Landscape architect Susan Saarinen will discuss the work and life of her famous family including her father, Eero, and grandfather, Eliel Saarinen, at 2 p.m. today at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Excerpts from a recent phone conversation with her:

Q Did you grow up working in your father's architecture studio?

A No. I've often thought about that, but no. My father, his sister and his parents all worked together for years and years in Finland and in Michigan at Cranbrook. But our home situation was very different. He was always in the office and we were at home. My brother did design a house in his office once, and I designed a repeat pattern for a fabric once. My mother [sculptor Lily Swann] and father were both dedicated to art and design, but I believe that when I was born [in 1945] their marriage was already going through difficult times. They divorced and he married Aline [Bernstein Louchheim] in 1954. My brother and I got along very well with Aline and saw my father more after the divorce than we had before. Aline was a more conventional parent and brought some normalcy into our lives in the years before he died.

Q What connects your father's projects?

A The idea that each client and each building deserves its own individual form that expresses what it's going to be. For instance, the TWA terminal at Kennedy expresses flight and the joy of flight. The North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana expressed spirit and the idea that you have to -- this sounds strange -- work at religion, to consciously engage with your spiritual practice. That church was done just before my father's death. In fact, in April 1961 in response to a query from the church elders, my father said 'It's not quite done and when I go to St. Peter I want to be able to say to him: This is one of the best buildings I've ever done.' In July he wrote to them and said, 'Now it's done. Now we can build it.' And he died Sept. 1. So he really felt very strongly that things had to be right."

Q Did your father's popular acclaim harm his reputation in architecture circles?

A My father was the darling of corporate America. He made the first use of Cor-Ten steel in the John Deere and the first use of reflective glass at IBM and neoprene-sealed car windows at the General Motors Technical Center. He was pushing the materials and coming up with larger-than-life corporate images and the corporations loved it. Probably other professionals wanted those jobs. So that's part of the answer. The other criticism is that he was grandstanding, coming up with wildly different buildings like the TWA terminal. Well, yes, he was because at the core he was a sculptor as well as an architect.

My father felt that it was essential to create spaces that inspire, and challenge, and teach. After his death it seemed like people were going to old forms and recycling them, rather than moving forward with new forms. It wasn't until Frank Gehry with the aid of the computer started saying, 'We're not stuck with that. We can do something different.' And architects all over the world started to play with materials and push the envelope again.

Mary Abbe • 612-673-4431