Patent drawing for pedestal chairs, June 7, 1960. Courtesy Eero Saarinen Collection.

His furniture, like the Tulip Chair, may not seem too novel, but that’s only because it’s so familiar. A large model for a hockey rink at Yale could be mistaken for a work-in-progress by contemporary structural-design magician Santiago Calatrava. Saarinen’s best building, the one that’s most often in architecture textbooks, is the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport. It’s the one people say has a roof that resembles a bird’s wings. But I’ve always seen it more as smooth, puffy skin. Or even raw dough. Don’t you want to just sink your fingers into it? Either way, it’s one of the sexiest buildings in the city.