

00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:50,and he did them well,
but he was always working

00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:55,within a confines the box.

00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,The first chance he had to make an impact with the design
of the zone and show that he was going to be more than

00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:05,just the son of a famous architect was the design
competition for the St. Louis Jefferson Memorial in 1948.

00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,There were quite a few
competitions in those days

00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:15,many more than they are today, but this is the one that everybody
wanted to win. Eliel's whole career had been launched for competitions,

00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,and he had brought arrow
up to enter competitions.

00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,And of course, Eliel also entered.

00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,Both teams were in the same building on other
sides of a wall, working on this competition.

00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,And after the first stage, they
sent a telegram to Mr. E Saarinen.

00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:40,I had heard the story many times.

00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,Telegram came under the
door. It said Saarinen won.

00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,So they rejoiced for three
days that Eliel had won,

00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:55,but it was Eero Saarinen who won
the competition, not Eliel Saarinen.

00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:00,So they celebrated again and the
nice sweet way to put it is, to say that

00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,Eliel had good reason to
celebrate because his son had won.

00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,But in actual fact, I think it was a
big blow to Eliel. He had to admit

00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,that his son had beaten him,
beaten up badly by a better design.

00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:20,[music]

00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,[music]

00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,The major concern here

00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,was to create a monument which
would have lasting significance,

00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:45,a landmark of our time.
An absolutely simple shape

00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:50,such as the Egyptian Pyramids seemed
to be the basis of the great memorials.

00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,The St. Louis Arch
could be a triumphal arch

00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,for our ages as the triumphal
arches of classical antiquity

00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,where for (inaudible).

00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:10,[music]

00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:15,The St. Louis Arch is one of those rare
moments where an architectural competition

00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,yielded something truly,
daring, and bold, and important.

00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,Saarinen's work seemed
very refreshing to our people,

00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,very exciting, very engaging at a time

00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:35,when modern architecture,
it was a pretty rigid thing.

00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,I think Saarinen's Arch
expresses American optimism

00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,and American openness. To me, it says,

00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,you know, here's an architect
who sees this country as the symbol

00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,of all that's new of every opportunity,
of everything that 20th century

00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,hopes to represent and
accomplish. And he sums it up

00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:05,in this breathtakingly
beautiful leap into the sky.

00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:15,[sil.]

00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,I was only 19 when my father died.

00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:25,I never really came to terms with
who he was or what his work meant.

00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,Now it's a great joy to come back

00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,and understand what he did and how he did it.
It's kind of a Magical Mystery Tour for me.

00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:45,[sil.]

00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:50,Coming out of school, I stumbled across film-making and
started doing documentaries and that led to features.

00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,Yeah, there you go. And drop,

00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,drop, drop, drop. Well,
I've had a long career,

00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,been around the world many times. This is
probably the most important thing I've ever done

00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,because I never had closure with my father

00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:15,and it's a very cathartic
procedure to go back

00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,and film at my father's work and being able
to communicate his work to other people.

00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:25,Welcome to the top.

00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:35,[music]

00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,The arch was a combination of a lot
of work my father did with his father,

00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,but it was also the
beginning of his own work.

00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:50,It gave them strength to
follow his own convictions.

00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:55,[music]

00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,He made it to last for 1000 years,
and I hope it does. I do hope it does.

00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:10,[music]

00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,My grandfather Eliel designed and built
this house in the middle of the forest

00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:25,in the middle of nowhere.
We're surrounded by woods,

00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,surrounded by nature all the way around.
My father was born here and raised here.

00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,Eero was brought up in this environment of

00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,artists and musicians and creative people.

00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,Other artists would come along including people
like Maxim Gorky who was wanted being hunted down

00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,by the Russian police. He
was hiding here for a while

00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,and they sent him out in a boat for the day
and the police came. They couldn't find him.

00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:00,And then Gustav Mahler, the great musician,

00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,and Sibelius would play the piano. They were all friends
of Eliel's and they all had tremendous influence on Eero.

00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:10,The room with a fireplace,

00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:15,you know, during the winter,
it's cold, and we're in Finland,

00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,so everybody was drawn to the fireplace,
and there was a lot of discussion there.

00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,As a child, I would always draw

00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:30,and happen to be good at it. I g***t more
attention from drawing than anything else.

00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,One of the draftsman here was Otto.

00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:40,Eero was like four years old, and
he'd come up to Otto, and he'd say,

00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:45,"Could you draw me a horse?" And so Otto would
draw him a horse, and everyday this happening.

00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,Now many years later when my
father was interviewing an architect,

00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:55,he would ask him to draw a
horse. And his reason was that

00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,you can tell within two or three strokes if
the guy knows anything about drawing at all.

00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:05,My father had his architectural
studio right into house.

00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:10,I practically grew up under his drafting
table. He'd be on the floor drawing,

00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:15,an Eliel would be at the table drawing.
And Eliel would look down once in a while,

00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:20,and I'm sure Eero came up on his lap and
watched him draw for awhile and all that.

00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,So it was just, it was a perfect match.

00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:30,Except for a rather brief
excursion into sculpture,

00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:35,it never occurred to me to do anything but follow
in my father's footsteps and become an architect.

00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:40,[music]

00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:45,Eliel's attitude on work
rubbed off on an Eero.

00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,Work was everything. Work
was the most important thing.

00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,And Eero was on the boat going
to the US. He was not just a child.

00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,He had a tremendous intellectual back down,

00:11:00,000 -->...