JFK Airport Terminal 5

[Edward]

FROM NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/28/nyregion/28BLOC.html

November 28, 2002
Unusual Planning Duel Over Kennedy Terminal
By DAVID W. DUNLAP


THE 40th anniversary of Eero Saarinen's breathtaking T.W.A. Flight Center at Kennedy International Airport was marked this year in an unusual way. No cake. No candles. Just lights out. The terminal was shut down.

Whether it ever reopens — and how it will be used if it does — is at stake in a planning duel with a curious twist. Airport authorities say the sinuous, sculptural building might find new life as a restaurant, conference center or museum. Preservationists say it should stay an airline terminal.

In fact, the Municipal Art Society is proposing the addition of new concourses and gates to the landmark Saarinen structure, an expansion that would require the demolition of the former National Airlines Sundrome nearby, a less celebrated but still distinguished building designed by I. M. Pei.

"This preserves Saarinen's ideas of entry and vista," said Frank E. Sanchis III, executive director of the society, speaking of a conceptual plan prepared by H3 Architecture. "The integrity of his vision is maintained."

Theo Prudon, the president of Docomomo U.S., which concerns itself with the conservation of modern architecture, said, "For a building like this to be viable — viable both philosophically and, frankly, economically — it has to have an airline use."

When preservationists urge that a building's intent and function be safeguarded along with its physical shell, and when some of them are prepared to trade a Pei for a Saarinen, one can safely say that a corner has been turned. Even in a building where you'd be hard pressed to find a corner.

Unlike the battle over Pennsylvania Station, which reached a climax in 1962 just as the T.W.A. Flight Center opened, there is no proposal on the table to demolish the structure, at least not the main building, now designated Terminal 5, with its spread-eagle concrete roof and tubular corridors.

"We remain committed to protecting Terminal 5," said Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, "and enhancing its role as an airport centerpiece."

But the authority is also adamant that a terminal designed in an era of Constellations and built at the dawn of the 707 jetliner is "inadequate to meet passenger, baggage and security standards required for contemporary aviation operations."

No airline has stepped forward to request the terminal since American Airlines abandoned it in January, Mr. DiFulco said. (Trans World Airlines ended operations there in October 2001 after it was acquired by American.)

The future outlined by the authority involves an enormous new C-shaped terminal around the Saarinen building, for the use of several airlines, JetBlue Airways among them. The number of gates would grow to 51 from the current 37.

The Saarinen building would be rehabilitated. But it would also be cut off, physically and visually, from the aircraft and view of the taxiways and runways. The two remote gate areas, one of which is covered by the city's landmark designation, would be demolished. The connector tubes would then join the new terminal to the Saarinen building.

Exactly how the Saarinen building would be adapted has yet to be determined. The Port Authority plans to issue a request for proposals in the coming months.

It must also demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration that there are no prudent, feasible alternatives to its redevelopment plan, under a federal law known as Section 4(f) requiring that transportation projects do not adversely affect historic sites.

This has given the Municipal Art Society some leverage in the process. It submitted its counterproposal to the F.A.A. last month. "We think it's feasible and prudent," said Vicki Weiner, director of historic preservation at the society.

Drawn up by Hal Hayes of H3 and four airport planners, the plan would preserve the remote gate areas, from which new concourses would telescope. It would append a large new structure to one end of the Saarinen building, with another concourse. All told, it would create 52 gates.

LIKE the Port Authority plan, it would require the demolition of the former Sundrome, now Terminal 6, which is used by JetBlue. The authority has only recently received the Municipal Art Society plan and is not yet prepared to respond publicly, Mr. DiFulco said.

While many landmarks no longer serve their original purpose, there is something satisfying about those that do, from City Hall to Grand Central Terminal.

Grand Central may be an instructive analogy to the T.W.A. Flight Center. After all, it is no longer the "Gateway to a Continent" but a suburban commuter rail station. That does not make it any less imposing or vital.

No amount of nostalgia will bring back the days of dressing up for air travel and eating in-flight meals with silverware. But travelers could still revel in Saarinen's soaring spaces. The question is, where would they go from there?

[JeffreyNYC]

Thanks for the article. I had been wondering what would be done with this beautiful terminal!
I really hope it is used by another major carrier. I remember flying out of that terminal many times on TWA and thought that while it needed some renovation, it was one of the most beautiful terminals I'd ever seen.

[Kris]

October 2, 2003

BLOCKS

A New Function for a Landmark of the Jet Age

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/10/02/nyregion/bloc.450.jpg
JetBlue Airways is proposing to revive the Trans World Airlines terminal, which closed two years ago along with T.W.A., at Kennedy International Airport.

IN its expressively sculptural forms — roof vaults that embraced travelers like sheltering bird wings, swooping walkways that propelled them to waiting jetliners — Eero Saarinen's Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport was meant to be a prelude to flight.

Perhaps America's most lyrical monument to the dawn of the jet age, it has nevertheless been a dead end for two years, its coves and bridges lacking the swirling crowds that brought a vital fourth dimension to the Saarinen landmark.

Now a revival may be at hand for the 41-year-old building, known as Terminal 5, which has been empty since T.W.A. closed operations in October 2001. An aggressive young airline, JetBlue Airways, would like to use the landmark for a small part of its operations. That proposal appears to have broken a longstanding impasse over whether the building would be best preserved as a functioning terminal or as a museum piece.

JetBlue runs 75 to 80 flights a day out of Kennedy and wants to triple that number. It hopes to build a 26-gate terminal behind the Saarinen building. The plan calls for the old and new terminals to be linked by the tubular passenger bridges that were memorably used in the 2002 film "Catch Me if You Can" as the setting of a climactic encounter between Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Though JetBlue's primary operations would be in the new terminal, it might install electronic check-in kiosks in the Saarinen terminal, meaning that passengers could recreate the experience of moving through that space to their planes, now A320's rather than 707's.

"We would like to be able to embrace the Saarinen building and make it part of the JetBlue image," said Richard Smyth, the vice president of redevelopment for the three-year-old airline. The landmark, he said, could fit into JetBlue's marketing, with its midcentury modernist feel.

However, neither JetBlue nor the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, believe the Saarinen building, in its entirety, can be transformed into a modern terminal.

WHEN we first got here, we looked at Terminal 5 and said, `Boy, this would be cool if we could use it,' " Mr. Smyth recalled. "But we very quickly realized that it couldn't work."

For instance, he said, there is no room for curbside check-in, no way to move baggage efficiently through the building and no place to put security equipment like bulky explosive-detecting devices. And the gently arched tubular bridges do not meet modern requirements for people with disabilities.

William R. DeCota, director of aviation at the Port Authority, said: "It's going to become more of an airport centerpiece. You can't just make it a restaurant, a museum, a conference center. But you can make it all of these things to some extent."

Ted D. Kleiner, the authority's assistant aviation director, also envisions travelers going to the Saarinen building to while away weather-related or other delays, a trip that will take no more than 10 minutes on the future AirTrain system. The building could also serve the 50,000 people who work at Kennedy, he said.

JetBlue's willingness to consider some passenger use of the building has earned the tentative backing of the Municipal Art Society, which has long insisted that the only meaningful preservation of the landmark lies in restoring it as a fully functioning airline terminal, rather than as a "fly in amber."

"We've made very encouraging progress in speaking with JetBlue and the Port Authority about a solution for a new terminal," said Frank E. Sanchis III, executive director the society, after a meeting on Tuesday. A report of that meeting is due tomorrow at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Robert B. Tierney, the chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, said he was "very supportive" of the evolving plan.

And Peg Breen, president of the private New York Landmarks Conservancy, said, "I think we're moving." The conservancy agrees with the Port Authority that the building is better suited for adaptive reuse. "In modern airports," she said, "all you want to do is get through lines and get through security."

Or, as Mr. DeCota said, "Most people are not here for self-actualization."

But his affection for the building and its kinetic energy was obvious during an inspection tour last week, when he stepped behind a sinuously curving information desk. "You can see the women in T.W.A. livery," he said.

