Eliel Saarinen’s last completed building was designed by both him and his son, Eero, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The building had an International Style and was built in 1949, one year before Eliel passed away. The congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America plan was to make the church have the traditional Gothic Revival style, but it was expensive. In 1946, Eliel was contacted by a pastor to convince him to take the commission, and he used the First Christian Church that he built in Columbus as a model. During the opening of the church, Eliel said “If a building is honest, the architecture is religious.” The building became an example for modern religious architecture in the United States and inspired many churches in the 50’s and 60’s to have a modern architecture. It was the only building that Eliel ever worked with his son, Eero.

The first railway station in Helsinki was built in 1862 in Finland. It was the first railway between Helsinki and Hameenlinna in Finland. The station’s plans were drawn by a Swedish architect called Carl Albert Edelfelt, but the station turned out to be small. So, a contest was planned in 1904 to produce new plans for the new station, and the contest was won by Eliel Saarinen. Eliel first intention was to make the station have a National Romantic design but that started a debate and people demanded for a modern and rational style which made Eliel abandon the romanticism and redesign the station. The new design was finished in 1909, but it took 10 years to be opened to the public. This is Eliel’s most famous work.

Hvittrask is a building that was designed by Eliel Saarinen, Armas Lingren, and Herman Gesellius, who are members of the Finnish architecture firm. It was designed to be a studio home and completed in 1903. The three architects loved the scenery at Lake Vittrask and decided to build their home there. The name “Hvittrask” means White Lake, it was named after the lake. The house has a National Romantic style, which was a Nordic architecture style in the early 19^th century. The house became a private residence for Eliel Saarinen later and for his famous son, Eero Saarinen, to grow up in. The house is a museum today for the public and has an English style garden with a beautiful view near the lake. The building has both Finnish and American/English identity. The red-tiled roof and the chimneys represent the American/English architecture and the boulders and rendered brickworks is Finnish.

The First Christian Church was built and designed in 1942 in Columbus, Indiana, by the Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen. It was originally known as the Tabernacle Church of Christ. It was one of the first modernist buildings and churches in the United States to be built and designed with an architectural style, different than what churches usually look like. This church was built to accommodate the growing needs of Columbus congregation. Eliel thought that it was time for Gothic and Georgian style churches to be over, and he wanted something that has the fundamentals of Christianity and modern at the same time. The church was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2001 because it was the most unique church after WW2 and it had a significant impact on church designs. The building has four major divisions: the East wing, where the chapel and auditorium are; the West wing, where the Bible school is; a bridge connecting the two wings and the tower. The church brought attention to Columbus and made it a center of architecture, and made people have faith in modern architecture.

Bizzell Library is the face of OU campus. It is the first thing I saw when I was applying to OU online and the main entrance of the library is the first thing I can pictures when thinking about OU. Like many other students, I spent many days studying, doing homework, and hanging out with my friends during breaks. I used to get my coffee every morning there till I had no classes close to Bizzell. I remember going there with almost every friend I know to study.

I went to Malaysia a couple of times in my life. It is the only country I’ve visited in Asia. At the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, is where the famous Petronas Towers are located. They are a twin skyscraper that have circular pyramid-shaped structure with a bridge that links between them. The towers are made of steel and glass façade designs that are found in the Islamic architecture. The lighting of the twin towers at night is amazing, and it make the towers look like they are shining.

I have visited Sultan Ahmed’s mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey. The Blue Mosque is one of many incredible mosques in Istanbul. It is called the Blue Mosque because of its blue interior decoration. Like many other mosques, it has one main dome, several smaller ones, and several minarets (towers). Some parts of the interior were under construction, but I saw the blue ceramic decoration, glass windows and the verses from the Holy Qura’an. It is still an active mosque, so there is an entrance for Muslims to pray and another entrance for tourists.

In summer 2017, I got the opportunity to visit Italy. My brother and I took a trip to Duomo, Milan. The cathedral, or the duomo of Milan is one of the biggest Christian churches in the world, and the symbol of Milan. It is located at the city square, with a large empty space in front of it. Shops and restaurants around the cathedral. On the outside, the cathedral has a strong Gothic look with many carved statues. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to go inside the cathedral. It took almost 6 centuries, many different architects and sculptures to finish this amazing structure!