TWA Terminal

Trans World Airlines Flight Center at New York International (Idlewild) Airport
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TWA Terminal

Site overview

The TWA Flight Center, designed by Eero Saarinen & Associates and built in 1956-62, is among the chief works of one of the most highly-regarded architectural firms of the modern era. Saarinen's firm revolutionized air terminal design through its use of daring concrete and glass forms and technological advances, producing a distinctive and highly-acclaimed work of expressionist architecture. The main portion of the terminal - created by four intersecting vaults separated by narrow bands of skylights and supported on four Y-shaped piers - has an upward soaring quality. The design of the building expressed Saarinen's intention "to interpret the sensation of flying" and "be experienced as a place of movement and transition."

Awards

Design

Award of Excellence

Commercial

The Commercial Design Award of Excellence is given for the restoration of the TWA Flight Center at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. At its opening in 1962, the TWA Terminal “was celebrated as a major achievement in modern architecture and quickly became a symbol for the “golden age” of commercial aviation.” After being listed as a New York City Landmark in 1995 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, the sensitive work done by the New York City firm Beyer Blinder Belle restored significant details and defining features such as the failing curtain wall, the “penny-tile” finish, and removed inappropriate exterior additions. Most importantly, tours and events held at the restored terminal have inspired a resurgence in interest of Saarinen’s building by the general public. 

Jury chair, architect Michael Mills noted, “This is a masterful restoration and reuse of an architectural landmark that had been in danger of demolition. Everything about this important Eero Saarinen design was respected and preserved.”

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Client

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Project Manager/Property Owner)

Restoration Team

Beyer Blinder Belle (Architect)

Primary classification

Transport/Communications (TRC)

Terms of protection

New York City Landmark & New York City Interior Landmark, 1994. Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005

Designations

New York City Individual Landmark, designated on July 19, 1994 | New York City Interior Landmark, designated on July 19, 1994

Author(s)

Jessica Smith | Docomomo US | 2017

How to Visit

Currently undergoing renovation (December 2016)

Location

John F. Kennedy International Airport
Queens, NY, 11430

Country

US

Designer(s)

Other designers

Architect(s): Eero Saarinen &. Associates (Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche)
Other designer(s): Ralph Yeakel, resident architect
Consulting engineer(s): Kenneth Morris, project engineer
Building contractor(s): Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge
Commission

1956

Completion

1962

Commission / Completion details

design period(s): 1956-1959, design presented to public in 1957, start of site work: 1959, completion/inauguration: 1962

Significant Alteration(s) with Date(s)

Type of change: alteration/renovation/restoration/extension/other: adaptation in expansion of the Jet
Blue Terminal
Date(s): demolition began July 1, 2005 (e)iii, construction began in December 2005
Circumstances/reasons for change: In 2001, the TWA Terminal was closed because the airline went out of
business.v After sitting vacant, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed to restore and adapt the TWA Terminal
in the expansion of the airport.
Effects of changes: In 2004, an agreement was reached to restore and adapt the TWA Terminal in the expansion of the
Jet Blue terminal. The original building is to remain a centerpiece, although it likely will not be operated as a passenger
terminal and will likely lose its “wings.”
Persons/organisations involved: The agreement was reached between the Port Authority, the Federal Aviation
Administration, the New York State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The
construction is being managed by Turner Construction. Arup is the planner and design manager. Gensler is the terminal
Architect. DMJM Harris is the airside/landside civil engineers

Current Use

Comments: Beginning in July 2005, the TWA Terminal is being incorporated into the expansion of the Jet Blue
Terminal at JFK Airport.

Current Condition

Comments: The TWA Terminal is currently under construction

General Description

The terminal encompasses some early airport technology and advancements during the dawning of commercial jet travel,
including the “satellite plan”, jetways, and baggage carousels. In the satellite plan, the “aircraft gates are clustered around
structures built on the runway ramp away from the main terminal.” The form of the building itself invokes the act of flying
with its “wings” and implied upward motion. The building is created “by four intersecting vaults separated by narrow bands
of skylights and supported on four Y-shaped piers,” and “has an upward soaring quality.” The concrete structure “required
special engineering and construction methods.”

Original Physical Context

Name(s) of surrounding area/building(s): Jet Blue Terminal Building

Other relations: The Jet Blue Terminal Building is currently under construction. During its construction, the TWA
Terminal has been partially demolished, and renovated. The Jet Blue structure sits next to the TWA Terminal, connected via
pedestrian tubes. The new terminal building is “meant to keep a low profile next to the Saarinen building.”i

Demolition on the building began in July 2005. iii Construction on the TWA Terminal began in December 2005. The final
steel beam of the new construction was put into place in October 2006.

Technical

The terminal encompasses some early airport technology and advancements during the
dawning of commercial jet travel, including the “satellite plan”, jetways, and baggage carousels. The concrete structure
“required special engineering and construction methods.”

Social

The construction of the terminal took place at the beginning of the “jet age” of air travel,
and incorporated new technologies that reflect this social change (including the satellite plan, jetways and baggage
carousels).

Cultural & Aesthetic

The TWA Terminal “is among the chief works of one of the most
highly-regarded architectural firms of the modern era.” In designing the terminal, Saarinen created a “very distinctive and
memorable building while still adhering to the master plan of the airport. The design of the building expressed Saarinen’s
intention ‘to interpret the sensation of flying’ and ‘be experienced as a place of movement and transition.’”

Canonical status: In the TWA Terminal, “Saarinen’s firm
revolutionized air terminal design through its use of daring concrete and glass forms and technological advances, producing a
distinctive and highly-acclaimed work of expressionistic architecture…” ii

References

i “Gensler to Design JetBlue Terminal for JFK,” Gensler Architects, Aug. 5, 2004, 31 Jan. 2007
<.http://www.gensler.com/news/2004/jetblue.html>.
ii “Trans World Airlines Flight Center (now TWA Terminal A) at New York International Airport” Landmarks Preservation
Commission July 19, 1994.
iii Margaret Foster, “The Terminal Takes Off,” Preservation Online. 31 August 2005, 31 January 2007
<www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news_2005/083105.htm>.
iv “JetBlue Airways Celebrates Significant Construction Milestone at JFK’s Terminal Five,” JetBlue Airways Corporation
Oct. 17, 2006, 31 January 2007 < http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=106993>.
v “DOCOMOMO Helps Safeguard Saarinen's TWA Terminal,” AIA Architect August 2001, 31 January 3007
<http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek/tw0727/0727tw1twaadd.htm>.
vi Stephanie Stubbs, “Saarinen’s TWA Terminal and the Moment of Truth,” AIA Architect September 2001, 31 January 2007
<http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek/tw0727/0727tw2projecttwa.htm>. | http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1915.pdf