TWA Flight Center

--> The TWA Flight Center, designed by Eero Saarinen and his associates, is centered on a headhouse consisting of a reinforced concrete shell roof. The design incorporates elements of the Futurist, Neo-futurist, Googie, and Fantastic architectural styles. Key collaborators from the Saarinen office included Kevin Roche, Cesar Pelli, Norman Pettula, and Edward Saad; the interiors were largely designed by Warren Platner. To engineer the roof, Saarinen collaborated with Charles S. Whitney and Boyd G. Anderson of the firm Ammann & Whitney. The project involved Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge as general contractor; It was one of several airport terminals Saarinen designed, along with the Dulles Main Terminal in Virginia and Ellinikon International Airport near Athens, Greece. The headhouse sits on a curve along one of JFK Airport's access roads, in front of the elevated AirTrain JFK people mover. The headhouse's form was designed to accommodate its small wedge-shaped site, with walkways and gates placed at acute angles. Radiating from the headhouse are two departure–arrival passenger tubes, the "Flight Tubes", extending southeast and northeast. When the headhouse was used as a terminal, a parking lot and a passenger canopy were located outside the front entrance. T5's entry hall wraps around the TWA Flight Center's headhouse. The original headhouse serves as a lobby for TWA Hotel, which opened in 2019 and includes two buildings designed by Lubrano Ciavarra Architects. There is a valet parking lot for the hotel outside the headhouse's entrance, along with a nearby parking garage for T5, which connects with a nearby AirTrain JFK station. Exterior The TWA Flight Center's headhouse is a two-story structure. The facade uses 236 pieces of glass, which were cut on-site during construction. These walls allowed passengers inside to visualize planes landing, taxiing, unloading, loading, and taking off. They were coated with a dark purple mylar film at some point before 2005. The TWA Flight Center also had its own control tower, from which TWA staff could see planes on the apron. The tower had control systems and monitors that allowed staff to display flight information in the headhouse. The upward-slanting shells reach up to above ground level. The shells converge at the center, where each of the four shells supports the others. Four Y-shaped piers support the roof, facing the front and back; these measure tall by long. covering about . The shape of the roof recalled that of the Chevrolet Impala's "gull wing", developed by General Motors, for which Saarinen had designed the GM Technical Center. Interior The TWA Flight Center incorporated many innovations for its time, including closed-circuit television, a central public address system, baggage carousels, a schedule board, baggage scales, and gates that were distant from the headhouse. TWA staff received instructions through a pneumatic tube system. A writer for The American Scholar magazine said the overall layout acted like a grand procession, with passengers ascending from the entrance. two outlying gate structures detached from the headhouse. The historian Alice T. Friedman said the design allowed occupants to both engage in activities (such as sitting down or observing planes) and to watch others partake in the same activities. According to the writer Kornel Ringli, the interior's curving shape created an impression of movement and speed, which was then amplified in the popular media. Headhouse The headhouse spans , with a width of and a length of at ground level. The interior uses concrete extensively in design details such as desks, seats, and the flight information display; these concrete surfaces not only served as a continuation of the exterior but also demonstrated the malleability of the material. The interior also uses almost 58 million ceramic tiles, with restaurants and the hotel's reception desk. The lower level contains the former ticket counter and baggage claim areas. and a split-flap display by Solari originally displayed flight information. There are also mechanical, service, and office areas in a partial basement under the intermediate level, as well as a tunnel leading to the former Flight Wing 1. Twelve steps from the lower level ascend about to the intermediate level. In addition, by the early 1990s, a switchback ramp had been added between the lower level and the intermediate level to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. There is also an elliptical plaque commemorating Saarinen. A concrete balcony on the upper floor spans above the central staircase that connects the lower floor to the intermediate level. The upper floor had multiple eateries. The TWA operated its Ambassador Club on the northern portion of the upper floor (left of the entrance), designed by Saarinen Associates. The southern (right) portion of the upper floor contained the London Bar & Constellation Club, the Lisbon Lounge, and the Paris Café, all designed by Raymond Loewy. Passageways The two passageways leading