The TWA Flight Center or Trans World Flight Center, opened in 1962 as the original terminal designed by Eero Saarinen for Trans World Airlines at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport ( here beautifully photographed by Max Touhey ). Although portions of the original complex have been demolished, the Saarinen-designed head house itself has been renovated, being partially encircled by a new adjacent terminal completed in 2008. Together, the old and new buildings comprise JetBlue Airways’ JFK operations and are known collectively as Terminal 5 or simply T5. Once intended as a ceremonial entrance to the new adjacent Jet Blue terminal, the Port Authority has since looked at various reuse scenarios for the original head house, which stands empty as of 2015. In April 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported that JetBlue and its partner, a hotel developer, are negotiating for the rights to turn the head house into a hotel. The City of New York designated both the interiors and the exteriors of the Eero Saarinen-designed terminal a historic landmark in 1994 and in 2005 the National Park Service listed the TWA Flight Center on the National Register of Historic Places. While noted architect Robert A. M. Stern called the evocative Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center “Grand Central of the jet age”, the pragmatic new encircling terminal has been called “hyper-efficient” and a “monument to human throughput”. Terminal 5 of the JFK Airport in New York, is an architectural jewel that soon will be redeveloped into a boutique hotel. If you are interested to get in topuch with Max Touhey for your next photo project, just follow the link below.