"You do get an emotion from this building," Mr. DeCota allowed.

Still breathtakingly luminous, but unnervingly quiet, the Trans World Flight Center looks better today than it did in its last years of operation, when it was filled with unsympathetic accretions necessary for security and baggage-handling. Among other steps, the Port Authority has reopened the sunken waiting lounge in front of the main window, which T.W.A. had decked over and used as a ticket counter.

The spherical clock over the bridge that once led from the Ambassador Club to the Lisbon Lounge and Paris Cafe, still tells time. "It's valiantly doing its job," Mr. DeCota said, glancing up at 11:11, "waiting for someone to see it."


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[billyblancoNYC]

They better not botch this. JetBlue is one of the best companies to be created in NYC is years and their growth should be celebrated. Compromise must be reached.

[Kris]

October 19, 2003

J.F.K. Project Would Reopen Famed Terminal

By COREY KILGANNON

JetBlue Airways and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have agreed on a plan for the airline to build a modern 26-gate terminal adjacent to Terminal 5 at Kennedy International Airport, the historic Trans World Airlines Flight Center designed by Eero Saarinen, officials said yesterday.

After intense discussions in recent weeks, JetBlue and the Port Authority, which operates the airport, reached a consensus and submitted their final comments to the Federal Aviation Administration last week. The agency has final approval on airport projects and is expected to make a decision within a month.

Richard J. Smyth, vice president of redevelopment at JetBlue, said all parties "feel pretty good" that the plans will be approved.

"We finally arrived at a consensus and made a formal recommendation to the F.A.A. with an approach that seems to be the best plan for everyone," he said.

If approved, the $600 million project would be a bold, ambitious move during a dismal economic time in the airline industry and would help JetBlue, the largest domestic carrier at Kennedy, greatly expand its operations there.

The deal would also revive Terminal 5, famed for its distinctive modern style but closed since October 2001 when Trans World Airlines ceased operations.

"With the building empty, it continues to deteriorate," Mr. Smyth said. "This plan saves a historic building and allows the appropriate upgrade for a modern airline, so we can grow at J.F.K."

The 41-year-old terminal is a city landmark. But after it closed, several New York preservation groups feared that it might be declared obsolete by airport officials and demolished. They began fighting for a development project that would include it as a functioning terminal, rather than a museum piece.

Frank E. Sanchis III, executive director of the Municipal Art Society, which was involved in the discussions, called the final recommendations a "happy solution."

"The plan provides a functional use for one of the most wonderful buildings ever designed to board an airplane from," he said.

Alan Hicks, a Port Authority spokesman, said the agency was working with all parties, including JetBlue and the Municipal Art Society, to make sure that Terminal 5 remained in use. "It is a magnificent work of art, and we are very proud of it," he said.

Mr. Smyth said the existing terminal would serve as an alternative entrance to the proposed terminal behind it and would have automated JetBlue ticket kiosks. The Port Authority would control the older terminal, he said, and evaluate proposals for uses, which could include a conference center, restaurants, shops and offices.

The new terminal would be connected to the existing one by its two well-known tubular passenger walkways, which were used in the 2002 film "Catch Me if You Can" as the setting of a climactic encounter between Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Under the current recommendations, at least one original walkway would be preserved, with the other possibly modified or rebuilt to contain a moving walkway.

JetBlue operates 80 flights per day out of Terminal 6, but wants to triple that number by 2010, which the proposed 26-gate terminal would allow the airline to do, Mr. Smyth said. JetBlue hopes to finish it by mid-2007, and to pay for much of the cost through the sale of bonds, Mr. Smyth said.


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[STT757]

http://www.jonseagull.com/images/p_twa_air.jpg

http://www.jonseagull.com/images/p_twa_curb.jpg

http://www.jonseagull.com/images/p_twa_road.jpg

[JD]

This agreement sounds very much like a "win-win": the terminal wasn't going to work as such anymore, and the addition keeps Saarinen's beauty open to the world.

A preservation solution that actually works for both sides? Mirabile dictu!

[TLOZ Link5]

Sounds great! Is there going to be an AirTrain station added to the terminal now that it'll possibly be reactivated?

[STT757]

There never was going to be a Airtrain Station for T-5 even when it was active, there's a Air train station being built at Terminal 6.

As part of this project they will tear down Terminal 6, the Airtrain station at T-6 will be connected to this new terminal via a skywalk etc.

It's not that far, T-5 and T-6 are close together which is why they only built one Airtrain station.

The Airtrain will not stop directly in front of this new terminal, but it will be connected to the side where T-6 now stands.

[STT757]

Here's a rendering from a 2001 NY Times article on the new terminal, note the Airtrain station on the side of the terminal where T-6 now stands.

Also note that this is from 2001, back then the plan was to house United Airlines, TWA, Jetblue and America West in this terminal which obviously has alot of gates.

Now they are building it just for JetBlue since TWA is out of business, UAL has drastically reduced their JFK flying due to CH-11, and America West being happy where they are. Which means it's not going to have this many gates, only 23-26 gates.

Sorry for the poor quality, my scanner is not working so I took a picture of the Article I have with my digital camera.

If the image does not work try the link..

http://community.webshots.com/s/image2/5/31/4/95653104uBlCsg_ph.jpg

http://community.webshots.com/s/image2/5/31/4/95653104uBlCsg_ph.jpg

[TLOZ Link5]

No image, link isn't working :(

[STT757]

Try this..

http://community.webshots.com/photo/95653019/95653104uBlCsg

[TLOZ Link5]

That works. Thanks.

[Kris]

August 5, 2004

JetBlue to Build New Terminal at Kennedy

By THOMAS J. LUECK

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said yesterday that it had reached an agreement with JetBlue Airways to build a new terminal at Kennedy International Airport, a move meant to expand service and reopen Terminal 5, the airport's arching architectural landmark.

The Port Authority also said that it had struck a deal with the Federal Aviation Administration, the New York State Historical Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to restore and find another use for Terminal 5, the gull-winged edifice completed in 1962 for Trans World Airlines and known internationally as a monument to the early days of jet-powered commercial flight. The new terminal would be connected to Terminal 5 by two pedestrian tubes.

"Generations to come can marvel at this architectural masterpiece," Gov. George E. Pataki said of the plan to revitalize Terminal 5, which was designed by the architect Eero Saarinen, and has been closed since T.W.A. ended operations in 2001.

For JetBlue, a fast-growing domestic airline that made its first flights out of Kennedy in 2000, the deal represents a major financial commitment to New York City as its base. The Port Authority said the new terminal would be built on a 70-acre tract and cost $850 million, with construction expected to begin in 2005.

Details of the financing remained unclear yesterday. The Port Authority said it would share the $850 million construction bill with JetBlue.

The Port Authority said that JetBlue had agreed to operate the new terminal under a lease that would run up to 34 years, but that financial terms of the lease remained to be worked out.

JetBlue, which carries about seven million passengers a year through Kennedy, has quickly emerged as the airport's busiest carrier, even though it offers few international flights. It serves 25 cities across the United States and two in the Dominican Republic.

The airline has said it wants to triple its business out of Kennedy, and its new 640,000-square-foot terminal would provide 26 new passenger gates. The plan also calls for a connecting bridge to the AirTrain station, a parking garage with 1,500 spaces and the connecting tubes to Terminal 5, where JetBlue said it would provide two electronic ticket kiosks for customers who want to walk through the historic structure.

"We eagerly await the day when Terminal 5 will become JetBlue's home too," said JetBlue's chairman, David Neeleman. The agreement announced yesterday came after years of debate between aviation planners and preservationists over the fate of Terminal 5, which no airlines had expressed an interest in using for passenger service. Its architecture, considered breathtaking by some, is deemed out of date by the airline industry.

One earlier idea offered by the Port Authority was to build an enormous C-shaped terminal around the Saarinen building, which would be used by several airlines. That plan would have rehabilitated Terminal 5, and had envisioned connecting the building to the new terminal with pedestrian tubes similar to those in the deal announced yesterday.

