Crossroads of Air and Land

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Crossroads of Air and Land

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Matthew Carbone

Day Two Morning Sessions
Crossroads of Air and Land

Session 1
TWA Hotel: Transforming Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center

Session 2
Modernism and Mass Transit: A Bicoastal Review (Double session - BART + METRO)

TWA Hotel: Transforming Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center

Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center is one of the most significant examples of Mid-century modern architecture. Completed in 1962, the Flight Center is literally and metaphorically a crossroads; expressing the idealism, cultural connectivity and technological advancements of the 1960s and embodying design innovations that contributed to the development of air terminal planning worldwide. Conceived immediately before the advent of the jet age, the Flight Center was designed for smaller aircraft and effectively obsolete within a decade of its completion. Undergoing numerous modifications in response to the rapidly changing aviation industry, the uniqueness and inflexibility of Saarinen’s structure did not lend itself to adaptation. Vacant for two decades and threatened with demolition, the TWA Flight Center has been restored and adapted for use as an airport hotel. The 20-year revitalization process reflects changing attitudes to Mid-century modern architecture and the sustainable regeneration of obsolete mid-century transportation buildings.

Miriam Kelly

Miriam Kelly is a British Architect experienced in the repair and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. In 2006, she won the prestigious Lethaby Scholarship with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and has since joined the UK’s Register for Architects Accredited in Building Conservation. In 2013, she became a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and undertook a travelling research scholarship to study post-industrial regeneration. Miriam joined BBB in 2014 and is working on projects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MCR Development, The Frick Collection, New York Public Library, Cornell University, Hispanic Society Museum & Library, MIT, and Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. She holds two Masters Degrees in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh. Before moving to the US, Miriam worked at some of the most sensitive historic sites in the UK including Windsor Castle, the Royal Pavilion Estate, Lowther Castle and Bath Abbey.

Modernism and Mass Transit: A Bicoastal Review

BART to the Future

After decades of planning, design, and construction, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) opened to the public in 1972. The system, like any major infrastructure undertaking, emerged from a confluence of political, geographic, and social issues dividing the Bay Area in the mid-twentieth century. 

The Northern California Chapter of Docomomo US began a research project in 2015 to reveal the history behind much of the system’s design, and accordingly we have hosted various tours on BART every year since. This presentation will share significant findings from our research, but primarily aims to be a discussion about themes, influences, and juxtapositions in Modern transit planning and design. An overview of the following topics will be provided: system history and planning strategies, individual station designs and architects, engineering feats, political and social issues during construction, graphic and industrial design strategies, public art within the system, and preservation and advocacy issues. 

Public Transit & the Modernist Ideal

In 2014, the American Institute of Architects bestowed its Twenty-Five Year Award on the stations of the Washington Metro, noting that the "original Metro stations have become icons of Washington architecture," and that "they are quintessentially modern while maintaining a certain grandeur befitting the nation's capital." At the same time, Metro had been struggling with basic safety and maintenance. Frequent fires prompted one local resident to create the macabrely popular website ismetroonfire.com, and commuters and tourists alike regularly take to Twitter to complain about its dark stations and minimal signage. In response, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has recently undertaken a series of maintenance and repair initiatives, large and small. The Washington, DC Chapter of Docomomo US has recognized this moment as an opportunity to advocate for a preservation-minded approach to work undertaken within the system's iconic, brutalist stations. This presentation will highlight key findings from research conducted by Docomomo US/DC in support of its tour and advocacy efforts.

Lacey Bubnash

Lacey Bubnash is an architect and materials conservator at Architectural Resources Group in San Francisco. She has over 12 years of experience in historic preservation, with combined training as an architect and conservator. Her material experience includes the evaluation and testing of masonry, wood, architectural metals, and waterproofing systems, and the design of repair details and specifications for those materials and assemblies. She has worked on numerous historic buildings throughout California, including Coit Tower, Los Angeles Union Station, the New Mission Theater, Fort Point, and the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Lacey is a member of the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and is the current chair of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) Architecture Specialty Group. She is a member of Docomomo US and has served on the board of the Northern California Chapter of Docomomo US for the past 11 years.

Lucy Moore, AIA, LEED AP BD + C

Lucy Moore, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is an architect and historic preservation specialist at Quinn Evans in Washington, DC. Her work has focused on the preservation and rehabilitation of modern and late modern architecture. Her experience includes the Conservation Management Plan for Wellesley College’s Science Center (1977); the Historic Structure Report for Carter Barron Amphitheater (1950) in Washington, DC; and the renovation of Ralph Rapson’s Fraser Library (1962) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lucy is President of the Washington, DC Chapter of Docomomo US and has served on its board for five years. She is also a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Active in her community, she leads city-level reviews of commercial property projects in her local historic district.