from the headhouse are completely enclosed and cross an access roadway. Flight Tube 1 leads to the hotel's Saarinen wing, and Flight Tube 2 leads to the Hughes wing. The tubes are covered in concrete, with an elliptical cross section and indirect lighting. It contained utilitarian decor as well as a small flight operation center above the passenger area. Two bridges led to departure lounges (labeled gates 39 and 42), which could both fit 100 passengers; these had a red-and-oyster color scheme with furnishings. T5 and TWA Hotel Abutting the TWA Flight Center are JetBlue's Terminal 5 and the TWA Hotel's wings. T5 is variously cited as containing It has 26 gates Two towers, flanking the headhouse's sunken lounge, curve around the original headhouse. The hotel is outside the sterile area of T5. Some of the rooms are oriented toward the headhouse, while others face the runways. the land under the headhouse rested on pilings and could not be excavated. ==History==

New York International Airport, also known as Idlewild Airport, started operating in 1948 and was renamed John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in 1963. Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) signed a lease with Idlewild's operator, the Port of New York Authority (later the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or PANYNJ) in 1949. Idlewild had the highest volume of international air traffic of any airport globally by 1954, amid the growing popularity of air travel in the U.S. and worldwide. Development In February 1955, the Port of New York Authority announced a master plan for renovating Idlewild Airport. Major airlines at the airport, including TWA (which by then had been renamed Trans World Airlines) would build their own terminals. Smaller airlines would be served from a central terminal, the International Arrivals Building. When the locations of each airline's terminal were announced, TWA and Pan Am were assigned spots flanking the International Arrivals Building. The site assigned to TWA was not the airline's first choice for an Idlewild terminal, and TWA's hangar was on the opposite side of its assigned lot. TWA public-relations executive Rex Werner convinced the company to select Saarinen, who agreed to take the commission even as his firm was simultaneously working on 15 other projects. A writer for Interiors magazine described TWA as having "vision and confidence" for the project, and Kornel Ringli said that TWA sought a high-quality design similar to what Saarinen had designed for previous clients.TWA anticipated that, at peak hours, the terminal would accommodate a thousand passengers, with two thousand departures and arrivals per hour. Saarinen & Associates studied the operations of airports across the U.S., Saarinen & Associates also observed passenger circulation patterns in Grand Central Terminal, the United States' busiest railroad station, where they discovered that passengers often walked in curving paths, despite the station's rectangular shape. According to Saarinen associate Kevin Roche, Saarinen had thought the TWA tract was ideal, despite airline officials' dissatisfaction with the lot. which would deviate from traditional airport terminal designs. but also "express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel". Damon, similarly, wanted "the spirit of flight" to be encapsulated in the design. Saarinen did not consider any rectangular designs, but shell structures—such as what he ultimately designed for the headhouse—were not particularly new, either. One of his original designs was sketched on the back of a restaurant menu while he and Aline were eating dinner with Time magazine's associate editor Cranston Jones. The preliminary designs—which called for a main waiting hall, separate arrival and departure wings, and passageways to two standalone gate buildings—were finished by mid-1956. In conjunction with the building's design, Saarinen prepared a brochure outlining his plans to TWA officials. Unhappy with initial designs, Saarinen asked TWA for more time and took an additional year to resolve the design, Saarinen & Associates first created 3D models of the planned headhouse, then drew sketches of the structure; this contrasted with the design processes of more traditional buildings, in which architects drew the sketches first. constructed at various scales. The final model for the shell may have been inspired by one of Saarinen's breakfasts, a grapefruit that he pushed down at the center. During another discussion, Roche used a saw to bisect one of the models, creating the inspiration for the roof's four shells. Saarinen's team frequently studied the models throughout the night, crawling across them. The team also designed two outlying gate structures, or flight wings, connected to the headhouse by passageways. With few specifications to rely on, Saarinen & Associates designed gates for aircraft with wingspans of , which turned out to be inadequate even before the building's completion. At the time, it was to cost $12 million (equivalent to $ million in ) and