But the earlier plan provoked determined opposition from the Municipal Art Society and preservationists, who said it would cut Terminal 5 off from taxiways and runways and overwhelm the aesthetics of its winged architecture.

Port Authority officials said yesterday that their agreement with JetBlue called for a far smaller building, which would be directly behind Terminal 5 and would not undermine its architectural appeal.

Port Authority Executive Director Joseph J. Seymour said that the agreement would preserve "a fundamental part of the airport's past, while we also employ good business sense to meet our future needs."

But exactly how Terminal 5 will be used, besides as a small diversion for JetBlue passengers walking to and from their new terminal, has not been determined. The Port Authority said it was in contact with more than 40 firms interested in restoring and redeveloping the building for a variety of uses.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

GENSLER TO DESIGN JETBLUE TERMINAL FOR JFK

http://www.gensler.com/news/images/jetblue_sm.gif

August 5, 2004, NEW YORK, NY—An agreement between JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was approved yesterday for a new terminal at JFK International Airport, to be designed by Gensler… Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide. The 625,000-square-foot terminal will have 26 contact gates with a projected 20 million passengers passing through a year. Construction is slated to begin in the fall of 2004 for a projected opening in 2008. Gensler is building and interior architect, Ammann & Whitney is the structural engineer, Arup is MEP engineer and Design Coordinator, and BNP Associates is the baggage handling consultant.

"JetBlue takes its customers across the country for as little as $99, and they do it in style. So for their new terminal at JFK International Airport, JetBlue wanted a building that reflected their commitment to service and efficiency," said David Epstein, Gensler's Design Principal for the project.

The new structure's trim, low profile creates a respectful background to the former TWA terminal just opposite. However, the new design is also distinguished from the soaring concrete curves of the old terminal with geometric lines and a taut metal and glass enclosure that create a contemporary feel.

JetBlue customers will approach the new terminal via a new departures roadway or a bridge extension from the Airtrain station. After proceeding through ticketing and security areas, passengers will continue to the junction of three concourses where the "marketplace will offer a variety of food choices to take on board in addition to places to relax and dine before taking off.

"New York City is a very important market for us," said Richard Smyth, Vice President of Redevelopment with JetBlue. "Working with Gensler to create a JFK terminal that truly serves our customers is a wonderful milestone for JetBlue."

"This is a post-9/11 design that not only accommodates the latest security requirements but also creates an enjoyable and humane experience for passengers in this new era of air travel," said Bill Hooper, Gensler's Managing Principal for the project and an aviation security expert with the firm. "With a design focusing on efficiency of movement and operational ease, the new terminal evokes JetBlue's commitment to customer service."

Gensler...Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide is a leading global design, planning and strategic consulting firm, with 1700 people and offices in 25 cities. Gensler received recognition from the prestigious Business Week / Architectural Record (BW/AR) Awards for projects that demonstrate the power of architectural design to meet strategic business goals. Gensler was ranked Number One on World Architecture's survey of international interior design firms, and other industry publications consistently rank Gensler as the world's leading architecture and interior design firm. Fast Company Magazine calls Gensler "one of the world's most influential design firms." Gensler's multi-textured expertise drives a focused exploration of how people experience the world around them; Gensler teams then use that knowledge to create design solutions that give clients a fresh, competitive edge.

www.gensler.com

[billyblancoNYC]

20 million per year just at Jet Blue? JFK does about 35 million per year total now, right?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Destination Unknown

Eero Saarinen’s last work, the TWA Terminal at JFK, will soon enjoy a second, temporary life as a Kunsthalle. And after that—who knows? As Cathy Lang Ho reports, the future of the modernist masterpiece is as open as the sky.

Photography by Dean Kaufman.

http://www.archpaper.com/images/TWA02.jpg

Long before Santiago Calatrava unveiled his architectural allegory for flight that will become the downtown PATH station, Eero Saarinen gave New York City a symbol that captured the grace and excitement of the jet age by mimicking the shape of a soaring bird. Since its completion in 1962, the TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport has served as an icon of both modern air travel and modern design. But its daring gull-winged construction—a reinforced concrete sculpture that tested the limits of its material and of what modernism could be—was the source of its distinction as well as downfall. The building’s stand-alone, sinewy form made it difficult to adapt it to the rapidly modernizing airline industry. Larger airplanes, increased passenger flow and automobile traffic, computerized ticketing, handicapped accessibility, and security screening are just a few of the challenges that Terminal 5 (as it’s officially known) could not meet without serious alteration. When the terminal closed in 2001 (in the wake of TWA’s demise in 1999), no other airline stepped up to take over the space.

http://www.archpaper.com/images/TWA01.jpg

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA) did, however, receive dozens of expressions of interest from sources ranging from the Finnish government to the Municipal Art Society to the Partnership for New York City. “We expected to hear from preservationists, cultural organizations, and business people, but what surprised us was the number of requests we got from the general public—regular people, travelers—who are just deeply interested in this building,” said Ralph Tragale, manager of government and community relations for the Port Authority. One of the requests came from Rachel K. Ward, an independent curator who worked previously with the theme of tourism and the cross influences of global travel and global art in an exhibition in Switzerland. Her particular interest in tourist sites and destinations was the basis of an idea to stage a series of installations that respond to and are situated within the arch-symbol of commercial travel itself. The result, Terminal 5, presents site-specific works by 18 artists, as well as a series of lectures, events, and additional temporary installations (see sidebar), on view from October 1 to January 31. “The building is such a potent symbol, representing so many things—air travel, the 1960s, transitions, globalism,” said Ward. “Each artist had a unique response.” First lady of text messaging Jenny Holzer has, naturally, staked out the arrivals and departures board, while Ryoji Ikeda has created a series of light and sound installations for one of the tunnels. In mid-September, Vanessa Beecroft filmed a live performance piece in the terminal—her first since 2001— which will be screened in the space. Toland Grinnell, known for his penchant for luggage, will make use of the baggage claim area. “What’s exciting to me is that the artists are using the building’s forms to create works that will only exist in this space,” said Ward. Organizers are trying to arrange a shuttle service from Manhattan, and encourage the use of the new AirTrain.

Ward’s timing was an important reason why the PA accepted her proposal. The exhibition’s run precedes a long period of construction that will not end until 2008. “The exhibition is a great opportunity to let the public enjoy the space,” said Tragale, “and to show other potential uses for it.” Plans for Terminal 5’s future have been contentious, with a battle played out publicly last year between the PA and preservationists who objected to a new terminal design concept that would have engulfed the landmark. Critics blasted the inital plan’s intent to cut off Terminal 5’s views of the runway, which motivated the design’s floor-to-ceiling windows. They also objected to the idea that it would no longer be used as a functioning terminal. At that time, Kent Barwick, the president of the Municipal Art Society, said, “By eliminating use of the terminal, you’re condemning the building to a slow death.” Even Philip Johnson, who knew Saarinen, weighed in, telling The Los Angeles Times earlier this year, “This building represents a new idea in 20th-century architecture, and yet we are willing to strangle it by enclosing it within another building. If you’re going to strangle a building to death, you may as well tear it down.”

