Eliel Saarinen
Designer of Helsinki Railway Station, influencing organic modernism in America.
Most quoted
"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan."
— from The City: Its Growth, Its Decay, Its Future, 1943
"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in a city, a city in a landscape."
— from Book, 1947
"The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his existence."
— from Essay, 1930
All quotes by Eliel Saarinen (99)
The life of a building is its soul.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication in design.
A building should speak for itself.
Harmony in architecture comes from understanding nature.
The architect must be a poet, a philosopher, and a craftsman.
True beauty in architecture is timeless.
Design with the future in mind, but live in the present.
The essence of architecture is human scale.
Art is the expression of the profoundest thoughts in the simplest way.
A city without beauty is a city without soul.
In every building, there must be a sense of place.
Architecture is frozen music.
The greatest challenge for an architect is to create joy.
Function without beauty is mere utility.
The architect's vision must transcend the immediate.
Light and shadow define space.
Every structure tells a story of its time.
Simplicity in design reveals true genius.
Architecture connects man to the eternal.
The heart of architecture is in its details.
Contemporaries of Eliel Saarinen
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950).