Roof

The TWA Flight Center's head house is a two-story structure.^[4] The roof's thin concrete shell was designed to span a wide space using as little material as possible.^[3] The roof is composed of four concrete shells: two upward-slanting shells at the edges, which resemble wings, and two smaller shells slanting downward toward the front and back of the structure.^[19] The upward-slanting shells reach up to 75 feet (23 m) above ground level. The rooftop 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;^[4][13][20] these measure 51 feet (16 m) tall by 315 feet (96 m) long.^[19] Skylights are placed within the gaps between each shell.^[13][21] The building's main entrance is on the land side, where the roof projects over a sidewalk (formerly a driveway) with a scupper.^[13][21]

The roof 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. The roof weighs 6,000 short tons (5,400 t) in total.^[22][23] The roof shells are cantilevered by up to 80 feet (24 m) and contain steel reinforcement to accommodate the roof's weight.^[23]

Facade

The main portion of the head house's facade is made of large green-tinted glass walls.^[4][13] These glass walls were coated with a dark purple mylar film before 2005.^[4] Single-story wings extend outward from the main terminal to the north and south and contain several door openings within the concave walls. Inside these wings are maintenance areas.^[21]

Original head house

Though the head house is two stories tall, it contains an intermediate level, joined to the lower level by a central staircase and to the upper level by four peripheral staircases.^[24][25] Ceramic tiles line the walls and floors.^[21][25] The TWA Flight Center incorporated many innovations upon its completion, including closed circuit television, a central public address system, baggage carousels, electromechanical split-flap display schedule board and baggage scales, and gates that were somewhat distant from the main terminal.^{[11][15][26][27]} The intermediate level contains an area facing east, where passengers could originally see the tarmac.^[28] By the early 1990s, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a switchback ramp had been added between the lower level and the intermediate level.^[29]

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.^[11] A sculpted marble information desk rose from the floor as a single slab.^[21][14] 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.^[28]

A concrete balcony on the upper floor spans the central staircase from the lower floor to the intermediate level.^[25][28] The TWA operated its Ambassador Club on the northern (left) portion of the upper floor.^[25][30] Three restaurants were located on the southern (right) portion of the upper floor: the Constellation Club, Lisbon Lounge, and Paris Café.^[31][25] There were also offices on the upper level, north and south of the public areas.^[28]

Terminal 5 and TWA Hotel

Terminal 5 has a 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m²) retail area with 22 food and drink concessions, 35 stores,^[9] free wireless Internet access, a children's play area, and a 1,500-space parking garage.^[32][33] As the first airline terminal at JFK designed after the September 11, 2001, attacks,^[34][35] T5 contains 20 security lanes, one of the largest checkpoints in a U.S. airline terminal.^[36]

Two buildings, north and south of the newer T5 structure, encircle the original head house to the east. 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 an observation deck of 10,000 square feet (930 m²).^[37][38][39] The hotel is outside the sterile area of Terminal 5, meaning that visitors can only access the hotel before going through T5 security or after arrival at T5.^[32] 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 amenities such as blackout curtains and multiple-pane soundproof windows.^[40][41]

Passageways

The two passageways leading from the head house are completely enclosed and cross a service roadway that serves T5 and the TWA Hotel.^[25][28] The passageway leading southeast was called Flight Tube 2, while the passageway leading northeast was called Flight Tube 1.^[4] These tubes are covered in concrete, with an elliptical cross section as well as indirect lighting.^[13] 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.^[19] As a cost-saving measure, the passageways were ultimately not designed with moving walkways.^[16]

The tubes originally led to Flight Wings 1 and 2. The passages were 6 feet (1.8 m) higher at the flight wings than at the head houses. Flight Tube 1 was about 232 feet (71 m) long while Flight Tube 2 was 272 feet (83 m) long.^[28] Following the opening of the TWA Hotel, the tubes connect the head house to additional rooms in the hotel, as well as to T5.^[42][43]

Flight wings

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 successor firm Roche-Dinkeloo.^[4][17] Both sections were characterized as being "violin"-shaped, with jetways extending outward from the end of each wing.^[4] The flight wings had a base made of concrete and plaster, as well as a passenger concourse cantilevered above the base.^[28]

Flight Wing 2, shaped like a multi-sided polygon, was the smaller of the two structures, with seven gates;^[44] it contained utilitarian decor as well as a small flight operation center above the passenger area.^[45][46] 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.^[14][45] Flight Wing 1 was much larger than Flight Wing 2, having been built to accommodate Boeing 747 jumbo jets, and had 10 gates. Flight Wing 1 contained four levels, which served passengers, Federal Inspection Services, and operations; there were also baggage claim carousels in Flight Wing 1's basement, connected to the head house via people mover.^[44] Both flight wings were demolished with the construction of T5 in the 2000s.^[47]

