Trans World Airlines Flight Center | |
 The terminal's headhouse in 2010 | |
 | |
| Location | Terminal 5,John F. Kennedy International Airport Queens, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°38′45″N73°46′39″W / 40.64583°N 73.77750°W /40.64583; -73.77750 |
| Area | 17.6 acres (7.1 ha) |
| Architect | Eero Saarinen and Associates |
| Architectural style | Futurist,Neo-futurist,Googie,Fantastic |
| NRHP reference No. | 05000994[1] |
| NYCL No. | 1915, 1916 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 7, 2005 |
| Designated NYCL | July 19, 1994 |
TheTWA Flight Center (also known as theTrans World Flight Center orTWA Terminal) is anairport terminal andhotel complex atJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in theNew York City borough ofQueens. The original terminal building, orheadhouse, was designed byEero Saarinen and Associates forTrans World Airlines (TWA). It operated as a terminal from 1962 to 2001 and wasadaptively repurposed as part of theTWA Hotel in 2019. The headhouse is partially encircled by a replacement terminal building completed in 2008, which housesJetBlue's JFK operations and is known asT5 orTerminal 5. Two buildings, added for the hotel, flank the headhouse.
The TWA Flight Center has a prominent wing-shapedthin shell roof supported by four Y-shapedpiers. An open three-level space with tall windows originally offered views of departing and arriving jets. Two tube-shaped red-carpeted departure and arrival corridors extended outward from the terminal and connected to detached structures known as "flight wings", which contained thegates. The flight wings were demolished and the corridors truncated as part of T5's development. Its design received much critical acclaim; the interior and the exterior of the headhouse areNew York City designated landmarks, and the building is on theNational Register of Historic Places.
Saarinen's firm was hired to design the terminal as part of a 1955 master plan for Idlewild Airport. After years of design and modeling work, construction began in June 1959, and the terminal was dedicated on May 28, 1962. It originally had one flight wing, butRoche-Dinkeloo, a successor firm to Saarinen's company, designed a second flight wing that opened in 1970. Various other additions took place over the years, and domestic flights were moved to theSundrome in 1981. After TWA sold its assets toAmerican Airlines in 2001, the terminal closed. ThePort Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which operates JFK Airport, had intended the original structure as an entrance to T5, but that plan did not happen. As part of the TWA Hotel's construction, the headhouse was renovated, and two adjacent towers were added.
The TWA Flight Center, designed byEero Saarinen and his associates, is centered on aheadhouse consisting of areinforcedconcrete shell roof supported at the corners.[2] The design incorporates elements of theFuturist,Neo-futurist,Googie, andFantastic architectural styles.[3] Key collaborators from the Saarinen office included Kevin Roche,Cesar Pelli, Norman Pettula, and Edward Saad, while the interiors were largely designed byWarren Platner.[4] To engineer the roof, Saarinen collaborated with Charles S. Whitney and Boyd G. Anderson of the firmAmmann & Whitney.[2][5][a] The general contractor was Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge.[6][7] TheArup Group was the structural engineer, Langan was the civil engineer, andJaros, Baum & Bolles was the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer.[7]
The headhouse sits at the middle of a curve in one of JFK Airport's service roads, in front of the elevatedAirTrain JFK people mover.[8] The form of the headhouse is designed to accommodate its small wedge-shaped site, with walkways and gates placed at acute angles.[9] Radiating out from the headhouse are two departure-arrival passenger tubes extending southeast and northeast.[10][b] The TWA Flight Center was one of the first to use enclosed passengerjetways, which extended from "gate structures" at the end of each tube. In the original plans, aircraft would be available via the "Flight Wing", a single-story building that passengers would have to walk to at ground level. The jetways removed the need for passengers to walk on the ground and sheltered passengers from inclement weather.[9][12][13] A 330-by-22-foot (100.6 by 6.7 m), concrete-and-glass shelter covers the sidewalk outside the headhouse.[14]
Adjoining the headhouse to the east isJetBlue's T5 terminal, which was designed byGensler and has 26gates.[15][16] T5's entry hall is composed of two arms that wrap around the TWA Flight Center's headhouse in a crescent shape. The two passenger tubes from the original design were retained, but the original gate structures were destroyed.[17][18] The original headhouse also serves as a lobby forTWA Hotel, which opened in 2019[19] and includes two buildings designed by Lubrano Ciavarra Architects.[20]
The TWA Flight Center's headhouse is a two-story structure.[8] The main portion of the headhouse's facade is made of large green-tinted glass walls,[8][10] measuring1⁄4 inch (6.4 mm) thick and spanning 3,500 square feet (330 m2).[21] The facade uses 236 pieces of glass, which were cut on-site during construction.[22] These walls allowed passengers inside to visualize planes landing, taxiing, unloading, loading, and taking off.[23] They were coated with a dark purplemylar film at some point before 2005.[8]
Single-story annexes extend outward from the main terminal to the north and south and contain several door openings within the concave walls. Inside these annexes are maintenance areas.[24] The TWA Flight Center also had its own control tower, where TWA staff could see planes on theapron.[21]