In October 2003 Jet Blue entered an agreement with the PA to expand its presence at JFK. The upstart domestic airline—the busiest at JFK, accounting for 7 million of the airport’s 30 million passengers yearly— was initially interested in the possibility of actively using the Saarinen structure but found that the cost to retrofit the relic exceeded that of building an entirely new terminal. Jet Blue commissioned Gensler and Associates to design a new terminal adjacent to Terminal 5, which, though still in concept phase, was released last month. The $850 million, 625,000-square-foot terminal is much smaller and more respectful of its site than the initial concept that so riled preservationists last year. “The sheer reduction in size makes it better, but we’re still concerned about the terminal being an active space,” said Theodore Prudon, president of DOCOMOMO-US. “If it becomes just a left-over space, it’s a disservice to the building. Also, it’s more vulnerable if it’s economically unviable.” “Terminal 5 will be used, but the question is how intensely,” said Bill Hooper, senior principal in charge of the project at Gensler. “We’re still in design development now, trying to figure out how to make as much of the original terminal work.” Gensler’s design begins with the renovation of the two tunnels that extend from the terminal to connect to waiting airplanes, known as Flight Wing Tube #1, which was part of Saarinen’s original design, and Flight Wing Tube #2, which was designed in the late 1960s by Roche Dinkeloo to support 747s that did not exist when the terminal was first built. A new plaza will occupy the space between the two terminals, allowing visitors a view, until now unseen, toward Terminal 5’s backside.

http://www.archpaper.com/images/Exterior.jpg

Beyer Blinder Belle will oversee the structure’s restoration to its 1962 state. The process will involve undoing four decades’ worth of alterations and additions, such as new baggage rooms and a sun canopy that was attached to the façade. For its part, Jet Blue has expressed its desire to integrate the Saarinen building into its corporate image. As a result, Gensler’s design is low profile, “which reflects both its placement behind Terminal 5 and the way Jet Blue does business,” said Hooper. Jet Blue has also made the Terminal 5 exhibition possible, signing on as a major sponsor. After the exhibition closes, the PA will issue an RFP for the structure’s adaptive reuse. “We’ve heard ideas for a museum, a restaurant, a conference center,” said Tragale. “We’re open to what the business community has to offer.”

Cathy Lang Ho is an editor at AN.


Copyright © 2004 The Architect's Newspaper
The Architect's Newspaper LLC, P.O. Box 937 • New York, NY 10013
tel. 212-966-0630

[fioco]

Link to some interior shots from a preview party for the Terminal Five art exhibit (http://www.lightningfield.com/2004/10/0118_terminal_five_exhibit_jfk_airport.htm)

Terminal Five art exhibit official web site: http://www.terminalfive.com/

[fioco]

New York Times: October 7, 2004

Port Authority Shuts Art Exhibit In Aftermath Of Rowdy Party
By CAROL VOGEL

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has shut down an art exhibition in Terminal 5 of Kennedy Airport after a raucous opening-night party on Friday that left broken glass on the floor, graffiti on the walls and further destruction in its wake, the agency said yesterday. Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority, which operates the airport, said the curator of the show, Rachel K. Ward, had "failed to control the unlawful behavior of her guests" at the event. "We pulled the permit because the curator violated her agreement," he said.

Besides smoking in the building and defacing the walls with graffiti, some guests broke a door leading to a runway, Mr. DiFulco said. Liquor was being sold at the party without a permit, he added, and Ms. Ward failed to maintain the space to "an acceptable level of cleanliness." Vomit and broken glass were on the terminal's floor, he said.

Ms. Ward, who acknowledged that the crowd had exceeded her expectations - hundreds of people showed up - said she ended the party around 11 p.m., an hour earlier than planned. "We have not had an opportunity to respond to these allegations," Ms. Ward said of the authority's decision to close the show. "My lawyers are in negotiations. We want to keep the exhibition open as originally planned."

The show, an exhibition of contemporary installations, by nearly 20 artists, on the theme of airports and modern travel, was to have run through Jan. 31. Terminal 5, Eero Saarinen's 1962 landmark building, was home to T.W.A. until it was closed as a passenger terminal in 2001. It has mostly been vacant since, although Steven Spielberg used it in scenes for his movie "Catch Me If You Can."

"I've been working on this for a year and am looking for a resolution," said Ms. Ward, 27. "The point is to give the public access to this landmark."

The terminal closed the show at noon on Tuesday. Ms. Ward said she sent a letter to the Port Authority indicating her willingness to work on any suggested changes to enable the show to continue. But the agency seemed unlikely to reverse its decision. "The permit was pulled, and that's where we stand," Mr. DiFulco said.

Jet Blue, which together with the Port Authority is planning to build a terminal behind Terminal 5 that will be linked to the Saarinen building, was one of the show's biggest sponsors, donating more than $100,000. "Everyone at Jet Blue is crushed, although we support the Port Authority's decision," said Gareth Edmondson-Jones, a spokesman for the airline. "We've been working for months to make this a special event for New Yorkers which has now been spoiled because of a curator's poor management and lack of respect for the Saarinen building. "It was a chance to showcase art in a landmark terminal which had been closed for the last three years."

The exhibition was meant to respond to the building's biomorphic design and original purpose. L.E.D. text messages by Jenny Holzer were installed on the arrivals-and-departures board. The Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikeda used a tunneled walkway as a sound-and-light installation.

Some works played off the items one would find in an airport. The sculptor Tom Sachs created a McDonald's sign made of foam core with Japanese characters. Another sculptor, Toland Grinnell, exhibited two of his ostentatiously customized trunks near one of the terminal's baggage claims. A photograph by Richard Prince based on the Marlboro Man ad was displayed next to a real ad for the cigarette.

Even before the exhibition was installed there was trouble. The Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft was to have exhibited photographs and a video of a performance held in the terminal for a private audience. Her work, "VB54," featured 36 young women standing in formation in the sunken waiting area, wearing only Afro wigs, black body paint and silver shackles on their ankles.

After the work was previewed at a private reception on Sept. 28, officials at JetBlue asked that "VB54" be removed from the show. They said that Ms. Ward had violated an agreement to let the airline review all artwork before the exhibition opened.

"It was clearly a publicity ploy," said Mr. Edmondson-Jones. "They wanted it to seem like we were censoring the art when that wasn't the case at all. It had nothing to do with the content. They hadn't followed their own rules." Asked about the dispute, Ms. Ward said she could not comment.

Roberta Smith contributed reporting for this article.

2004, The New York Times

[TLOZ Link5]

What a shame. I take it that the terminal will no longer be available for Open House New York?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Not necessarily. It seems to me that the PA doesn't want Rachel Ward, not the public, anywhere near the terminal.

Vomit and graffiti? Exactly who was invited to this party?

[JMGarcia]

A friend of mine worked the party. He came out of it very upset. It was a real disaster.

[thomasjfletcher]

from National Trust's 11 Most Endangered Places

TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport
Location: New York, New York
Current Status: Endangered

http://www.nationaltrust.org/11most/db_images/twaterminal_1.jpg

Exterior of the TWA Terminal (Credit: Marilyn Fenollosa, National Trust)

Since its completion in 1962, Eero Saarinen’s curvilinear TWA Terminal at New York’s JFK International Airport has been hailed as an icon of modern design. There’s no other building like it: Its soaring, graceful form was meant to evoke the romance and excitement of flight, and even the smallest interior details -- ticket counters, chairs, signs, and telephone booths-- were designed to complement the gull-winged shell. But now, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey wants to demolish portions of the terminal and construct a hulking new terminal behind it. The proposed light rail system and the new structure will block the TWA Terminal’s view of the tarmac and leave Saarinen’s terminal isolated and functionally useless.

http://www.nationaltrust.org/11most/db_images/twaterminal_2.jpg

Interior of the TWA Terminal (Credit: Marilyn Fenollosa, National Trust)

UPDATE: The Municipal Art Society, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Preservation League of New York State, the Naitonal Trust for Historic Preservaiton and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation continue to work toward an alternate plan to preserve the terminal. In September of 2003 a consulting party meeting was held with the FAA, Port Authority, Jet Blue (the new terminal’s intended occupant) and interested public officials and private groups to urge appropriate reuse of the terminal. By keeping the dialogue with the Port Authority open, there is hope that a preservation solution can be found which incorporates the safety and efficiency needs of a modern airport facility with a sympathetic use for the historic building.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Architecture of Eero Saarinen (http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/index/saarinen/saarinenindex.html)

[vc10]

http://enplaned.blogspot.com/2005/12/be-afraid-be-very-afraid.html

[vc10]

Links available here:

http://enplaned.blogspot.com/2005/12/more-jetblue-jfk-terminal-5-renderings.html

[Citytect]

They still haven't decided what's going in the Saarinen Terminal. How much longer will it sit there unused?

