Since its opening in 1962, Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center at New York’s Idlewild—now John F. Kennedy—Airport has been synonymous with the glamour of the Jet Age and the optimism of post-war America. Designated as a New York City landmark in 1994 and listed on the National Registers of Historic Places in 2005, Saarinen’s soaring terminal building captures the exhilarating sensation of flying through its dynamic form and free-flowing interior, while its iconic crimson and white futuristic design aesthetic encapsulates the splendour of mid-century modernism. Having been shut down for the past 18 years, the iconic terminal’s recent rebirth as TWA Hotel, spearheaded by New York-based Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners in partnership with MCR and MORSE Development, not only safeguarded the building’s structural integrity and ensured its meticulous and faithful restoration, but also reinstated it as a cathedral of aviation, allowing travellers to experience its inimitable, forward-looking character once again.
Since its opening in 1962, Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center at New York’s Idlewild—now John F. Kennedy—Airport has been synonymous with the glamour of the Jet Age and the optimism of post-war America. Designated as a New York City landmark in 1994 and listed on the National Registers of Historic Places in 2005, Saarinen’s soaring terminal building captures the exhilarating sensation of flying through its dynamic form and free-flowing interior, while its iconic crimson and white futuristic design aesthetic encapsulates the splendour of mid-century modernism. Having been shut down for the past 18 years, the iconic terminal’s recent rebirth as TWA Hotel, spearheaded by New York-based Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners in partnership with MCR and MORSE Development, not only safeguarded the building’s structural integrity and ensured its meticulous and faithful restoration, but also reinstated it as a cathedral of aviation, allowing travellers to experience its inimitable, forward-looking character once again.
Completed one year after his death in 1961, Saarinen’s futuristic design caught the public’s imagination and lavished TWA with publicity and attention, which was exactly what the branding-savvy airline had aimed for when it approached Saarinen who had already designed distinct buildings for General Motors and IBM. Ironically, from a practical perspective, the terminal was far from a success; designed before airlines began to replace the older propeller-driven airplanes, it couldn’t cope with the wide-body jets, eventually closing its doors in 2001—the inconvenient amount of stairs between check-in, lounges, and gates didn’t help either. It may have taken two decades but finally the building has re-opened its doors to the public as the centrepiece of the brand-new TWA Hotel, JFK’s only on-airport hospitality venue. Housing most of the hotel’s pubic areas, the renovated terminal is complemented by two new guestroom wings by Brooklyn-based architects Lubrano Ciavarra in the back which conveniently blot out the airport’s messy sprawl, and a new conference centre underneath by New York-based INC Architecture & Design which includes 45 meeting rooms and a 650-square-metre banquet hall.
Courtesy of Yatzer