The good folks at Princeton Architectural Press just released Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, John Comazzi’s stunning illustrated biography of one of the greatest architectural photographers of our time. Working for many years as Eero Saarinen’s official photographer, Korab immortalized a defining era of design that’s made a major comeback in large part thanks to the colorful cast of a sinful little TV land ad agency by the name of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
Along with everyone else in America, we jumped headfirst on to the mid-century modern bandwagon and now that the show’s on hiatus, we’re on the lookout for ways to indulge our healthy obsession with tulip chairs and sunken living rooms. What better way than to revisit the momentous designs that started it all? From Saarinen’s iconic TWA Terminal at JFK and the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana to Mies van der Rohe’s fit-for-Don-Draper Lake Shore Drive Apartments, click through to check out highlights from the book and the heyday of the design epoch.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Miller House, view of central lounge pit, with warm-weather upholstery and a storage wall designed and “curated” by Alexander Girard, 1962.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Miller House, dining area with view out to the garden, 1982
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
TWA Flight Center, view from automobile arrival, 1962
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
TWA Flight Center, interior mezzanine with ticket counters, 1962
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
TWA Flight Center, interior view from the mezzanine at night, 1964.
Korab says, “This is my classic image of the project that reveals the complexity of the Saarinen approach to a four-dimensional experience in this space.”
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Dulles International Airport, 1964.
Korab included this image in his submission for the 1964 AIA Gold Medal photography competition.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Lake Shore Drive Apartments by Mies van der Rohe, 1960.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Mount Clemens Savings and Loan by Meathe, Kessler and Associates, 1961.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Bacardi Office Building by Mies van der Rohe, Mexico City, 1961.
Photo credit: Balthazar Korab
Kessler House by William Kessler, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, 1959.