Planning and design

Eero Saarinen's wife Aline recalled that her husband saw most other air terminals as being ugly, shoddy, and inconvenient.^[6][63] Saarinen wanted the new terminal to have a practical purpose and not only "interpret the sensation of flying",^[64][65] but also "express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel".^[66] Damon sought for "the spirit of flight" to be encapsulated in the design.^[59] Saarinen's firm started researching other airports to collect data, and they also visited Grand 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, even though the terminal itself was rectangular.^[61] TWA anticipated that at peak hours, the terminal would accommodate a thousand passengers, with two thousand departures and arrivals per hour.^[6] Additionally, TWA needed fourteen positions at the terminal for large jets.^[12][67][68]

The Saarinen team started devising designs for the terminal's form in February 1956.^[12][68] Although the site assigned to TWA was not the airline's first choice for an Idlewild terminal, the design team took advantage of the site to design a highly visible terminal.^[11] One of Saarinen's original designs was sketched on the back of a restaurant menu, when he and Aline were eating dinner with Time magazine's associate editor Cranston Jones.^[69] Unhappy with initial designs, Saarinen asked TWA for more time and took an additional year to resolve the design.^[3] Roche said that one initial design had called for an oval shell upon four piers, but that Saarinen had rejected that plan as awkward.^[70][19] Furthermore, engineer Abba Tor had warned that a single slab of concrete might crack.^[71]

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.^[66] Saarinen's team created several wire, cardboard, and clay models of the terminal's roof,^[7][11][70] constructed at various scales.^[19] One early model for the terminal was based on Jørn Utzon's winning proposal for the Sydney Opera House's architectural design competition, for which Saarinen had been one of the judges.^[66] Saarinen had originally envisioned the roof as a single shell, but he refined the design twice before ultimately devising the plan with four shells.^[72] 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.^[19][20][72] During another discussion, Roche used a saw to bisect one of the models, creating the inspiration for the roof's four shells.^[19][20] In creating the TWA Flight Center's roof, Saarinen may also have been inspired by Minoru Yamasaki's design for St. Louis Lambert International Airport's main terminal, his father Eliel Saarinen's design for Helsinki Central Station; and McKim, Mead & White's design for the original New York Penn Station.^[73]

The interior was modeled next; since the space was to be symmetrical, Saarinen's team only created drawings for half the interior.^[19] Roche said the area around the center staircase was remodeled at least ten times.^[74] 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 5,500 man-hours to produce, and they were accurate to about 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm).^[7][19] Saarinen's team had devised 600 sketches of the building, but only 200 of these sketches were used in the final design.^[8] The resulting plan was characterized as providing a "smooth and luxurious switch from ground transportation to planes".^[12][59]

Final plans and construction

By November 1957, TWA had announced a design with a projected cost of $12 million (equivalent to $100 million in 2023).^[11][67][75] Aline Saarinen worked with TWA to coordinate marketing activities centered on the terminal from the building announcement to its completion in 1962.^[76] The plans were revised in 1958 after Saarinen's original design was determined to be too expensive.^[77] Though both flight wings had been included in the original plan, only Flight Wing 2 was initially built as a cost-saving measure; the other wing was not completed until 1970.^[16][78] The passageways were to have a glazed roof and moving walkways in the original plan, but these features were absent in the final construction, and two "arms" flanking the head house had been removed.^[16]

Construction began in June 1959,^[67][79] involving 14 engineers and 150 workers.^[79] A grid was devised to manage the steel-pipe scaffolding at the construction site, and 5,500 supports were used in the scaffolding.^{[79][80][81][lower-alpha 3]} The contractors also prefabricated 27 different wedge shapes, creating 2,500 wedges in total.^[19] Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge constructed the shells to the specifications outlined in Saarinen's contour maps, which were precise to intervals of 1 foot (0.30 m).^[8][79][80] Although the project employed carpenters with "no special skill", the procedures were precise enough that they allowed for a maximum deviation of only 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) from the plan.^[23][80] The roof was poured as a single form starting on August 31, 1960;^[79][82] the work took 120 hours.^[83] The Y-shaped piers required hundreds of additional drawings to fabricate.^[19] By the middle of that year, the contractors were partially relying on computer calculations to complete the project.^[8]

By the end of 1960, the roof was fully supported by the four Y-shaped piers, and the scaffolding was removed.^[67][81] 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".^[23][84] Saarinen died later that year while undergoing surgery.^[85] His associates, principal designer Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo formed Roche-Dinkeloo, which worked to complete the building.^[86]

