Minneapolis’s | Christ Church Lutheran | Eero Saarinen

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In 1948, Pastor William Buege, commissioned the renowned Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen to design Christ Church Lutheran, in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood. Saarinen, the designer of the Helsinki Railway Station and architect and director of the Cranbrook Educational Community in Ann Arbor, produced a masterwork. The architectural press lauded Christ Church as embracing modern principles while eschewing historical styles. It was - and is - widely considered to be the building that heralded a new form of ecclesiastic architecture. Four years after Eliel Saarinen’s death, the congregation approached his son, Eero Saarinen to expand the sanctuary facility with an Education Wing. Eero, architect of the St. Louis Arch, collaborated with Glen Paulsen, AIA, in the design of a humble, elegant and deferential addition. Completed the same year as Eero Saarinen’s exuberant Dulles Airport and TWA Flight Center, the Education Wing houses the elegant Luther Lounge, a sky-lit atrium and preschool spaces. Its modest presence belies it large program; downstairs there are spacious education rooms, an industrial-scale kitchen and a gymnasium/theatre.

Fonte: Friends of Christian Church Luteran