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Saarinen's TWA terminal saved? - Front Page
Art in America, Dec, 2003 by Stephanie Cash
Completed in 1962, Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport has been closed since October 2001 while its owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, weighed options for the landmarked building's future. In mid-October, a tentative deal was reached with JetBlue Airways to return the terminal to active use and preserve many of its original features. The Federal Aviation Administration must approve the plans; a decision is expected this month.
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With its sweeping lines, soaring roof and curving interiors, the terminal is a popular emblem of the 1960s jet age, when air travel was still an adventure. But four decades later, changing demands and growing traffic volume rendered the facility inadequate. Before it closed, the terminal had been altered repeatedly to add more ticket counters, security and baggage equipment, and other elements that cluttered the interior spaces. It was spruced up and partially restored by Steven Spielberg, who filmed portions of Catch Me if You Can (2002) there.
Though the Port Authority never intended to demolish the structure, its early plans came under fire for seriously compromising the building's integrity. The scheme called for the construction of a large three-story, semicircular building, which would have housed operations for both United Airlines and JetBlue. The new facility would have enveloped the original structure, which was to be converted into a restaurant, conference center or museum; opponents claimed it would have become a white elephant at the center of the larger terminal. Further, new construction would have blocked the open views to the airplanes and runway that were so integral to Saarinen's design. The plan also called for the destruction of two distinctive gate satellites, though it would have preserved the long tubular passageways leading to them. Only one of these satellites is landmarked; the other was added after Saarinen's death.
New York's Municipal Art Society, a private, nonprofit organization, lobbied hard for the building's adaptive reuse as an airline terminal and submitted an alternative plan that would preserve most of the building's features. After United pulled out, the MAS worked out a revised proposal with JetBlue, The newest version resembles the Port Authority's, but in a reduced scale. According to MAS director Frank Sanchis, a semicircular, two-story structure will surround the Saarinen building. Though Sanchis said the new terminal is "much smaller in scale" than in the original plan, it will still block the vistas. An architect has not yet been hired by the airline.
The two buildings will be connected by an underground rail link and the tubular passageways, one of which will be rebuilt to accommodate a moving walkway. Passengers may directly enter the new facility, where most of the airline's operations will be conducted, though the old terminal will contain some ticketing and information kiosks, a restaurant and possibly other amenities. Another surprising alteration is the decision to move, in its entirety, the landmarked gate satellite to the end of a new concourse; the other will be demolished.
The revised plan has the approval of the Port Authority, the New York State Historic Preservation Office, the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which placed the building on its 2003 list of most endangered structures. The sacrificial lamb in the expansion scheme is I.M. Pei's nearby National Airlines Sundrome building; it will be torn down to make way for the new terminal.
With the bulky security equipment now removed and the sunken lounge uncovered, Saarinen's terminal, according to the New York Times, now looks more like its glorious old self. One hopes that the transformation won't drastically alter its character.
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