The roof was designed to span a wide space using as little material as possible.[3] It is composed of two upward-slanting concrete shells at the edges, which resemble wings, and two smaller shells slanting downward toward the front and back of the structure.[25] The upward-slanting shells reach up to 75 feet (23 m) 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;[8][10][26] these measure 51 feet (16 m) tall by 315 feet (96 m) long.[25]Skylights are placed within the gaps between the shells.[10][24] The roof weighs 6,000 short tons (5,400 t),[27][28][c] covering about 1.5 acres (0.61 ha).[21] The concrete varies in thickness from 7 inches (180 mm) at the edges to 40 inches (1,000 mm) at the convergence of the four shells.[27][28] The roof shells are cantilevered by up to 80 feet (24 m) and contain steel reinforcement to accommodate the roof's weight.[28] The main entrance is on the land side, where the roof projects over a sidewalk (formerly a driveway) with ascupper.[10][24]
When the TWA Flight Center was erected, thin-shell concrete roofs could not be built in other parts of New York City; the roof could only be built because thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey was exempt from New York City'sbuilding code.[30] The shape of the roof also recalled that of theChevrolet Impala's "gull wing", developed byGeneral Motors, for which Saarinen had previously designed theGM Technical Center.[31]
The headhouse spans 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2),[32][33] with a width of 152 feet (46 m) and a length of 230 feet (70 m) at ground level.[21] It contains two full stories; an intermediate level is joined to the lower level by a central staircase and to the upper level by four peripheral staircases.[34][35] The interior uses almost 58 million ceramic tiles,[21][23] which line the walls and floors.[24][35] The TWA Flight Center incorporated many innovations for its time, includingclosed-circuit television, a centralpublic address system,baggage carousels, a schedule board, baggage scales, and gates that were distant from the main terminal.[9][36][37] A writer forThe American Scholar magazine said the building's layout acted like a grand procession, with passengers ascending through the building from the ground-level entrance.[38] The historianAlice 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.[39] As part of the TWA Hotel's development, the original headhouse's interior was converted into the hotel's lobby, retail, and amenity area.[33]
The ticket counter and baggage claim areas were placed at ground level, on the other side of the curbside canopy, to maximize convenience for passengers.[9] A sculpted marble information desk, carved as a single slab, rises from the floor,[24][11] while asplit-flap display bySolari was installed to display flight information.[9][21] Arriving passengers picked up their luggage at the carousels, located next to the entrance, which traveled at 65 feet per minute (20 m/min).[21][23] There are also mechanical, service, and office areas in a partial basement under the intermediate level, as well as a tunnel that led to Flight Wing 1.[40]
The intermediate level contains an area facing east, where passengers could originally see the tarmac.[40] There was originally a sunkenconversation pit on the intermediate level.[14][39] Although the original conversation pit had been removed by the 1990s,[14] it was recreated as part of the TWA Hotel.[41] By the early 1990s, to comply with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a switchback ramp had been added between the lower level and the intermediate level.[42]
A concrete balcony on the upper floor spans above the central staircase that connects the lower floor to the intermediate level.[14][35][40] The TWA operated its Ambassador Club on the northern portion of the upper floor (on the left as seen from the entrance).[35][43] Three restaurants were located on the southern (right) portion of the upper floor: the Constellation Club, Lisbon Lounge, and Paris Café.[44][35] There were also offices on the upper level, north and south of the public areas.[40] A three-sided clock, dating from 1963, hangs from the center of the ceiling, where the rooftop shells converge. Saarinen had not included the clock in the plans, but it was retained when the building became part of the TWA Hotel.[45]
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The two passageways leading from the headhouse are completely enclosed and cross a service roadway.[35][40] The passageway leading southeast was called Flight Tube 2, while the passageway leading northeast was called Flight Tube 1.[8] These tubes are covered in concrete, with an ellipticalcross section as well as indirect lighting.[10] Original plans called for the passageways to be designed as bridges with glass ceilings; each passage would have two moving walkways, one in each direction, with a stationary hallway in between.[25] As a cost-saving measure, the passageways were ultimately not designed with moving walkways.[13]
The tubes originally led to Flight Wings 1 and 2,[40] two outlyinggate structures detached from the original terminal.[46] The passages were 6 feet (1.8 m) higher at the flight wings than at the headhouses. Flight Tube 1 was about 232 feet (71 m) long while Flight Tube 2 was 272 feet (83 m) long.[40] Following the opening of the TWA Hotel, the tubes have connected the headhouse to additional rooms in the hotel and to T5.[19][47][48]