[vc10]

A Symbol of the 60's Is Set to Soar Once Again By JAKE MOONEY (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=JAKE MOONEY&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=JAKE MOONEY&inline=nyt-per)
When T.W.A. ceased to exist as an airline in December 2001, its planes were repainted and its flights relisted under the name of its purchaser, American Airlines. But in New York, the troubled business left a physical legacy, a landmark terminal at Kennedy Airport that by the decade's end may once again help travelers go up, up and away.
The building, designed by the Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and hailed since it opened in 1962 as a modern masterpiece, has sat empty for four years, regaining attention only sporadically as the site of a movie shoot or an art show gone awry - or for the squabbles over its future. But this month, with the start of construction on a JetBlue Airways terminal nearby that will incorporate the Saarinen building into its design, a truce may have been reached.
Frank Sanchis, senior vice president of the Municipal Art Society, said his group had initially opposed the plans for the new building, which will be located behind the Saarinen terminal, for three reasons: It would dwarf the historic wing-shaped structure; part of the old terminal would be demolished; and what remained would not be integrated into the new terminal's operations.
After years of negotiation with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the airport, the two wings that sprout from the back of the old building are still marked for demolition. But Mr. Sanchis said his other concerns had been addressed. "Now," he said, "we have a scheme that's lower, that's smaller, and we have JetBlue able to use the front, and planning to use it."
Representatives of JetBlue and the Port Authority said that the airline would install some of its self-service check-in kiosks in the Saarinen terminal, and that arriving travelers would be able to enter either the old or the new building directly, though flight desks and security lines would be in the new building.
According to Pasquale DiFulco, a Port Authority spokesman, the other uses of the old terminal have yet to be determined. Both its interior and exterior have been declared landmarks, and the Port Authority has placed certain restrictions on the use of the space. The options, Mr. DiFulco said, include restaurants, stores and airport services.
For his part, Mr. Sanchis would like to see the Port Authority pay for the restoration, and JetBlue take over the space, further integrating it into its terminal. Greg Lindsay, who has written about the building for the airport Web log Connecting Flights, favors a restaurant or a club, something that speaks to its status as what he describes as "a true monument to the jet-set era."
For Abba Tor, the terminal's structural project engineer, such concerns are secondary. "I'm just happy that the building is going to be back in use," said Mr. Tor, 82, who teaches at Columbia University's school of architecture and still remembers the first time he walked through the terminal's concrete tunnels. "To me, this is the most important thing about it."

[Kris]

May 28, 2006
Theater/Dance
At the New JetBlue Terminal, Passengers May Pirouette to Gate 3
By JESSE GREEN

Audio Slide Show: Dance and Space (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/05/28/arts/20060528_GREEN_AUDIOSS.html)

THE Grand Foyer at Radio City Music Hall has been described as many things: a tour de force, a people's palace, even an Art Deco masterpiece. But it has not typically been described in the language of dance, as it recently was by the architect and set designer David Rockwell. The commanding room, he said, functioned as a kind of ballet master: a magnetic presence that forced people to move well and look good. "I have a vivid memory of the first time I walked up that stairway," he said, referring to the huge yet perfectly proportioned flight of steps to the mezzanine. "I had bad posture, but just being on it made my posture improve."

Individual behavior is only part of the story; the Grand Foyer also alters the behavior of crowds, who instinctively know how to use it. Much as a dancer doing pirouettes keeps her eyes focused on a reference point so she won't get dizzy, visitors, without even realizing it, use the room's precisely deployed architectural signposts — stairway, chandelier, mirrors, doorframes — to align themselves and stay on track. As a result, Radio City can pull 5,900 people through its lobby without contusion or confusion; more than that, it does so with the theatricality and orderliness that you might imagine at a formal ball.

For Mr. Rockwell — whose mother, once a vaudeville dancer, had hoped to be a Rockette — the dance of people in public space is not so much a matter of inborn grace or hours spent at the barre, as of how the built environment pushes us around and how we push back. His designs have explored these dynamics in a variety of settings, from upscale hotels and restaurants to the viewing platform at ground zero.

But his latest project involves one of the most notoriously pushy environments there is: an airport terminal. Last year his firm was hired to design the "interior experience" (arrival, departure, retail space) of the new JetBlue Airways terminal being built at Kennedy International Airport. And in what may be a first for architectural collaboration, Mr. Rockwell hired a choreographer — his Broadway colleague Jerry Mitchell — to help him.

The two men thought a lot about which public spaces in New York were well "choreographed" — that is, which shaped people's movement successfully — and which were not.

Mr. Rockwell had been pondering the general subject for decades. Even while a student at Syracuse University, he would stand on the roof of the architecture building and study the patterns carved in the snow by a sort of unspoken group will, patterns he would later connect to those described by the urbanist William H. Whyte in his classic studies of public space. What caused them? It wasn't just expedience, because the paths were often curved, where a straight line would be more direct. People moved as they did, Whyte believed, at least in part because they sought out pleasing experiences; they voted with their feet.

If Whyte was right, then why are so many public spaces so deeply unpleasurable — and sometimes almost dangerous — to move through? How could the exquisite choreography of Grand Central Terminal, with its powerful beams of natural light making what Mr. Rockwell called a "gateway inviting people into the city," coexist with the claustrophobic purgatory of Penn Station? (Penn Station seems to sneer and say, "Get lost!") How could the Grand Foyer at Radio City have the same function as the bewildering entry to the Marquis Theater on Broadway, which is cruel enough to suggest that the place was named for the Marquis de Sade?

With their traffic-stopping lady-or-the-tiger mystery corridors, their dizzying hairpin escalators, their misproportioned steps that send people tumbling, such places actually seem intended to enhance human clumsiness. Whyte certainly thought so.

"It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people," he wrote. "What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished." In New York, if you want to feel like an oaf with two left feet, there are many places that will gladly assist you. Quite often these will be places that people cannot choose to avoid. Jury pens, Social Security offices and ticket lobbies of hit shows, facing no competition, are usually disasters, to say nothing of emergency rooms, which only a corpse on a gurney could love.

But even those seem like successful designs compared with most airport terminals. With people and vehicles and luggage going every which way, these have always been difficult spaces to organize. A few architects have managed elegant, even poetic solutions, like Eero Saarinen's 1962 TWA terminal at Kennedy, whose soaring gull-shaped roof and swooping interiors invited travelers to imagine that they were flying even before they left the ground. But prosaic concerns like increased ridership and heightened security have turned the old buildings into dinosaurs and left what Mr. Rockwell calls their "generic and soulless" successors facing an apparently unsolvable puzzle. How do you move so many people, safely and logically and with a feeling of freedom, around a huge space that cannot in fact be free?

Mr. Rockwell's job at the JetBlue terminal — which is being built next to the Saarinen building, now empty — required him to think both inside the box (Gensler & Associates was responsible for most of the architecture) and outside it, given JetBlue's reputation for stylish practicality. "We began with the idea of using movement to personalize the experience and deal with the emotions of travel." Or as Richard Smythe, the JetBlue executive in charge of redevelopment at the airport, put it, the job was to make the customer's movement through the terminal feel "sexy."

Making movement feel sexy (or at least not random and leadfooted) is one possible definition of dance, which is why Mr. Rockwell brought Mr. Mitchell aboard. In the musicals they had already worked on together — "The Rocky Horror Show," "Hairspray" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" — Mr. Rockwell's sets had seemed not only to shape some of the dancing but also at times to participate in it. That the two men were about to collaborate on the musical adaptation of "Catch Me If You Can," a tribute to the innocence of flight in the Jet Set '60s, seemed like another positive omen.

Even so, a choreographer is about as typical in an architectural design process as a dentist or a woodchuck, and the idea of the highly theatrical Mr. Mitchell presenting his ideas to structural engineers and efficiency experts probably raised a few eyebrows. But Mr. Rockwell likes unusual collaborations; he enlisted Todd Oldham, the fashion designer, to help develop the color scheme for the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and had the underground cartoonist Gary Panter working with him on a Disney cruise ship project.

