Eero Saarinen designed the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in the 1950s to capture "the spirit of flight". The futuristic building resembles a bird in flight, with a thin concrete shell roof supported by four curved columns. It has large windows overlooking the runways and skylights separating its four symmetrical "wings". The complex curved geometry was inspired by citrus fruits and aimed to provide smooth passenger flow. The building pioneered many airport innovations when it opened in 1962 but fell into disuse and closed in 2001.

1. HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
TWA FLIGHT CENTER AT JOHN F KENNEDY
AIRPORT

2. Eero Saarinen
 Eero Saarinen was born in 1910 in Finland.
 He was an American Architect and Product Designer
of 20th century.
 He was famous for his varying style according to the
demand of the project simple, sweeping, arching
structural curves.
 According to Eero Saarinen “The purpose of
Architecture is to shelter and enhance man’s life on
earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his
existence.

3. Trans World Airline Terminal
 Location : John F. Kennedy International Airport,
Queens, New York.
 Area: 17.6 Acres
 Architectural style : Googie,fantastic , futuristic,
Modern and Movement, Expressionistic.

4. TWA Flight Center
 Location: New York
 Architect: Eero Saarinen, along with Kevin Roche,
Cesar Pelli, Edward Saad and Norman Pettula.
 Opened the project : 1962.
 History: Eero Saarinen and his firm won the
completion in 1956 to design a terminal that
captured “ the spirit of flight”.
 The form resembles a huge bird with wings
spread, preparing for landing.
 “The fact that to some people it looked like bird
in flight was really coincidental.” – Eero Saarinen.

5. Trans World Airlines at JFK
 Original futuristic design, neo-futurist and fantastic
architectural styles.
 Features thin shell roof, tube – shaped departure/
arrival corridors,expansive windows that highlight
departing and arriving jets, strips of skylights
seperating the four “wings”.
 He developed a special curve edged cermamic tile to
conform to the shell.
 Best challenge for the design was allowing for smooth
passage through the terminal.

6. Design
• Concept for the form was derived
from the rind of a grapefruit.
• Biggest challenge of the design was
allowing for smooth passage
through the terminal.
• Final solution consisted of creating
4 adjacent shells counterbalancing
each other.
• Final scheme used 3 different sized
configurations of curved, diamond
shaped shells by 4 curvilinear
shaped columns.
Countless study models were made to
determine the most suitable form.

7. Site
Plan
Area : 17.6 Acers
Building layout

8. Terminal Level One

9. Terminal Level Two

10. Elevation

11. Elevation

12. Sections

13. Structural
Design
Shell Roof
Buttress for support

14. Glass Skylights
Glass Curtain Wall
Structural
Design

15. • Reinforced poured in place
concrete shell curve
inspired by grapefruit.
• Four diamond shaped shells
symmetrical on the East –
West axis
• Roof thickness from 7” to
40” at columns.
• Cantilevers are extended to
eighty feet.
• The roof's thin concrete
shell is built to span a space
with a minimum of material.
Roof

16. Facade
• The main portion of the
head house's facade is
made of large green-tinted
glass walls.
• These glass walls were
coated with a dark-
purple mylar film.
• Single-story wings extend
outward from the main
terminal to the north and
south, and contain several
door openings within the
concave walls.
• Inside these wings are
maintenance areas

17. Columns
• Four curvilinear y-
shaped columns of
poured in place
reinforced
concrete.
• 51’ Tall.
• 315’ Long.
• 3’ Thick.
Columns

18. Skylights
• Skylights stretch across
the seams seperating the
shells.
• Each shell meets in the
center to support each
other.
• Emphasizes the line of the
roof and seperation of the
vaults.

19. • Steel pipe truss curtain wall.
• Outer arc pulls mullions inward
while the mullions hang away
from the structure.
• System relies on the stiffness.
• Structural glass held in the
place by mullionsand hang
outwardly.
• Curtain wall system fills in
'voids‘ between concrete
emphasizing the 'lightness‘ of
the structure.
Curtain Wall

20. Interiors
• The interiors are dominated
by a combination of cool
white and warm red, a hue.
• Framed with round penny tile
flooring.
• The large windows of the
restaurants provide a view of
planes taking off and landing.
• A concrete balcony on the
upper floor spans the central
staircase from the lower floor
to the intermediate level.

21. Interior Staircase
 Though the head house is two stories tall, it contains an
intermediate level, joined to the lower level by a central
staircase and to the upper level by four peripheral
staircases.
 Ceramic tiles line the walls and floors.
 A concrete balcony on the upper floor spans the central
staircase from the lower floor to the intermediate level.
 The TWA Flight Center incorporated many innovations
upon its completion, including closed circuit television, a
central public address system, baggage carousels,
electromechanical split-flap display schedule board and
baggage scales, and the satellite clustering of gates away
from the main terminal.
 The intermediate level contains an area facing east, where
passengers could originally see the tarmac.
Staircase

22. Passageway
s
• The two passageways
leading from the head
house are completely
enclosed and cross a
service roadway.
• These tubes are covered
in concrete, with an
elliptical cross section as
well as indirect lighting.
• To save money, the
passageways did not
have moving walkway.

23. Thankyou
BY CHAITRA R
3rd SEM B.Arch
RRSA