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Flight Tube 2 connected to Flight Wing 2, from the 1962 Saarinen design, while Flight Tube 1 connected to Flight Wing 1, from a 1967–1970 expansion designed by Saarinen Associates' successor firmRoche-Dinkeloo.[8][17] Both sections were characterized as violin-shaped, with jetways extending outward from the end of each wing.[8] The flight wings had a base made of concrete and plaster, as well as a passenger concoursecantilevered above the base.[40]
Flight Wing 2, shaped like a multi-sided polygon,[49] was the smaller of the two structures, with seven gates.[49][50] It contained utilitarian decor as well as a small flight operation center above the passenger area.[51][52] 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.[11][51] Flight Wing 1 was larger than Flight Wing 2, having been built to accommodateBoeing 747 jumbo jets, and had 10 gates.[49][50] Flight Wing 1 had four levels, which contained passenger areas,Federal Inspection Services, and operations facilities; there were also baggage claim carousels in Flight Wing 1's basement, connected to the headhouse via people mover.[49] Both flight wings were demolished with the construction of T5 in the 2000s.[53]
T5 is variously cited as containing 625,000 square feet (58,100 m2)[16] or 635,000 square feet (59,000 m2) of space.[15] T5 has a 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2) retail area with 22 food and drink concessions, 35 stores,[16] a children's play area, and a 1,500-space parking garage.[54][55] As the first airline terminal at JFK designed after theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks,[56][57] T5 contains 20 security lanes, one of the largest checkpoints in a U.S. airline terminal,[58] and was planned to handle 20 million passengers annually.[59]
Two buildings, flanking the headhouse's sunken lounge, curve around the original headhouse.[38][41] These buildings are part of the TWA Hotel, which has 512 guest rooms, 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) feet of meeting space, and a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) observation deck.[60] The hotel is outside thesterile area of T5, meaning that visitors can access the hotel only before going through T5 security or after arrival at T5.[54] The hotel's decorations, replicas of the original furnishings, include brass lighting, walnut-accented furnishings, and rotary phones. The hallways contain red carpeting, evocative of the color of the furniture in the original TWA lounge. The rooms also contain modern design features such as blackout curtains and multiple-pane soundproof windows.[61][62] Some of the rooms are oriented toward the headhouse, while others face therunways.[41]
New York International Airport, also known as Idlewild Airport, was developed in 1943[63] and was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963.[64] Idlewild started operating in 1948.[65][66]Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) signed a lease with Idlewild's operator, thePort of New York Authority (later the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or PANYNJ) in 1949.[67][68] Idlewild had the highest volume of international air traffic of any airport globally by 1954.[65][69]
In 1955, the Port of New York Authority announced a $60 million master plan for Idlewild Airport.[70] Major airlines at the airport, including TWA (which by then had been renamed Trans World Airlines[71][72]) would build their own terminals. Smaller airlines would be served from a central terminal, the International Arrivals Building.[70][73][74] When the locations of each airline's terminal were announced, TWA andPan Am were assigned spots flanking the International Airlines Building.[68][75][76] TWA's hangar was on the opposite side of its assigned lot.[68] Under the leadership of TWA president Ralph S. Damon, TWA hiredEero Saarinen and hisDetroit-based firm to design the TWA Flight Center.[68][77][78] Even though Saarinen's firm was simultaneously working on 15 other projects, he agreed to take the commission.[78] A writer forInteriors magazine described TWA as having "vision and confidence" for the project.[68][79]
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Eero Saarinen's wifeAline recalled that her husband saw most other air terminals as ugly, shoddy, and inconvenient.[5][80] Saarinen wanted the new terminal to have a practical purpose and not only "interpret the sensation of flying",[81][82] but also "express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel".[83] Damon sought for "the spirit of flight" to be encapsulated in the design.[75] Saarinen's firm started researching other airports to collect data, and they also visitedGrand Central Terminal, the United States' busiest railroad station, to observe passenger circulation patterns. The team found that passengers within Grand Central Terminal often traveled in curving paths, despite the station's rectangular shape.[78] TWA anticipated that at peak hours, the terminal would accommodate a thousand passengers, with two thousand departures and arrivals per hour.[5] Additionally, TWA needed fourteen positions at the terminal for large jets.[84][85][86] In preparation for the terminal's design, Saarinen and his associates studied the operations of other airports.[38][87]
The Saarinen team started devising designs for the terminal'sform, or shape, in February 1956.[84][86] Saarinen said retrospectively in 1959 that, in designing the terminal, he had been challenged "to create a building that was distinctive and memorable".[88] The site assigned to TWA was not the airline's first choice for an Idlewild terminal, but the design team nonetheless used it to design a highly visible terminal.[9] One of Saarinen's original designs was sketched on the back of a restaurant menu while he and Aline were eating dinner withTime magazine's associate editor Cranston Jones.[89] Unhappy with initial designs, Saarinen asked TWA for more time and took an additional year to resolve the design,[3] testing out numerous shapes.[31] One of Saarinen's associates,Kevin Roche, described one initial design as an oval shell upon four piers, saying that Saarinen had rejected that plan as awkward.[90][25] An engineer for the project, Abba Tor, had warned that a single slab of concrete might crack.[91]
