This Onera Foundation panel discussion will explore Saarinen’s contribution to design innovation and its legacy abroad, most notably the two embassies Saarinen designed in London and Oslo as part of the initiative known as the US Embassy Program. The panel will also address the afterlives of these modernist embassies, which have been decommissioned in recent years.

This event coincides with two upcoming exhibitions on view October 1 through March 28, 2026, at the Onera Foundation in New Canaan: Treaties on De-Fences by Jorge Otero-Pailos and The Cold War-Era US Embassy Program & Modern New Canaan.

Presenters
Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Assistant Dean at Yale School of Architecture and author of Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. 

David Peterson, author of U.S. Embassies of the Cold War: The Architecture of Democracy, Diplomacy and Defense.

Jorge Otero-Pailos, Artist, Preservation Architect and Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Wednesday October 15, 5:30–7:30 pm
Onera Foundation
63 Park Street, New Canaan, CT
Register