- B concourse, DTW
I don’t know anymore if this is common knowledge but these ubiquitous airport lounge chairs are a gift from Charles and Ray Eames.
In actuality they were likely a gift to a friend, a young architect Ero Saarinen, who was finishing his work on the new Dulles Airport in Virginia. He wanted a seating solution for the terminal that would complement and elevate it.
-Dulles Airport, VA
The Eames responded with the tandem sling system. Adapted from their Aluminum Group designs, it was ultra-economical, durable, and modular.
Fit for any space, any airport, and travelers by the millions.
But they retained a refinement, a comfort and consideration of form that makes the Eames’ work the cultural monolith we know it as today.
Sitting in the tandem sling, you are generally surrounded by the tandem sling. So a communal atmosphere is created, and you have the ability to observe them from all angles. You can sense in them the Eames’ respect for Saarinen and their intrigue in the forms he manifested for Dulles Airport. But also, their respect for you. The tandem sling is extremely comfortable, in a place where people often have to wait long periods. It is beautiful to look at, but doesn’t pull for your attention. I often think it makes whoever is sitting in them appear a little more refined, more dignified. I am thrilled to see them in airports, and noticeably disappointed when they are instead replaced by some unfailingly soulless modernized variation.
I grew up flying out of Dulles airport and memories of walking under the massive wing of the terminal ceiling with a Virginia sunrise or sunset filling the bay windows are very close to me. I spent much time in these chairs before I had any idea who Eames or Saarinen were. But even as a child they gave me a feeling of comfort, dignity, and mutual respect.
Munari said that anyone who interacts with an object that has been designed in a pure spirit feels “the presence of an artist who has worked for [them], bettering [their] living conditions and encouraging them to develop their taste and sense of beauty.” This is the greatest aim of art.
The Tandem Sling is an embodiment of this fact, a monument to creative collaboration and the elevation of humanity.
A totem from an age of humanism, utopia, the dreams of modernism. For me they still hold the great promise of human connection and capability, the wonder of travel, and the joy of great art.
Vive le Tandem Sling.
-HM