Saarinen's team first created 3D models of the planned terminal, then drew sketches of the structure; this contrasted with the design processes of more traditional buildings, in which architects drew sketches before creating their 3D models.[83] Saarinen's team created several wire, cardboard, and clay models of the terminal's roof,[6][9][90] constructed at variousscales.[25] One early model for the terminal was based onJørn Utzon's winning proposal for theSydney Opera House's architectural design competition, for which Saarinen had been a judge.[83] Saarinen had originally envisioned the roof as a single shell, but he refined the design twice before ultimately devising the plan with four shells.[92] 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.[25][26][92] The roof may also have been inspired byMinoru Yamasaki's design forSt. Louis Lambert International Airport's main terminal, his fatherEliel Saarinen's design forHelsinki Central Station; andMcKim, Mead & White's design for the originalNew York Penn Station.[93] During another discussion, Roche used a saw to bisect one of the models, creating the inspiration for the roof's four shells.[25][26]
The interior was modeled next; since the space was to be symmetrical, Saarinen's team only created drawings for half the interior.[25] Roche said the area around the center staircase was remodeled at least ten times.[94] Saarinen and his team frequently studied the models throughout the night, crawling across them.[87] In addition to around 130 possible plans created by the Saarinen office for the terminal, contractors provided hundreds of their own drawings. Cross-sections and contour maps were also devised. The drawings took some 5,500man-hours to produce, and they were accurate to about1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm).[6][25] Saarinen's team devised 600 sketches of the building, but only 200 of these sketches were used in the final design.[7] The resulting plan was characterized as providing a "smooth and luxurious switch from ground transportation to planes".[84][75]
In November 1957, TWA announced plans for a design costing $12 million (equivalent to $102 million in 2024), to begin construction the following year.[95][96][97] 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.[97] Two passageways would lead to outlying structures, containinggates from which passengers would board.[96][97] At the time, the terminal building was supposed to be completed in 1960,[96][97] while the TWA hangar had already been constructed earlier in 1957.[98]
The plans were revised in 1958 after Saarinen's original design was determined to be too expensive.[99] Though two flight wings had been included in the original plan, only one, Flight Wing 2, was initially built as a cost-saving measure.[13][100] The passageways were to have a glazed roof and moving walkways in the original plan, but these features were absent in the final construction. Two "arms" flanking the headhouse were also removed from the plans.[13]
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Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge received the contract in early 1959.[101] Construction began that June,[85][102] initially with 14 engineers and 150 artisans.[103] At the time, work was anticipated to be completed in 1961.[102] A grid was devised to manage the steel-pipe scaffolding at the construction site, and 5,500 supports were used in the scaffolding.[103][104][105][d] The contractors prefabricated 27 distinct shapes of wedges for the scaffolding, using 2,500 pieces in total.[25] The process of creating the scaffolding lasted more than a year.[106] The contractors relied partially on computer calculations to design and construct the various parts of the terminal.[7][25] The four Y-shaped piers required hundreds of additional drawings to fabricate.[25]
The roof was poured as a single form starting on August 31, 1960,[103][106][107] a job that took 120 hours.[108] The pour involved 3,200 cubic yards (2,400 m3) of concrete,[106][107] which was cast in four phases. Three 45-short-ton (40-long-ton; 41 t) cranes brought the concrete to the site.[106] The contractors constructed the roof shells to the specifications outlined in Saarinen's contour maps, which had a margin of error of 1 foot (0.30 m).[7][103][104] Although the project employed carpenters who did not have a particular specialty, the procedures were precise enough that they required a maximum deviation of 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) from the plan.[28][104]
The scaffolding was removed in December 1960, after construction had progressed enough the entire weight of the roof could be supported by the piers.[85][105] By April 1961, when only the concrete vaults had been completed, Saarinen remarked that "If anything happened and they had to stop work right now and just leave it in this state, I think it would make a beautiful ruin, like the Baths of Caracalla".[28][109] The terminal hosted its first preview events the same month.[110] Saarinen died later that year,[111] and Roche and another of Saarinen's associates,John Dinkeloo, formedRoche-Dinkeloo, which worked to complete the building.[112] The TWA Flight Center was one of several commissions that Roche-Dinkeloo had received from Saarinen's former clients following his death.[113] Aline Saarinen worked with TWA to coordinate the terminal's marketing activities from the building's announcement to its completion.[114] The building had cost $15 million (equivalent to $119 million in 2024) in total.[115][116]