begin construction the following year. The plans called for a structure with four concrete roof shells, supported by four piers; there were to be check-in counters, waiting areas, and other amenities inside. In conjunction with the announcement, TWA issued two press releases describing the planned building in detail. Only one of the two planned gate structures, Flight Wing 2, was initially built as a cost-saving measure. The passageways were to have a glazed roof and moving walkways in the original plan, but these features were absent in the final construction. The building was covered in dozens of press releases and articles during its development, including in trade publications, the popular media, and TWA's own magazine. Construction Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge received the contract in early 1959. Construction began on June 9, initially with 14 engineers and 150 skilled craftspeople. At the time, work was anticipated to be completed in 1961. The contractors prefabricated 27 distinct shapes of wedges for the scaffolding, using 2,500 pieces in total. The contractors relied partially on computer calculations to design and construct the various parts of the terminal. The permanent structure's roof was poured as a single form starting on August 31, 1960, a job that took 120 hours. The pour involved of concrete, The terminal hosted its first preview events the same month. Saarinen died later that year, and Roche and another of Saarinen's associates, John Dinkeloo, formed Roche-Dinkeloo, which worked to complete the building. The TWA Flight Center was one of several commissions that Roche-Dinkeloo had received from Saarinen's former clients following his death. In the three months before the building's official opening in 1962, TWA published twelve press releases promoting it. TWA's advertising manager said the airline's approach to promoting the building was to treat it "as though it were a national monument". TWA president Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. announced plans the next month to officially open the terminal, Prior to its official opening, the building hosted a press tour on May 17 The completed terminal was dedicated as scheduled on May 28, 1962. It was finished after most of the other major U.S. airline terminals at Idlewild were completed. After the opening of the International Arrivals Building in 1957, United Airlines and Eastern Air Lines opened their own terminals in 1959, followed by American Airlines and Pan American World Airways (Worldport) in 1960, and Northwest Airlines and TWA in 1962. The terminal as completed had seven aircraft positions: six from Flight Wing 2 and a seventh from a temporary structure attached to Flight Tube 1. Four of Bernard Buffet's paintings, depicting cities where TWA operated, were installed in the TWA Flight Center in 1963. The terminal recorded 1.5 million travelers in its first year, 20% higher than expected. and was poorly equipped to accommodate wide-body aircraft. International flights at JFK during that time were routed through the International Arrivals Building. In 1966, Restaurant Associates took over all of the TWA Flight Center's foodservice operations. The terminal accommodated 3 million annual passengers at that point, with 140 daily flights, Work started in 1968, The expansion included a customs facility to alleviate congestion at the International Arrivals Building's customs terminal, located within the basement. The headhouse's ticketing counter and the baggage handling area were expanded, and the new addition was connected to the basement of Flight Wing 1. though it moved to another terminal after less than a year. Flight Wing 1 hosted its first passengers on February 25, 1970; it had cost $21 million in total. In 1978 Measuring , A bomb detonated at the terminal in March 1979, injuring four people. The TWA Flight Center was overcrowded by the early 1980s, and passengers sometimes had to line up outside because the terminal was so crowded. The expanded facility opened in April 1981; domestic flights were subsequently relocated to the Sundrome, while the TWA Flight Center continued to host international flights. In addition, TWA began testing out an X-ray screening machine in September 1989, among the first machines of its type to be used in an airport. The Port Authority had also hired Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in 1984 to design a renovation of JFK Airport; the plans, published in 1990, called for a central terminal connecting with the TWA Flight Center and other terminals. These plans were never carried out, TWA wanted to merge with another airline by then, and the terminal's continued operation was uncertain. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the terminal as a landmark in 1994, amid reports that the building might be demolished. Later that year, amid a decline in TWA's finances, the airline eliminated many routes and moved its remaining New York operations to the TWA Flight Center. The PANYNJ considered expanding the terminal during that decade, American Airlines ceased flight operations at the terminal in December 2001 and allowed its lease, inherited from TWA, to expire the next month. By then, airport officials saw the terminal as functionally outdated. Among other issues, the building did not meet modern accessibility or security standards, was frequently overcrowded, and had inadequate exterior canopies and access roads. the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could approve or reject the PANYNJ's redevelopment plan, declined to intervene. Preservation and later use Proposals for redevelopment In early 2001, the PANYNJ proposed preserving the tubes and erecting a new structure east of the existing building. The PANYNJ wished to destroy one or both of the flight wings. By that August, the PANYNJ had presented its first proposal, which entailed converting the headhouse into a restaurant or conference center, while encircling the existing building with one or possibly two new terminals. The Municipal Art Society (MAS) and the architects Philip Johnson and Robert A.M. Stern were against the proposal, as was Docomomo International. Detractors said the Saarinen headhouse's original design intention would be lost if it were encircled by another terminal, and that the flight wings were an integral part of the architecture. In addition, JetBlue proposed reopening the headhouse as a check-in facility and constructing a 26-gate terminal behind the headhouse. At the time, JetBlue was operating out of the adjacent Sundrome and was the airport's fastest growing carrier. Due to the preservation disputes, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the TWA Flight Center on its America's Most Endangered Places list in 2003. The Wall Street Journal credited the National Trust listing with having influenced the building's addition to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Construction of JetBlue terminal The PANYNJ and JetBlue came to an agreement on the construction of the new terminal in August 2004, As part of the plan, two JetBlue ticket kiosks were to be installed in the original headhouse, which, along with T5, was supposed to have become part of a new Terminal 5. The structure was also supposed to host an art exhibition called Terminal 5, the show closed abruptly after the headhouse was vandalized during the opening gala. In December 2005, the PANYNJ began construction of the T5 facility behind and partially encircling the headhouse. The construction of T5 obstructed direct views of the tarmac from the headhouse. The lounge was lifted and moved at a cost of $895,000. T5 opened on October 22, 2008. At the time of T5's opening, JetBlue and PANYNJ had yet to complete renovation of the original Saarinen headhouse. Conversion of headhouse into hotel The PANYNJ was seeking to convert the still-vacant headhouse into a hotel by 2011, and Open House New York (OHNY) began providing free tours of the unused headhouse that October. The OHNY tours took place once a year, and the headhouse soon became one of OHNY's most popular tour sites. André Balazs was selected in 2013 to operate a hotel at the TWA Flight Center; Balazs, a fan of Saarinen's architecture, had planned a Standard Hotels location there. There were proposals to convert the headhouse into a capsule hotel operated by Yotel, or to use it as a terminal for Eos Airlines, but neither plan was accepted. JetBlue and the hotel developer MCR Hotels jointly negotiated for the rights to operate a hotel there, and they won the lease in September 2015. Afterward, the historian Lori Walters used laser scanners to document the building's architectural details. Construction of JetBlue and MCR's TWA Hotel began in December 2016 and was funded by a $230 million loan. The structures on either side of the headhouse were demolished, and hotel-room towers were built on either side. The project also involved conducting asbestos abatement Since the headhouse was a designated landmark, the renovation was eligible for federal and state tax credits, == Impact ==

When plans for the TWA Flight Center were first announced, the building was detailed extensively in both the popular press and in architectural and aviation media, The company also used the terminal in marketing materials for years after the building's completion. Kornel Ringli said in 2015 that the TWA Terminal's design reflected Saarinen's tendency to customize designs according to his clients' needs, as the architect had done for the General Motors Technical Center, John Deere World Headquarters, and Kresge Auditorium. The architect Robert Venturi stated that Saarinen's designs deviated from the then-commonplace architectural philosophy "form follows function". Henry Grabar wrote for The Atlantic in 2017 that the TWA Terminal was "the most distinctive example of corporate-showpiece architecture", alongside other Saarinen works such as the General Motors complex and IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Another newspaper said the building was "planned to combine the functional realities of a jet-age air