TWA Flight Center

The expressive form of Eero Saarinen’s 1962 TWA Flight Center at New York’s JFK Airport evokes the excitement of air travel and defined the modern air terminal. Abandoned since 2001 and threatened with demolition, the project restores the Flight Center and adapts it for reuse as the centerpiece of an hotel and events complex. Later additions were carefully removed to recover Saarinen’s original construction. To reestablish the original “figure in field” setting, the two curved guestroom wings are designed to mask Terminal 5 located behind the Flight Center and the 46,000 SF events space is set entirely underground. The Flight Center’s original functions are closely aligned with new front-of-house hotel uses. The original Flight Tubes which once conveyed passengers to the aircraft have been reused to give access to the guestroom wings and subterranean events space. As preservation architect for the project, Miriam led the design of adaptations to the Flight Center and repair of the exterior concrete shell and sculptural interior. New mechanical, electrical and life safety systems were carefully integrated alongside interventions for universal access. Lost mid-century restaurant interiors by Raymond Loewy and Warren Platner were reinterpreted in contemporary designs, while Saarinen’s Ambassador’s Club interior was meticulously researched and fully restored.