On March 19, 1962, passengers started using the incomplete TWA Terminal to access planes.[117][118] The next month, TWA presidentCharles C. Tillinghast Jr. announced plans to officially open the terminal on May 28.[118] Prior to its official opening, the building was used for a fundraising benefit,[119] and workers continued to fit out the interior.[29] The completed terminal was dedicated as scheduled on May 28, 1962.[116] It was finished after most of the other major U.S. airline terminals at Idlewild had been completed. After the opening of the International Arrivals Building in 1957,United Airlines andEastern Air Lines opened their own terminals in 1959, followed byAmerican Airlines andPan American World Airways (Worldport) in 1960, andNorthwest Airlines and TWA in 1962.[73][120]National Airlines'Sundrome would be the last, opening in 1969.[120]
The terminal as completed had seven aircraft positions, six of which were available from Flight Wing 2; the other boarding position was available from a temporary structure attached to Flight Tube 1.[12][121] Four ofBernard Buffet's paintings, depicting cities where TWA operated, were installed in the TWA Terminal in 1963.[122] The terminal quickly became functionally inadequate;[38] throughout the decade, passenger aircraft gradually became larger, and JFK Airport's passenger numbers also increased.[46] International flights at JFK during that time were routed through the International Arrivals Building, and the structure attached to Flight Tube 1 became functionally inadequate.[123] In 1966,Restaurant Associates took over all of the TWA Terminal's foodservice operations.[124][125] The terminal accommodated 3 million annual passengers at that point, with 140 daily flights.[125]
To accommodatewide-body aircraft, TWA announced in June 1967 that it would build Flight Wing 1 northwest of the existing structure, hiring Roche-Dinkeloo to design it.[126][127] Flight Wing 1 was expected to cost $20 million and be completed in two years.[127][128] Work started in 1968,[123] and the concrete shell was finished by that December.[129] The expansion included acustoms facility to alleviate congestion at the International Arrivals Building's customs terminal,[130] located within the basement.[131] 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.[49]BWIA West Indies Airways began operating from the TWA Terminal in November 1968,[132] though it moved to another terminal after less than a year.[133] Flight Wing 1 hosted its first passengers on February 25, 1970;[134] it had cost $21 million in total.[131] The wing was not dedicated until March 19, when international passengers could pass through the terminal directly.[131][135]
In 1978[14] or 1979, TWA built a traffic island with a canopy to provide shelter for passengers waiting for ground transport.[136] The shelter, constructed by the architectural firm Witthoefft & Rudolf, won theAlbert S. Bard Award for architectural excellence.[137] A bomb detonated at the terminal in March 1979, injuring four people.[138] The TWA Flight Center was overcrowded by the early 1980s,[139] and passengers sometimes had to line up outside because the terminal was so crowded.[38] This prompted TWA to lease the neighboring Sundrome in December 1980.[139][140] The expanded facility opened in April 1981;[141][142] domestic flights were subsequently relocated to the Sundrome, while the TWA Flight Center continued to host international flights.[139] A passageway was also built to connect the TWA Flight Center and the Sundrome.[142][143]
Throughout the late 20th century, the TWA Flight Center underwent further modifications, including the addition of security screening equipment.[38][144] Following a series of bombings andaircraft hijackings, in 1985, TWA implemented more stringent baggage checks and hired more guards and police to patrol the terminal.[145] In addition, TWA began testing out an X-ray screening machine in September 1989,[146] among the first machines of its type to be used in an airport.[147] Although TWA had planned to renovate the terminal, this did not occur.[32]Progressive Architecture magazine described the terminal in 1992 as being in "tawdry condition", with parts of the structure appearing actively deteriorated.[143] TWA wanted to merge with another airline by then, and the terminal's continued operation was uncertain.[148]
TheNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the terminal as a landmark in 1994, amid reports that the building might be demolished.[36][48] Following the 1996 crash ofTWA Flight 800, investigators found that the TWA Flight Center's security protocols were lax and that unauthorized personnel could theoretically access the terminal's baggage room and even the tarmac.[149] 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.[150] The PANYNJ considered expanding the terminal during that decade,[48] andelastomeric coating was added to the roof in 1999 to prevent leakage.[24]