terminal with the aesthetic drama of flight". Just before the building's opening, The Christian Science Monitor wrote that architects had praised it "as perhaps the finest example of the creative genius of the late Eero Saarinen". The completion of the terminal prompted significant architectural commentary, much of it positive. The New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable saw the TWA Flight Center as a bright spot in the "mediocrity" of JFK Airport, and Maude Dorr of Industrial Design magazine said the terminal "reflects the excitement of travel". viewing it as "a festival of ordered movements and exhilarating vistas". Many contemporary media compared the terminal's headhouse to "a bird in flight", despite Saarinen's insistence that the resemblance was coincidental. Saarinen did not object to the building's avian comparisons, saying that "people are forever looking for literary explanations". Privately, Saarinen described the structure as a "Leonardo da Vinci flying machine" The British critic Reyner Banham questioned the practicality of the design, which did not clearly link "function and symbol", but he said that the TWA Terminal was no worse than any other airport terminal. The Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi was also skeptical of the design, saying that the structure was "too heavy and elaborate for the problem it seeks to solve". Friedman also wrote that detractors also had negative impressions of the TWA Flight Center and Saarinen's other designs for large businesses, citing their capitalist connotations. Retrospective called the headhouse a symbolic "Grand Central of the jet age". Adulation for the original design continued after its completion. In the 1990s, Progressive Architecture magazine said the TWA Flight Center "represented a high point not only in the design of air terminals, but in the exercise of corporate responsibility", New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp called the TWA Flight Center "the most dynamically modeled space of its era", The Engineering News Record said in 2003 that the building remained architecturally influential even as it had become functionally outdated. In a 2005 book about Saarinen's work, Jayne Merkel said "the building did for TWA what the [Gateway] Arch [...] would eventually do for Saint Louis". Joseph Giovannini of The Wall Street Journal wrote two years later that "the flowing lines and rising forms of the terminal are buoyant, all lift and no weight", contrasting it with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, Ringli wrote in 2015 that the building's appearance and TWA's marketing efforts made the terminal similar to "successful consumer goods with attractive packaging", even though the building quickly became obsolete. and an observer for The American Scholar wrote that "Saarinen's terminal maintains its sublime power". Awards and media . and the New York Concrete Industrial Board. Architectural Forum'' included the TWA Flight Center and the Pepsi-Cola Building as part of a 1962 exhibition of ten of the "world's most significant modern buildings". The American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the terminal an Award of Merit in 1963, and it was featured in magazines printed internationally. The TWA Flight Center ranked 115th on the AIA's 2007 ''List of America's Favorite Architecture'', which listed the top 150 buildings in the United States. Beyer Blinder Belle received an award for its 2012 restoration of the building, When the TWA Hotel conversion was completed, the project received the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation's 2019 preservation award. The building was frequently used in the popular media as a symbol of the jet age. The photographer Balthazar Korab took multiple pictures of the terminal during its development. After the terminal was completed, it was documented in numerous photographs by Korab, Charles Eames, and it was a setting for fashion photo shoots. Landmark designations The LPC held public hearings on the possibility of designating the TWA Flight Center's exterior and interior as official city landmarks in 1993. The terminal's exterior and interior were designated as landmarks on July 19, 1994, and the New York City Council ratified the designation that October. and it focuses mostly on the building's architecture, rather than its historical significance or operational usefulness. Both TWA and the PANYNJ supported the exterior landmark designation, but PANYNJ officials testified that they would need to modify the building in the future. Although city landmarks typically cannot be modified without LPC approval, this rule does not apply to buildings owned by state or federal agencies such as the PANYNJ. As such, the designation did not protect the TWA Flight Center from modifications, a major point of contention when the building's redevelopment was proposed in the 2000s. On September 7, 2005, the National Park Service listed the TWA Flight Center on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). ==See also==