In any case, Mr. Mitchell took one look at the JetBlue terminal flow simulations and started dancing around the conference table at the Rockwell Group office on Union Square. "The original design made it hard to understand where you were supposed to go, either entering or leaving," Mr. Mitchell said. "Traffic diagrams showed a huge amount of path-crossing. I started to think it would be fabulous to eliminate all this crisscrossing and straight edges, which cause anxiety when they go on too long. David asked me what dance patterns I would use, and I said, 'People move easiest in circles: off and on the merry-go-round.' "

From his many "nightmare" hours spent at O'Hare International en route to or from his family, Mr. Mitchell recognized another problem: The design did not account for what he called the "different emotional experiences" of arrival and departure.

"Coming into an airport when you're leaving on a trip you have to slow down," he said. "You've got to arrive two hours early, and you've got security, luggage, kids, older people to deal with. That experience has to be made more leisurely. Coming back, to New York at least, you want to get out of the airport as fast as possible. You want a little Hot Wheels acceleration as you're coming off the plane and heading to the exit."

Mr. Mitchell was talking about feelings, but for a choreographer, feelings are what get expressed through pattern and rhythm. So he and the architects looked for ways to alter the shape and pace of passenger movement within the terminal, drawing less on transportation hubs (which are patronized of necessity) and more on urban spaces that people actually choose and enjoy. At Union Square, as Mr. Rockwell explained on a recent tour through some of those sites, the paths are wide enough for pedestrians to move along them in both directions at once, allowing for the pleasure of proximity without discouraging eye contact. (Squeeze people too close, as on a rush-hour subway train, and they won't look at one another.) The paths are also gently curved, allowing some surprise about what's around the next bend. And those curves seem to stretch time; as we circulated slowly, we were always aware of how we were deviating from the Manhattan grid, which nevertheless persisted as a faint impression, like a distant drumbeat.

"Friction is crucial for creating successful movement," Mr. Rockwell said. At Union Square — a green platform raised like a stage between streets that bustle with normal urban activity — that friction causes pedestrians to slow down, even if they don't mean to stop. At Times Square, where the streets do not recede but instead seem to multiply, the ambient rhythm accelerates. If a tourist unfamiliar with the beat stops to gawk, he is inevitably shoved along. (Successful movement doesn't always mean leisurely movement; Whyte liked a "nice bustle" of up to seven people per foot of walkway a minute.) At the Channel Gardens arcade leading down to the ice rink in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the contrast between the mass of the buildings on either side and the void in between sucks passers-by down toward the rink with an accelerating force that feels almost gravitational.

But an even more fundamental rule of human movement was in operation at all these spots: People will not generally walk into large objects. So if you want the foot traffic to turn left, put an obstacle — a statue, a row of planters, a large building — on the right.

"It's like they tell you in white-water rafting," Mr. Rockwell said. "Follow the water because it avoids the rocks."

Out of such thoughts, and Mr. Mitchell's choreographic insights, came the Rockwell Group's solution for the JetBlue terminal. Various obstructions (principally two large bleacherlike seating areas rising up like icebergs after the security checkpoints) would subtly lead outbound travelers toward the periphery of the space — the longer, more circular route — while inbound travelers would be directed straight between them, down a level and swiftly out. The periphery walls would be curved like the paths at Union Square to slow down the outbound experience and, not incidentally, enhance the likelihood of lingering over merchandise. And the bleacherlike seating areas, improving on the usual pods of wee chairs and tables at floor level, would encourage people to get above the action and watch the shapes of the promenade that they were recently part of.

Mr. Rockwell calls that kind of alternation, which he had pointed out in all the successful urban places we visited, "public theater": "Are we the actors? Or are the actors the other people we're looking at? What's thrilling is that it keeps flipping back and forth. The ambiguity allows people to be whatever they want."

Mr. Mitchell expressed it less abstractly: "Is it an airport? Is it a Broadway show? What's the difference?"

It will take a while to find out; the terminal isn't expected to open until 2008. But for Mr. Rockwell the interplay of architecture and choreography has already begun to inform his purely theatrical work. In its evocation of a biomorphic 1960's urban "eventorium," "Hairspray" contains a direct reference to Saarinen, and the show's blinking jewel-tone backdrop owes a debt, Mr. Rockwell said, to the 20-foot waterfall at the back of Paley Park on East 53rd Street. Both the waterfall and the backdrop act as unifying focal points that drag the viewer through the fourth wall, whether literally at Paley Park — it's hard not to walk in — or figuratively at the Neil Simon Theater.

Whyte was a big fan of Paley Park; in his documentary film "City Spaces, Human Places," he showed how its architecture altered people's movement (and mood) in specific, predictable ways. That's what dance does too — to the dancers at least — and why the connection between choreographers and architects is not so far-fetched.

The urbanist Jane Jacobs referred to the dynamics of her Greenwich Village block as the "ballet of Hudson Street," a phrase often interpreted as a tribute to the randomness of people's unpredictable daily choices. That's surely part of it, but given Jacobs's aesthetic and political convictions, it must also be a reference to the thousand quite nonrandom decisions about scale and setback and zoning that shape people's randomness. Successful public spaces invite you to join the dance of city life by first helping you to see it; without the rhythm of the street grid there could be no languorous fox trots like Union Square, no elegant struts like Bryant Park, no jitterbugs like Times Square, with everyone hopping around the traffic and bending off at Fosse angles. The city is more choreographed than we may like to think, and for better or worse, we're all hoofers within it.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

November 16, 2006
Blocks
A Move to Make a Silent Air Terminal Hum Again
By DAVID W. DUNLAP

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/11/16/nyregion/16terminal600.1.jpg
The landmark Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport, which has stood empty for five years, is up for redevelopment.

Audio Slide Show: T.W.A. Terminal (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/11/15/nyregion/20061116_TERMINAL_AUDIOSS.html)

THE Port Authority is seeking an earthbound second life for what may be the nation’s most romantic evocation of flight: Eero Saarinen’s landmark Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy International Airport.

Although its swooping forms amount to a three-dimensional transcription of “Come Fly With Me,” the building’s days as a functioning terminal were numbered in 2001 with the collapse of T.W.A. Designed in the day of the Lockheed Constellation and strained almost to bursting by the Boeing 747 and its jumbo successors, the 44-year-old building now stands empty, idle and obsolete.

Restaurant? Lounge? Spa? Shopping mall? Conference center? Museum? Theater? Botanical garden? Sculpture court? Office space? A mixture? The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is open to these ideas and “anything else that can be imagined by a redeveloper,” said its aviation director, William R. DeCota.

By Nov. 30, the authority will formally request proposals from developers interested in renting the building for 25 years or more, renovating it and adapting it to new uses.

Directly behind the landmark, JetBlue Airways is constructing a new Terminal 5, which is to open in 2008. The buildings will be connected through the dreamlike tubular corridors — featured evocatively in the 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can” — that once led to T.W.A.’s gates. Two electronic ticketing and check-in kiosks will be installed in the Saarinen building, so that passengers who choose to do so will still be able to go through its soaring spaces on the way to their planes.

But something besides two kiosks must fill the 60,000-square-foot main hall, which sits under the vaulted juncture of the four curving concrete lobes that give the building its birdlike silhouette. Something must fill the galleries that once housed the Ambassador Club, the Paris Cafe and the Lisbon Lounge.

“It isn’t just important to save the old Saarinen terminal and its phenomenal architecture,” Mr. DeCota said. “It’s important to find a thriving use. How can you continue to make this a centerpiece?”

Mr. DeCota said he believed the audience was there, beginning with the 50 million travelers who are projected to pass through Kennedy in 2015 and the 40,000 employees who work there. JetBlue’s terminal will have a capacity of 20 million passengers a year.

Development proposals will be due in four months. Mr. DeCota said he expected to be able to recommend a proposal to the Port Authority board by July.