TWA sold its assets in October 2001 toAmerican Airlines,[18] which briefly operated flights out of the TWA Flight Center.[151] American Airlines ceased flight operations at the terminal in December 2001 and allowed its lease, inherited from TWA, to expire the next month.[151][152] By then, airport officials saw the terminal as functionally outdated.[153][154] Among other issues, the building did not meet modernaccessibility or security standards, was frequently overcrowded, and had inadequate exterior canopies and access roads.[154] Like many terminals designed before the advent of jumbo jets, increased passenger traffic, and security issues, the design had proved difficult to update as air travel evolved, particularly with regard to the placement of security checkpoints.[44][123] The PANYNJ could bypass the LPC designation and demolish parts of the terminal;[153][155][156] theFederal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could approve or reject the PANYNJ's redevelopment plan, declined to intervene.[157]
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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.[153][155] By that August, the PANYNJ had presented its first proposal, which entailed converting the headhouse into arestaurant or conference center, while encircling the existing building with one or possibly two new terminals.[158] Preservationists expressed concerns that the terminal could be significantly modified.[159] TheMunicipal Art Society (MAS) and the architectsPhilip Johnson andRobert A.M. Stern were against the proposal,[158] as wasDocomomo International.[160] Detractors said the Saarinen headhouse's original design intention would be lost if it were encircled by another terminal,[158][161] and that the flight wings were an integral part of the architecture.[160] Philip Johnson, speaking at the 2001 presentation, said of the PANYNJ proposal:
This building represents a new idea in 20th-century architecture, and yet we are willing to strangle it by enclosing it within another building. Imagine, tying a bird's wings up. This will make the building invisible. If you're going to strangle a building to death, you might as well tear it down.[158]
The MAS wanted the original structure to remain in use as a terminal,[156][154] while theNew York Landmarks Conservancy, another preservationist group, advocated for a more flexible plan that allowedadaptive reuse.[162][163] By late 2002, there was still no agreement on the usage of the TWA Flight Center, except that the headhouse and passageways would be preserved.[151] The following year, a draft of arequest for proposal (RFP) for the terminal was released.[164] In addition,JetBlue proposed reopening the TWA Flight Center as a check-in facility and constructing a 26-gate terminal behind the TWA Flight Center.[165][166] At the time, JetBlue was operating out of the adjacent Sundrome and was the airport's fastest growing carrier.[165] Due to the preservation disputes, theNational Trust for Historic Preservation included the TWA Flight Center on itsAmerica's Most Endangered Places list in 2003.[167]The Wall Street Journal credited the National Trust listing with having influenced the building's addition to theNational Register of Historic Places in 2005.[168]
The PANYNJ and JetBlue came to an agreement on the construction of the new terminal in August 2004,[169][170] andGensler was hired to design the new structure, known as T5.[170][171] As part of the plan, two JetBlue ticket kiosks were to be installed in the original headhouse,[163][172] which, along with T5, was supposed to have become part of a new Terminal 5.[173] Because the headhouse was not intended to be fully integrated into the new terminal, another tenant had to be identified for the rest of the headhouse.[163] Separately, the PANYNJ signed an agreement with the FAA and historic-preservation agencies for the renovation of the headhouse.[174] The structure was also supposed to host an art exhibition calledTerminal 5,[44] with work, lectures, and temporary installations drawing inspiration from the terminal's architecture.[44] Though the exhibition was planned to run from October 2004 to January 2005,[44][175] the show closed abruptly after the headhouse was vandalized during the opening gala.[175][176]
In December 2005, the PANYNJ began construction of the T5 facility behind and partially encircling the headhouse.[18] The two flight wings were demolished to make space for the new facility, and roadways were constructed under the flight tubes.[177] The construction of T5 obstructed direct views of the tarmac from the headhouse.[38] The PANYNJ issued a final RFP for the headhouse in 2006,[164] requesting proposals for the space not occupied by the ticket counters.[163][172] Originally, the PANYNJ was to renovate a departure lounge at the end of Flight Wing 2,[164] known as the "trumpet".[178][179] The lounge was lifted and moved 1,500 ft (460 m)[180][181] at a cost of $895,000.[178][181] The structure was later demolished after the PANYNJ prioritized renovating the headhouse;[18][179] the cost of relocating the "trumpet" had been estimated at $10 million, slightly less than the $11 million estimated cost of the headhouse project.[164]
The PANYNJ approved $19 million in repairs to the headhouse in early 2008.[173][179] The headhouse's restoration included removingasbestos and replacing deteriorated design details.[173] T5 opened on October 22, 2008.[15][182][183] JetBlue used a depiction of the Saarinen terminal's roof as the official logo for the event, incorporated the new terminal's floor plan for the signage.[18] At the time of T5's opening, JetBlue and PANYNJ had yet to complete renovation of the original Saarinen headhouse.[179] There were disagreements over whether the terminal should be used for conferences, converted to a restaurant, or adapted for some other use.[184] The new terminal was subsequently expanded in 2014,[185] and a renovation of T5 was announced in 2025.[186]