New JetBlue terminal

In December 2005, the PANYNJ began construction of the T5 facility behind and partially encircling Saarinen's head house.^[18] Peripheral portions of the head house were demolished to make space for a larger 26-gate facility designed by Gensler.^[9] Originally, there were also tentative plans to renovate one of the departure lounges, known as The Trumpet.^[118] During the construction of T5, The Trumpet was lifted and moved 1,500 ft (460 m)^[119] at a cost of $895,000,^[118] only to be later demolished when the project's budget prioritized renovating the head house.^[18] The head house was renovated to remove asbestos and replace deteriorated sections of the facility. The head house was planned to be used as an approach to the new T5 facility, and both buildings would be collectively known as Terminal 5.^[120]

T5 reopened on October 22, 2008,^[9][121] with JetBlue using an abstraction of the Saarinen terminal's gull-wing shape as the official logo for the event, an abstraction of the new terminal floor plan for the signage^[18] and counting down the reopening via Twitter.^[33] At the time of the T5 opening, JetBlue and PANYNJ had yet to complete renovation of the original Saarinen head house, and the building had stood empty while they decided what its future role should be. Early proposals included a conference center, an aviation museum, and a restaurant,^[118] or a place to check in for flights departing from the newer JetBlue T5 building.^[122]

Conversion of head house into hotel

In April 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that JetBlue and its partner, a hotel developer, were negotiating for the rights to turn the head house into a hotel.^[123] Three months later, state governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the Saarinen building would become part of the TWA Hotel, a new on-site hotel for airport passengers.^[124] After the hotel's development was announced, the historian Lori Walters used laser scanners to document the building's architecture.^[125][126] Construction began in December 2016.^[127] The structures on either side of the head house were demolished, though the head house was retained,^[128] and additional structures were built.^[129] During the head house's conversion into a hotel, many original details, such as the custom ceramic floor tiles and the 486 variously-shaped window panels, were replaced with replicas of the originals.^[41][130] The departure board from the original construction was also restored. The hotel opened on May 15, 2019.^[131]

Contemporary reviews

Shortly after the plans for the TWA Flight Center were announced in 1957, The New York Times described the plan as "hav[ing] a startling effect" for first-time visitors, but "not so revolutionary" inside.^[133] 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".^[134] Many contemporary media compared the terminal to "a bird in flight".^[23][84] Architectural Forum (which praised the terminal) and Architectural Review (which criticized it) both characterized the design as a "concrete bird".^[23] Saarinen said the building's resemblance to a bird was a coincidence,^{[23][84][135]} despite privately describing the structure as a "Leonardo da Vinci flying machine".^[135] The architect Robert Venturi said that Saarinen's designs evolved "from vocabulary rather than from function" and that, at the time, many of Saarinen's peers still adhered to the philosophy of form following function.^[135]

Even when the TWA Flight Center was under construction, it was often discussed in the architectural media, and the Museum of Modern Art ran an exhibit on the building in 1959.^[136] The completion of the terminal prompted a large amount of architectural commentary, most of it positive.^[78][136] While the TWA terminal's design had several critics and skeptics, it was still described as being appropriate in the context of the Jet Age.^[79][88] Architect Robert A. M. Stern called the head house a symbolic "Grand Central of the jet age".^[137] Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic for The New York Times, saw the TWA Flight Center as a bright spot in the "mediocrity" of JFK Airport.^[88][138] The interior was also praised. Critic Edgar 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".^{[25][62][139]} Ken Macrorie of The 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.^[14][140]

One major critic of the design was historian Vincent Scully, who disliked Saarinen's use of "whammo shapes" at the TWA Flight Center and Dulles International Airport.^[23][78] British critic Reyner 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.^[78][141] 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".^[78][142]

Retrospective reviews

Adulation for the original design continued long after its completion.^[139][143] Progressive Architecture magazine stated in 1992 that the terminal "represented a high point not only in the design of air terminals, but in the exercise of corporate responsibility".^[103] Two years later, New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp called the TWA Flight Center "the most dynamically modeled space of its era".^[144] In a 2005 book about Saarinen's work, Jayne Merkel said "the building did for TWA what the Saint Louis Arch [...] would eventually do for Saint Louis".^[59] 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".^[136] After the TWA Hotel conversion was complete, Australian Design Review wrote: "The interior curves, cantilevers and spacious mezzanines have stood the test of time."^[145]

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"^[34] and a "monument to human throughput",^[122] and a reviewer said T5 "might be the [...] best" terminal at JFK Airport.^[32]