TWA Terminal
TWA Terminal
The TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen was more than just a terminal, it was a testament to aviation at the time. The building itself was designed and built of concrete after the Second World War. In his attempt of the terminal, “Eero Saarinen sought to capture the sensation of flight in all aspects of the building, from a fluid open interior, to the wing-like concrete shell of the roof” (Archdaily). It was after the Second World War that commercial air travel had become available to more than just the higher class people. The design of the terminal came from the Port of New York Authority’s request for a terminal city. This terminal city would require each major airline to operate an individual terminal. Through Port Authority’s request, TWA approached Eero Saarinen as the architect for this project. TWA wanted a terminal that would “provide TWA with advertising, publicity, and attention”, and Saarinen took the public attention very seriously considering the site was located on the end of the main access road. The building would contain one terminal that seems to be cut into four different segments by various roof skylights. The building would be symmetrical with four shelled roof segments curved out of the piers that support them. In the middle of the four different segments sits a circular pendant marking the centerpoint of the building. The building itself resembles the movement of a bird or a plane flying through the air. Yet Saarinen claims it does not represent anything physical, instead, it is an abstraction of the concept of flight itself. Eero Saarinen himself said it would be “...a building in which the architecture itself would express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel... a place of movement and transition... The shapes were deliberately chosen in order to emphasize an upward-soaring quality of line. We wanted an uplift.” (Eero Saarinen). One of the main features to the building is the waiting area. The waiting area is a viewing platform to the constant flights going in and out of the airport. The area is sunken into the ground and the large floor to ceiling window acts as a movie screen framing the view of the constant movement. Although the building seems as if it is made and sculpted out of only concrete, in order to allow the building to be structurally sound, there was a layer of reinforcing steel hidden inside the overpowering concrete. By using this reinforced steel, Saarinen was able to curve the building in order to allow him to create spaces that would flow from one room to the next. The roof turns to the walls and then the wall continues to become floors. By doing this, he creates very interesting spaces such as possible seating areas where the floor and wall meet. Saarinen himself described it as a fully designed environment when he wrote “All the curves, all the spaces and elements right down to the shape of the signs, display boards, railings and check-in desks were to be of a matching nature. We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment, in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world,”(Eero Saarinen).
TWA Terminal, Ezra Stoller
The TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen was more than just a terminal, it was a testament to aviation at the time. The building itself was designed and built of concrete after the Second World War. In his attempt of the terminal, “Eero Saarinen sought to capture the sensation of flight in all aspects of the building, from a fluid open interior, to the wing-like concrete shell of the roof” (Archdaily). It was after the Second World War that commercial air travel had become available to more than just the higher class people. The design of the terminal came from the Port of New York Authority’s request for a terminal city. This terminal city would require each major airline to operate an individual terminal. Through Port Authority’s request, TWA approached Eero Saarinen as the architect for this project. TWA wanted a terminal that would “provide TWA with advertising, publicity, and attention”, and Saarinen took the public attention very seriously considering the site was located on the end of the main access road. The building would contain one terminal that seems to be cut into four different segments by various roof skylights. The building would be symmetrical with four shelled roof segments curved out of the piers that support them. In the middle of the four different segments sits a circular pendant marking the centerpoint of the building. The building itself resembles the movement of a bird or a plane flying through the air. Yet Saarinen claims it does not represent anything physical, instead, it is an abstraction of the concept of flight itself. Eero Saarinen himself said it would be “...a building in which the architecture itself would express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel... a place of movement and transition... The shapes were deliberately chosen in order to emphasize an upward-soaring quality of line. We wanted an uplift.” (Eero Saarinen). One of the main features to the building is the waiting area. The waiting area is a viewing platform to the constant flights going in and out of the airport. The area is sunken into the ground and the large floor to ceiling window acts as a movie screen framing the view of the constant movement. Although the building seems as if it is made and sculpted out of only concrete, in order to allow the building to be structurally sound, there was a layer of reinforcing steel hidden inside the overpowering concrete. By using this reinforced steel, Saarinen was able to curve the building in order to allow him to create spaces that would flow from one room to the next. The roof turns to the walls and then the wall continues to become floors. By doing this, he creates very interesting spaces such as possible seating areas where the floor and wall meet. Saarinen himself described it as a fully designed environment when he wrote “All the curves, all the spaces and elements right down to the shape of the signs, display boards, railings and check-in desks were to be of a matching nature. We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment, in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world,”(Eero Saarinen).
TWA Terminal, Ezra Stoller
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