The PANYNJ was seeking to convert the still-vacant headhouse into a hotel by 2011,[187] andOpen House New York (OHNY) began providing free tours of the unused terminal that October.[188] The OHNY tours took place once a year,[189][190] and the terminal soon became one of OHNY's most popular tour sites.[190] The firmBeyer Blinder Belle finished restoring the headhouse in 2012.[188][191]André Balazs was selected in 2013 to operate a hotel at the TWA Flight Center;[32][192] Balazs, a fan of Saarinen's architecture, had planned aStandard Hotels location there.[184] Balazs's proposal was abandoned due to disagreements with the PANYNJ,[32][189] and another request for proposals was launched the following year.[32][193] There were proposals to convert the headhouse into acapsule hotel operated byYotel,[194] or to use it as a terminal forEos Airlines, but neither plan was accepted.[195]
JetBlue and the hotel developerMCR Hotels jointly negotiated for the rights to operate a hotel there,[196] and they won the lease in September 2015.[197] Afterward, the historian Lori Walters used laser scanners to document the building's architectural details.[198] Construction of JetBlue and MCR'sTWA Hotel began in December 2016[199] and was funded by a $230 million loan.[195][200] The structures on either side of the headhouse were demolished,[201] and hotel-room towers were built on either side.[202][203] The project also involved conductingasbestos abatement[202] and replacing or restoring many original design details.[62][204][205] Since the headhouse was a designated landmark, the renovation was eligible for federal and state tax credits,[202] and the developers had to consult with nearly two dozen government agencies.[205] The hotel opened on May 15, 2019, and the TWA Flight Center has been part of the hotel since then.[206]
TWA had wanted a structure "represent[ing] a daring departure from conventional air terminal concepts".[37] Under TWA president Damon's guidance, Saarinen had designed the terminal as "a building that starts your flight with your first glimpse of it and increases your anticipation after you arrive".[68][77] As such, Saarinen had used similar design features on the interior and exterior.[159] He said, "We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world."[207]
The terminal gradually became one of Saarinen's best known works, alongside such structures as theCBS Building, theDulles Airport Main Terminal,General Motors Technical Center, andGateway Arch.[208][209] Despite being finished relatively late compared to other terminals at JFK Airport, the TWA Flight Center incorporated many novel features for its time, which influenced the design of other airport terminals.[36][37] TWA also copied elements of the terminal's interior design for its World Travel Center at299 Park Avenue in Manhattan, which opened in 1968.[210]
When the TWA Flight Center was under construction, it was often discussed in the architectural media.[211] Shortly after the plans were announced in 1957,The New York Times described them as "hav[ing] a startling effect" for first-time visitors, but "not so revolutionary" inside.[212] Another newspaper said the TWA Terminal was "planned to combine the functional realities of a jet-age air terminal with the aesthetic drama of flight".[213] The architectRobert Venturi said that Saarinen's designs deviated from the then-commonplace architectural philosophy thatform follows function.[214] Many contemporary media compared the terminal to "a bird in flight".[28][109]Architectural Forum (which praised the terminal) andArchitectural Review (which criticized it) both characterized the design as a "concrete bird".[28] Saarinen said the building's resemblance to a bird was a coincidence,[28][109][214] but he did not object to such characterizations because "people are forever looking for literary explanations".[215] Privately, Saarinen described the structure as a "Leonardo da Vinci flying machine".[84][214]
The completion of the terminal prompted a large amount of architectural commentary, much of it positive.[100][211]Ada Louise Huxtable, the architecture critic forThe New York Times, saw the TWA Flight Center as a bright spot in the "mediocrity" of JFK Airport.[121][216] The interior was also praised. The criticEdgar Kaufmann Jr. in 1962 called the interior "one of the few major works of American architecture in recent years that reaches its full stature as an interior",[35][79][217] viewing it as "a festival of ordered movements and exhilarating vistas".[14] Ken Macrorie ofThe Reporter compared the tarmac-facing waiting room to a railroad hub's waiting area and alluded to the similarities with the city's original Pennsylvania Station.[11][218]The Christian Science Monitor, just before the opening, wrote that architects had praised the building "as perhaps the finest example of the creative genius of the late Eero Saarinen".[219]
While the TWA Terminal was described as appropriate in the context of theJet Age, it also had detractors.[103][121] The historianAlice T. Friedman retrospectively said that the TWA Terminal had "emerged as something of a lightning rod for contemporary audiences, only some of which had to do with architecture".[88] One major critic of the design was the historianVincent Scully, who disliked Saarinen's use of "whammo shapes" at the TWA Flight Center and atDulles International Airport'smain terminal.[28][100] The British criticReyner Banham questioned the practicality of the terminal's design, which did not clearly link "function and symbol", but he said that the TWA Terminal was no worse than any other airport terminal.[100][220] The Italian engineer and architectPier Luigi Nervi was also skeptical of the design, saying that the structure was "too heavy and elaborate for the problem it seeks to solve".[100][221] Friedman also wrote that detractors also had negative impressions of the TWA Flight Center, and other works that Saarinen designed for large businesses, due to their capitalist connotations.[222]
