Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect known for designing iconic mid-20th century buildings such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA Flight Center at JFK airport; he studied architecture at Yale and worked for his father's firm before founding his own practice and producing notable works like the GM Technical Center campus. Saarinen designed structures with sleek modernist lines and experimented with new materials and construction techniques to create buildings tailored to their functions.