29 Nov 2007

Saarinen exhibition to open to US audience

After a successful tour of Europe, the ASSA ABLOY sponsored exhibition of architect Eero Saarinen’s work is heading for the US.

After a successful opening in Saarinen’s homeland Finland, the touring retrospective attracted crowds in Norway and Belgium before crossing the Atlantic.

Over the next three years Shaping the Future will be displayed throughout the US, including stops at the National Building Museum in Washington and the Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan, before its final showing at the Yale School of Architecture.

Organized around two themes, Building for Postwar America and The Architect and His Milieu (surroundings), the exhibition features building mock-ups, illustrations, photographs and films.
Saarinen is considering one of the 20th century’s most influential architects and is known in the US for his design of the 192-meter tall stainless steel St Louis Gateway Arch and the TWA terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
Announcing ASSA ABLOY’s sponsorship to the US market, President and CEO of ASSA ABLOY Americas Thanasis Molokotos said the exhibition, which celebrates building and design, is a logical fit for the global leader in door opening solutions.

“We feel we at ASSA ABLOY provide architects with just one small building block in the complex art of creating and designing the foundation and spirit of a community,” he said. “Our brands strive to offer opening solutions that provide both a design continuum that complements the architect’s aesthetic ambitions and an integration ability that addresses a building’s need for security and safety.”

ASSA ABLOY Group companies will hold special events and promotions in conjunction with the exhibition tour.