Artist/Designer: Eliel Saarinen
Project Location: Helsinki, Finland
Style/Period(s):
Art Nouveau, Art Deco
Primary Material(s):
Stone, Concrete
Function(s):
Train Station
Related Website(s):
Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1909
Additional Information:
Project Description:
This famous station is by Eliel Saarinen and is most monumental in scale both on the facade and the interiors. It offers a robust stark quality with restrained decorative geometric motifs that were most daring at the time. The lounge (or gaming room) is, at first, rather striking with its bright mural but the geometric motifs, which are cleverly repeated in all the public areas, are a perfect counterbalance. You may be acquainted with the famous TWA terminal building at JFK which was designed by Eliel's son, Eero Saarinen. Saarinen Sr. moved to the United States and was the founder and principal of the famous Cranbrook Academy, near Detroit.
Publications/Texts in Print:
Merkel, Jayne. Eero Saarinen. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.
Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa. Eero Saarinen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Roman, Antonio. Eero Saarinen. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Serraino, Pierluigi. Saarinen, 1910-1961: a Structural Expressionist. KöLn: Taschen, 2006.
Building Address:
Kaivokatu 1, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Significant Dates:
1909: construction was completed.
1919: train station opened.
1960s: underground Asematunneli pedestrian underpass and underground shopping centre complex was built south of the station.
2000: a glass roof, which had already been in the original drawings by Eliel Saarinen, was built over the railway station's central platforms.
Tags:
Eliel Saarinen, Saarinen, Train station, Helsinki, Finland, art nouveau, art deco, 20th century, national romantic style, Finnish Architecture, romanticism, aestheticism
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