Detroit's influence on Yamasaki and Saarinen

**Kathleen** · January-11-10, 07:52 PM

A couple of upcoming programs that might be of interest....

Co-sponsored with the Birmingham Historical Society, the Baldwin Public Library presents Balthazar Korab: Mid-Century Modernism, Tuesday, January 26, 7 pm. Balthazar Korab is a world-renowned architect, photographer, and author, who has documented the places where we live and work. Free and open to the public. The Baldwin Public Library is located at 300 W. Merrill in downtown Birmingham.
http://www.baldwinlib.org/assets/PDF...0-BB-Final.pdf

As part of the upcoming And Still They Prospered: Living Through the Great Depression exhibition and speakers series, running from February 27 through May 8 at the Lorenzo Cultural Center, Macomb Community College Center Campus [[M-59 and Garfield):

Eliel Saarinen and the Building of Cranbrook: 1925-42
Friday, April 9 - 1 p.m.
Gregory Whittkopp, director of the Cranbrook Art Museum, discusses the role and work of Finnish-American architect and designer Eliel Saarinen in the development of the Cranbrook Educational Community.

Full schedule at: http://www.lorenzoculturalcenter.com/schedule/index.asp

**Patrick** · January-11-10, 08:54 PM

Particularly dismayed to see Yamasaki's dismissal of City Hall, which only confirms my opinion that Modernism was wedded to the bulldozer.

Yeah, me too. I think that many "modern" architects dismissed classical architecture so they themselves could sound current...relevant.

**Kathleen** · February-08-10, 06:58 AM

Eero Dynamic
Time, February 1, 2010
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...5585-1,00.html

The recent exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York
http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/past/eero-saarinen.html

This exhibit debuted at Cranbrook Museum of Art in 2008.

**Kathleen** · January-09-13, 08:08 AM

For the Saarinen fans amongst us....

Lecture: Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman, Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 6pm. The Cranbrook Art Museum hosts author Brian Lutz for a discussion of his new book Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman [[Pointed Leaf Press), the first book to focus exclusively on Saarinen’s trend-setting and revolutionary furniture designs. Lutz is the author of “Knoll: A Modernist Universe,” which he co-authored with Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum Director Reed Kroloff. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the Front Desk of the Art Museum and signing following the lecture. Admission for this lecture is included with regular museum admission. http://www.cranbrookart.edu/museum/CAMpe1.html#o

**canuck** · January-09-13, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

His greatest skyscraper was Columbus's Leveque Tower, which had a verticality that neither Wirt Rowland nor Albert Kahn matched in their tall Detroit towers [[although the Guardian Building doesn't lack verticality). The Leveque tower was considered by many as one of America's finest Art Deco towers, and is reminiscent of the towering Nebraska State Capitol, and some of the soaring towers on NYC Wall Street.

Very reminiscent of the Woolworth in NYC.

This is a good thread.

Great find Polaar!

Car windshields influence Saarinen!

According to this WSJ piece:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...256592530.html

"The General Motors Technical Center, completed in 1954 outside of Detroit, was a 17-building complex of Miesian precision that flouted that modernist master's formal, neutral aesthetic with brilliant color and the use of neoprene gaskets to seal the windows, a technology borrowed from car windshields."

**rb336** · January-09-13, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by MichMatters

I'm completely surprised by the folding of Yamasaki Associates. They'd not shown any public signs of distress. What a terrible uneventful way for such a storied firm and name to end.

I think Ted Ayoub may have been cooking the books while there. the firm had been doing mostly institutional work for years. Many of the former Yamasaki people formed Partners in Architecture

**Kathleen** · January-09-13, 10:51 AM

Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America
An Exhibition and Symposium at the Cranbrook Educational Community June 2013

Michigan’s industry and design intertwined creating an epicenter of modern design. Michigan visionaries touched nearly every aspect of American life. Detroit’s automobile manufacturers didn’t just produce automobiles; they styled them to become synonymous with the American dream. The state’s furniture makers didn’t just manufacture furniture; they revolutionized the look of the American office and home. Michigan architects Albert Kahn, Eero Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki didn’t just design buildings; they defined an era. Michigan’s industry, prosperity, and educational institutions created a synergy that attracted the design talent that formed the foundation for modern American design. This exhibition celebrates Michigan’s outstanding contributions to Modern design and the stories of the people who made it happen.

Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America is organized by the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office in association with Cranbrook Art Museum and curated by MPdL Studio of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The exhibition will open at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on Friday, June 14, 2013 and run through October 13, 2013. A symposium celebrating Michigan Modern will be held at Cranbrook Thursday, June 13 – Sunday June, 16, 2013.
Symposium registration will begin in February 2013.

http://michiganmodern.org/2012/12/10...um-exhibition/