i
n s t i t u t e o f a r
t & d e s i g n
| CRANBROOK
ACADEMY - ELIEL SAARINEN
BLOOMFIELD HILS, MICHIGAN 1925 |
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| On
a trip to Europe in 1922, George Booth and his family had visited the American
Academy in Rome. Deeply impressed by the quality and strengths of that
institution, he returned home hopeful that a comparable academy of arts
could be established at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. To help
him formalize his ideas, he approached Eliel Saarinen, a visiting professor
of architectural design at the University of Michigan, at the suggestion
of his youngest son, Henry, a student of Saarinen's. Whereas the plans
for the Cranbrook Academy of Art that Saarinen presented to Booth were
far too ambitious to be seriously acted upon, Booth did recognize that
Saarinen possessed many of the qualities that he was searching for in an
architect. Booth authorized Saarinen to serve as design consultant to the
building erected to house the Cranbrook Architectural Office in 1925. Satisfied
that he could work successfully with the Finnish architect, Booth invited
Saarinen to come to Cranbrook and head the architectural activity that
was poised to commence under terms of a new trust created by the Booths
in 1927, the Cranbrook Foundation. The first project that Saarinen undertook
for the Foundation was Cranbrook School, completed in 1928. This
was followed by residences, crafts studios, and other additions to the
Art Academy in the same year. With Booth's consent, Saarinen engaged the
members of his family and other Cranbrook artisans, who had arrived to
work on Christ Church and Cranbrook School, to create furniture, fabrics,
and other decorative elements in the school, which was conceived in Wright's
"prairie school" idiom.
A
superb integration of architectural and landscape design elements, the
Cranbrook complex represents a unique masterpiece in the history of American
architecture. It embodies the belief shared by its founder, George G. Booth,
and its principal architect, Eliel Saarinen, that art should permeate every
aspect of life. The Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan, is possessed of an almost sacral character - the legacy of the
Finnish architect, who from 1925 to 1950 designed a brilliant succession
of proud, intimate buildings on the campus. Cranbrook Academy of Art is
devoted solely to graduate study in the arts, offering master's degree
programs in fine arts and architecture. Areas of study include architecture,
ceramics, design, fibre arts, metal-smithing, painting, photography, printmaking,
and sculpture. The faculty consists of an artist-in-residence in each department;
visiting artists also lecture, conduct workshops, and evaluate student
work. Saarinen was its first president, and Milles, furniture designer
Charles Eames, and sculptor-designer Harry Bertoia also taught there.
The aspect of the academy as campus is particularly evident in this complex, where the rural site accommodates such premises. However, there are several lessons to be extracted for the development of a similar facility for the City of Montreal. Foremost, is the pride and sanctity that dominates the design. A pride for artistic expression and craft that is omnipresent throughout the complex. Secondly, the integration into the landscape and sensitivity of organization also is relevant. I am hoping to instill a version of the architecturale promenade into the tighter urban complex that I am developing and as such hope to achieve a similar dialogue between the various components of the school. I am hoping to foster a sense of community both within the institution and extending into the public realm that warms the spirit of the design. Also exemplary in this academy is the integration of a variety of crafts people and the wonderful sensitivity of the architecture that is incorporated to exhibit artists' work. The treatment of the landscape in particular suggests that a subtle treatment in sculpture gardens can produce a very spiritual contemplative nourishment for the artists' work. |
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| portico ceiling | light standards | door detail | Saarinen's teaset | portico view |
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