Adulation for the original design continued after its completion.[217][224] In the 1990s,Progressive Architecture magazine said the terminal "represented a high point not only in the design of air terminals, but in the exercise of corporate responsibility",[143] whileThe Globe and Mail called it among "the most potent images of '50s design".[225]New York Times criticHerbert Muschamp called the TWA Flight Center "the most dynamically modeled space of its era",[223] and the architectRobert A. M. Stern likened the terminal building to a "Grand Central of the jet age".[184][223] Conversely,Paul Goldberger said in 1990 that the terminal was "but a shadow of its former self" because it had undergone so many alterations over the years.[144]
TheEngineering News Record said in 2003 that the building remained architecturally influential even as it had become functionally outdated.[226] 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".[75] According to Merkel, it was not until the Port Authority proposed demolishing the terminal for T5 that "the full impact of the building was revealed".[211] After the nearbySundrome was demolished in 2011,David W. Dunlap ofThe New York Times wrote that the TWA Flight Center's "captivating and evocative design" explained why it had been preserved over the years.[227] Joseph Giovannini ofThe 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 withLudwig Mies van der Rohe'sSeagram Building,[191] while Chris Beanland ofThe Independent called the building a "swoop-roof marvel" that retained its 1962 look.[228]
After the TWA Hotel conversion was complete,Australian Design Review wrote that the original Flight Center's design had retained its quality throughout the years,[229] and an observer forThe American Scholar wrote that "Saarinen's terminal maintains its sublime power".[38] In a 2021 report, the scholar Song Jiewon wrote that the original structure had become "the physical manifestation of a vision of America's future".[46] The architectural historianMichael J. Lewis described the building as "perhaps the world's finest example of an inhabitable sculpture", saying it still looked modern.[230]
When the newer T5 was announced in 2005, JFK Airport's vice president of redevelopment described the planned structure as "a very practical, very efficient building".[17] T5 was also described as "hyper-efficient"[56] and a "monument to human throughput",[183] and a reviewer forCondé Nast Traveler said in 2020 that T5 "might be the [...] best" terminal at JFK Airport.[54]
When the terminal was completed, it received numerous accolades and awards, including from the Queens Chamber of Commerce[233] and the New York Concrete Industrial Board.[234]Architectural Forum included the TWA Flight Center and thePepsi-Cola Building as part of a 1962 exhibition of ten of the "world's most significant modern buildings".[235] TheAmerican Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the terminal an Award of Merit in 1963, and it was featured in magazines printed internationally.[103] In addition, Saarinen won theAIA Gold Medal posthumously in 1962.[236]
The AIA's 2007 surveyList of America's Favorite Architecture ranked the TWA Flight Center among the top 150 buildings in the United States.[231][232] Beyer Blinder Belle received an award for its 2012 restoration of the building,[188] and thePreservation League of New York State also gave the building an excellence award.[237] When the TWA Hotel conversion was completed, the project received theNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation's 2019 preservation award.[238]
Ascale model of the terminal was displayed at theMuseum of Modern Art inManhattan while the building was under development.[101][239] After the terminal was completed, it was documented in numerous photographs taken byBalthazar Korab,[240]Charles Eames,[23] andEzra Stoller.[241] Shortly after the TWA Flight Center ceased operating as a terminal, the headhouse was used as a filming location for the 2002 motion pictureCatch Me If You Can.[242]
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on the possibility of designating the TWA Flight Center's exterior and interior as official city landmarks in 1993.[243] The terminal's exterior and interior were designated as landmarks on July 19, 1994,[36][244] and theNew York City Council ratified the designation that October.[223] The headhouse and the older Flight Wing 2, but not the newer Flight Wing 1, were protected by the designation.[155][245] 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.[244][246] 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 preserve the TWA Flight Center from modifications, a major point of contention when the building's redevelopment was proposed in the 2000s.[247]
On September 7, 2005,[1] theNational Park Service listed the TWA Flight Center on theNational Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[18][168] The building had been determined eligible for listing on the register in 2001,[157] but it was not added until after the building had been placed on theAmerica's Most Endangered Places list.[168] The NRHP listing also does not preserve the building from modification.[248]
| External images | |
|---|---|
 TWA Flight Center: c. 1962, Departure & Arrival Board | |
| TWA Flight Center: c. 1962, Departure & Arrival Corridor | |
| TWA Flight Center: c. 1962, Interior View |
Media related toTWA Flight Center at Wikimedia Commons
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