He said the developer would be responsible for renovating the terminal (this includes asbestos removal), restoring historical elements to “strict maintenance and preservation guidelines,” undoing recent alterations, adapting the building in a “minimally intrusive manner,” finding tenants and operating the new center — whatever it turns out to be. Perhaps the principal model is the commercial redevelopment of Union Station in Washington.

The Municipal Art Society, a civic group that has been working with the Port Authority on ways to revive the Saarinen building, believes that issuing a request for proposals is an “extremely flawed” approach, said Frank E. Sanchis III, the senior vice president, not least because it means the JetBlue terminal will open before the renovation project is complete.

Mr. Sanchis said the society favored keeping the Saarinen building in aviation use. He said the authority should have negotiated with JetBlue to undertake both the renovation and the new construction.

Failing that, Mr. Sanchis said, the authority should have committed itself to renovating the Saarinen building and delivering it to a developer already structurally refurbished and cleared of asbestos. As it is now, he said, prospective developers may find the project too daunting.

In response, Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the authority, said: “Neither the Port Authority nor JetBlue is experienced in redeveloping and retenanting a building on this scale. We’re looking to bring in the experts who are best suited to do this.”

JetBlue’s vice president for redevelopment, Richard J. Smyth, said being the sole tenant of the Saarinen building would not have worked operationally or financially for the airline. “More and more of our customers are checking in at home,” he said. “The whole ticketing hall experience is not what it used to be.”

Nonetheless, he said he was not immune to the romance of the old terminal and would welcome the trend if JetBlue passengers chose to make the 150-yard detour to experience Saarinen’s architecture. So the two ticket kiosks may be just a start.

“If there’s enough demand,” Mr. Smyth said, “I’ll put 20 in.”

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[ablarc]

1962

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2335/2203131612_a96bbe9076_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2335/2203131612_fe05f55397_b.jpg
Compare to photo in post #3.

[Fabrizio]

Quite an era of swoopy architecture... and red carpets. The Metropolitan Opera House:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7355435@N04/529872944/

--

[ablarc]

^ Different aspects of Saarinen have been picked up on by Gehry, Calatrava and Foster. When the latter was at Yale, Saarinen was at his peak.

Saarinen turns out to be today's eminence grise; would there be Zaha Hadid without him? Or even Jean Nouvel?

He was certainly the flying wedge of novelty at all cost; when someone complains of Gehry repeating himself, he's wishing he were more like Eero --who (almost) never repeated himself.

Too bad he died young.

[brianac]

Renovated T.W.A. Terminal to Reopen as JetBlue Portal

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/22/nyregion/portal600.jpg
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
The Port Authority approved a $19 million repair project on the Trans World Airlines section of Terminal 5 at Kennedy Airport. It has been closed since 2001.

By DAVID W. DUNLAP (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/david_w_dunlap/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: February 22, 2008

The Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy International Airport — that abandoned embodiment of the “Come Fly With Me” era of jet-setting — would reopen this year under a plan advanced on Thursday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/port_authority_of_new_york_and_new_jersey/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

The authority’s board approved a $19 million project to repair the 46-year-old terminal so that travelers can pass through it on their way to the enormous new JetBlue Airways terminal that wraps around the T.W.A. building in a crescent shape.

Both buildings are known as Terminal 5. The hope is to open them simultaneously this fall, said William R. DeCota, the aviation director of the Port Authority. If not, he said, the T.W.A. building — an official landmark designed by architect Eero Saarinen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eero_saarinen/index.html?inline=nyt-per) — would reopen soon after.

Except for a brief stint as an exhibition gallery in 2004, the Saarinen terminal has been closed since T.W.A. ended operations in October 2001. The main terminal building, called the head house, and two tubular corridors for departures and arrivals have been preserved. Those corridors will connect the Saarinen and JetBlue terminals.

“When Terminal 5 launches in fall,” JetBlue says on its T508.com (http://t508.com/) Web site, “customers will have the option of checking in at a JetBlue kiosk in the Saarinen building and taking in this landmarked architectural wonder’s exquisite modernist design on their way to our new terminal.” The airline has adopted the gull-winged profile of the T.W.A. building for its Terminal 5 logo.
Before the terminal reopens, asbestos must be removed, deteriorating concrete and tiles must be repaired, sections of the roof must be replaced and new doors must be installed, among other measures, Mr. DeCota said.

The Port Authority is taking on the work because there were no responses to a request in 2006 for redevelopment proposals, he said. When the building is in better shape, he said, he expected more interest from operators who might use parts of it for an airline lounge, a restaurant, office space, a museum, a hotel or a spa.

Christine A. Ferer, a member of the authority’s board of commissioners, said the restoration was “thrilling” but wondered aloud at a subcommittee meeting on Thursday whether JetBlue was paying an appropriate amount for the use of the Saarinen landmark as its front door.

“We’re really giving them this beautiful piece of art, this historic building as an entrance to their facility,” she said.

Mr. DeCota said that JetBlue was not specifically underwriting renovation of the historic building, but that its rent to the Port Authority was “helping to support this facility” as part of the overall Terminal 5 development project.

One element of the Saarinen building will almost certainly not be salvaged: the trumpet-shaped flight departure lounge that used to sit at the end of one of the tubular corridors. Last year, at a cost of about $800,000, it was cut apart from the rest of the structure and moved about 1,500 feet to get it out of the way of construction crews while preservationists, airport officials and airline executives tried to figure out if it could be reused.

Though Mr. DeCota declined to say flatly on Thursday that nothing could be done with the trumpet structure, he hinted strongly that the money needed to renovate it — which he put at more than $10 million — would be better spent on the Saarinen head house.

The Municipal Art Society (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/municipal_art_society/index.html?inline=nyt-org), a civic organization that belongs to the redevelopment advisory committee involved with the Saarinen building, believes that any decision to destroy the trumpet structure would be “premature, fiscally irresponsible and historically inappropriate,” said Frank E. Sanchis III, the society’s senior vice president.

Mr. Sanchis said that the fate of the trumpet was discussed without consulting the redevelopment committee and that the cost estimates were inflated. On Thursday, the art group appealed to the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Washington to intervene.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company.

Related
A Window That Reflected a Golden Age Comes Down at Kennedy Airport (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/nyregion/22window.html?ref=nyregion) (February 22, 2008)

[andyschest]

I'm flying into JFK for the first time this summer - Terminal 7. Am I going to be able to get a good look at the TWA building?

[brianac]

It's scheduled for opening this fall.

You may be unlucky.

[brianac]

It looks like they are modifying the terminal maps.

Keep in touch with the airport web site. Link below.

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/kennedy.html

You would need to allocate some time, either on arrival or departure, if you are to make a detour to the TWA terminal. Your best bet would probably be the Air Train.

http://www.panynj.gov/airtrain/

http://www.panynj.gov/airtrain/images/T8Rev-Fwebmap-2.jpg (http://www.panynj.gov/airtrain/pdf/T8Rev-Fwebmap-f811.pdf)

[andyschest]

Although it won't be open, I wondered whether I could get a look at the outside. I guess we would have to go the 'wrong way' round the loop, get off with our luggage, try to get near it, assuming that's possible if it's closed, and then get back on the loop. I'm not sure I will be able to convince the family to do that 'just to look at a building'. I suppose I'll just have to go back again when it's open and see if we can fly into it.

Thanks for the info anyway.

[alonzo-ny]

Thought someone might enjoy this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2284004680_853ac4f34b_o.jpg

[brianac]

Although it won't be open, I wondered whether I could get a look at the outside. I guess we would have to go the 'wrong way' round the loop, get off with our luggage, try to get near it, assuming that's possible if it's closed, and then get back on the loop. I'm not sure I will be able to convince the family to do that 'just to look at a building'. I suppose I'll just have to go back again when it's open and see if we can fly into it.

Thanks for the info anyway.

When you check in for your return flight (2 to 3 hours before take off) you could leave the family with the luggage, and wander off on your own.

