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TWA Flight Center

TWA Flight Center

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen and Associates

Photo: Roland Arhelger · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Queens, NY
Client / Owner
Trans World Airlines
Year
Completed 1962
Access
Public

Completed in 1962 for Trans World Airlines at what is now JFK Airport, this terminal by Eero Saarinen is one of the great icons of the jet age. It served travelers for four decades.

Its roof is a thin shell of concrete shaped like a bird's spread wings, carried on four Y-shaped piers. Beneath it opens a flowing, three-level hall with tall windows that once looked straight out onto the runways. Two tube-like corridors, lined in red carpet, led passengers out to the gates.

The terminal closed in 2001, after TWA sold its assets. In 2019 it reopened as the lobby of the TWA Hotel, with two new hotel wings rising behind it. Its interior and exterior are both New York City landmarks.

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