TWA Flight Center, JFK airport, New York. All photos by Flickr user Seamus Murray.
Noted architect Robert A.M Stern has called Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center “Grand Central of the jet age.” Saarinen was one of the greatest American architects of the 20th century and considered one of the leaders of, what is known as, the International Style.
The term International Style was coined by architect Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock to describe an emerging style in the 20′s and 30′s, which favored volume over mass, balance over symmetry and was devoid of extraneous decoration.
The TWA Flight Center opened in 1962 at New York’s JFK Airport–known then as Idlewild Airport, and was designed to reflect the spirit of flight. The building is designed to look like a bird in flight, with its wings spread.
Currently known as Terminal-5 for JetBlue airways, the building has won numerous architecture awards and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Trust for Preservation. In 1994 the Saarinen terminal was designated a historic landmark by the City of New York.
The TWA Flight Center was the first air terminal to have closed circuit television, a public address system, luggage carousels, an electronic timetable board and baggage scales.
TWA Flight Center, JFK airport, New York. All photos by Flickr user Seamus Murray.
Sources: wikipedia, archiplanet.org, nyc-architecture.com.