[ablarc]

A subtle building-code-induced modification most folks might not notice:

Look at the old photo in post #31: the pickets that hold the rail are a certain distance apart (call it distance x). The effect is gossamer --as the architect intended-- and this is more than enough picket to hold the rail against a lurch from a 400 lb. drunk.

Now look at the photo in post #34 (recently "restored"). There are twice as many pickets, they are x/2 distance apart, and the renovation architect has chosen to tell posterity about his bowdlerization by making his added pickets more slender than the originals. This sets up an a-b rhythm that was wholly absent in the original, which was a techno-expressionistic a-a.

The additional pickets were put there by the notorious "baby's head" requirement of the recent code. This requires pickets to be no more than 4" apart to keep babies from wedging their heads between the pickets.

[Wrightfan]

A subtle building-code-induced modification most folks might not notice...I think the renovation architect made the right choice. Nice post- thanks for the tip. Nice eye- good catch.

[brianac]

An Airline Terminal for a Security-Wary Era

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/11/nyregion/11terminal.600.jpg David W. Dunlap/The New York Times
The security area at JetBlue’s new terminal at Kennedy International Airport will be 340 feet wide and will have 20 lanes. More Photos > (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/09/nyregion/20080310_TERMINAL_SLIDESHOW_index.html)

By DAVID W. DUNLAP (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/david_w_dunlap/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: March 11, 2008

From the moment that passengers first arrive at JetBlue Airways (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/jetblue_airways_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ $750 million terminal at Kennedy International Airport in September, they will face an unmistakably post-9/11 world.
Multimedia

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/09/nyregion/terminal.190.jpgSlide Show (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/09/nyregion/20080310_TERMINAL_SLIDESHOW_index.html)A Tour of Terminal 5 (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/09/nyregion/20080310_TERMINAL_SLIDESHOW_index.html)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/11/nyregion/11terminal.grfk.gif

Most airline terminals have been jury-rigged since 2001 to accommodate all the extra security workers and equipment. But JetBlue’s new Terminal 5 is among the first in the United States designed from the ground up after the terrorist attacks.

The 340-foot-wide security checkpoint will dominate the departures hall the way ticket counters once did, occupying the focal point of the Y-shaped building.

There will be 20 security lanes. “They were sized with the idea that passengers have luggage, have children, have wheelchairs and have special needs,” said William R. DeCota, director of aviation at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/port_authority_of_new_york_and_new_jersey/index.html?inline=nyt-org), which runs Kennedy.

After running the security gantlet, travelers will find a lot of benches where they can pull themselves back together.

There will be subtler touches, too: resilient rubber Tuflex floor (instead of cold, hard terrazzo) for the areas where one has to go shoeless.

“We want the security process to be thoroughly rigorous but minimally intrusive,” Mr. DeCota said. “The design of that terminal was intended to make sure that no one will have to worry that their wait time is going to be greater than 10 minutes.”

JetBlue handled 28 percent of Kennedy’s 47.7 million passengers last year. The airline expects that by the end of this year, 44,000 passengers will be passing through Terminal 5 each day. The airline operates 170 flights a day at Kennedy, but could operate 250 flights from the 26 gates at Terminal 5.

Despite its scale, Terminal 5 has been overshadowed by its connection to the landmark Trans World Airlines Flight Center, designed by Eero Saarinen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eero_saarinen/index.html?inline=nyt-per), which stands at the same corner of the airport and is also known as Terminal 5.

The Port Authority plans an interim renovation of the Saarinen building, which has been closed for seven years. JetBlue passengers will be able to pass through it on their way to the new Terminal 5.

It has been designed by the Gensler firm, working with DMJM Harris/Aecom, Arup and the authority’s master planner, William Nicholas Bodouva & Associates.

Given a more-or-less blank slate, they were able to design spaces to accommodate security technology, rather than cramming technology into existing spaces.

For instance, formidable-looking X-ray explosive detection machines are often found in the middle of departure lobbies. These add inconvenient steps to the inspection process.

The detection machines at Terminal 5, on the other hand, are out of sight and integrated into what is called an in-line baggage handling system. Bags move automatically from the ticket counter through several inspection points to the tugs that take them out to the aircraft, rather than being hand carried from one area to the next.

Pointing to the system on a floor plan, William D. Hooper Jr., a managing director of Gensler, said: “The heart of the terminal is in places like this. All that stuff that came up into the terminal after 9/11, some of it as big as a Volkswagen, is here.”

Airline executives and authority officials emphasized that the security measures at Terminal 5 were not better than those at other terminals, simply that they promised to be faster.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company.

[Skylimitone]

All the new security stuff has really choked up some already out dated terminals. Its just a mess...

[Optimus Prime]

This is going to wind up being the best terminal in the whole place, I bet.

[Skylimitone]

Then who knows what they'll have to consider 15years from now.

[Optimus Prime]

If we haven't figured out how to teleport in 15 years, I'm going to be really pissed off at Hollywood.

[MikeW]

T9 (AA's new terminal) is nice and new. So in T4 (the old international arrivals building). The real laggard in T2-3 (Delta). They're going to have to spring for a rebuild soon.

[brianac]

Kennedy Airport

Departure Lounge to Nowhere

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/16/nyregion/terminal600.jpg David W. Dunlap/The New York Times
By ALEX MINDLIN
Published: March 16, 2008

IF the Jetsons had flown Trans World Airlines, they would have felt at home in its terminal at Kennedy Airport, a swooping, birdlike concrete building, designed by the architect Eero Saarinen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eero_saarinen/index.html?inline=nyt-per), that fed its passengers out to their gates through dreamlike, windowless white tubes. The departure lounges were similarly futuristic: glassy flared cabins, outfitted with curving banquettes, padded sectional tables, and a rounded desk for the gate attendant.

Last week, however, jacked up on timbers and amputated from its concourse in an out-of-the-way section of the old T.W.A. tarmac, the last remaining Saarinen departure lounge had little of that Jet Age glamour. In fact, it looked like nothing so much as the bow of a rusting beige ship.

The story of how the lounge got there is an odd tale of airport diplomacy. JetBlue Airways is constructing a large, crescent-shaped terminal just behind the 46-year-old T.W.A. building, which has been shuttered since 2001. To make way for its new structure, the airline planned to demolish Saarinen’s original concourses and departure lounges, while preserving the far better known terminal and its connector tubes, which the Port Authority, the airport’s operator, will refurbish and reopen.

But last April, to placate preservationists, the Port Authority agreed to spare a single Saarinen lounge. It spent $895,000 to saw the 700-ton structure off the concourse and haul it 1,500 feet out of the way. That feat was so gargantuan that a crew from the History Channel showed up to record it for a show called “Mega Movers.” There the lounge has sat for almost a year, while everyone ponders its future.

Among those doing the pondering is Bill Hooper, an architect retained by JetBlue. “It’s like having an anvil sitting on a bunch of soda straws,” Mr. Hooper said the other day as he surveyed the lounge.

The Municipal Art Society (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/municipal_art_society/index.html?inline=nyt-org), a preservation group, argues that the lounge should be incorporated into JetBlue’s new terminal.

“The lounge is a piece of DNA,” said Frank Sanchis, the society’s senior vice president. “With it, if someone ever wanted to restore the Saarinen building for use by smaller aircraft, they could see the foundations, how it was supported, the configuration of the glass, the slabs, the tiling. To throw away that opportunity is a tremendous waste.”

But JetBlue has long maintained that it would be prohibitively expensive to restore the lounge, and difficult to put the structure to use. The Port Authority has come to agree, concluding that money available for restoration would be better used for the Saarinen terminal, known as the head house.

Last month, with the approval of the state’s Historic Preservation Office, the authority gave JetBlue permission to demolish the lounge.

At this point, even some preservationists approve. “We support this plan,” said Peg Breen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/peg_breen/index.html?inline=nyt-per), president of the Landmarks Conservancy. “Given that JetBlue doesn’t think it works with the design of the terminal, and that the money for restoring it could otherwise be used for the head house, we think that’s a more appropriate use.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company.