Art Section V: Innovative Technologies and Media/TWA Flight Center

Which modes of transportation are explored in this section?

The passenger plane and the superhighway

What do the artworks in this section use?

Innovative new technologies and materials

What do the artworks in this section demonstrate?

How the previously mentioned forms of travel were integrated into daily life

What airport was Eero Saarinen commissioned to design a new terminal for?

Idlewild Airport

Where was Idlewild Airport located?

Queens, New York

What were most airport buildings like when Saarinen was commissioned?

Low, shed-like, and functional

What was the basic function of airport buildings?

Sheltering passengers from the elements while they waited for their flights

How did the perception of commercial air travel change in the 1950s?

Passengers started to view it as luxurious and sophisticated

How did airlines market themselves in the 1950s?

As providing full experience

What building is an example of how air terminal architecture changed?

Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center

What was Idlewild Airport renamed to in 1963?

John F. Kennedy Airport

Where and when was Eero Saarinen born?

Helsinki, Finland in 1910

What was Saarinen's specific birthplace?

Hvitträsk

Which 3 architects designed Hvitträsk?

Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren, and Eliel Saarinen

How did Gessellius, Lindgren, and Saarinen envision Hvitträsk?

As an art colony

What style was Hvitträsk built in?

Romantic nationalist

What were some characteristics of the romantic nationalist style?

Traditional building materials and historical references to prehistoric, Viking, and medieval Scandinavian forms

What was one of Eliel Saarinen's most important buildings?

The central train station in Helsinki

When did the train station designed by Eliel Saarinen open?

1919

What did the Helsinki train station combine?

Romantic nationalist elements and modern technology

How old was Eero Saarinen when his family immigrated to the US?

13 years old

Where did the Saarinen family settle?

MIchigan

What job did Eliel Saarinen take in the US?

Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art

What did Cranbrook's curriculum focus on?

Architecture and applied arts

Where did Eero Saarinen's architectural education take place?

Paris and Yale University

When did Saarinen graduate from Yale?

1934

What did Saarinen do after graduating?

Traveled for almost 2 years

What did Saarinen do upon returning home?

Took a job at his father's architectural firm

Why did Saarinen gain national recognition in 1948?

His design for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was selected in a national competition

Where is the Jefferson national Expansion Memorial located?

St. Louis, Missouri

Who did Eero Saarinen beat in the competition?

His own father

What is Saarinen's design for the memorial now known as?

The Gateway Arch

What exactly was Saarinen's design for the memorial?

A 630-foot-tall catenary arch sheathed in panels of stainless steel

What elements did Saarinen use in his architectural practice?

Modern materials used in an innovative way, organic lines and shapes, and using expressive form

What are some of Saarinen's other designs?

Washington Dulles International Airport, Kresge Auditorium, 2 American embassies, and furniture pieces

When did Saarinen die?

1961

When was the TWA terminal completed?

1962

What does the TWA Flight Center look like?

A giant white bird crouching to take off

What extends to either side of the flight center?

2 large overhanging arches with glass curtain walls

What do the massive supports resemble?

The legs in a bird of prey's ready stance

What is the inside of the flight center filled with?

Curving forms

What effect does the high ceiling have?

It makes interior and exterior become a cohesive whole

What objects have curved edges?

Sofas, information desk, and flight status monitor

What is located at the rear of the terminal building?

Floor-to-ceiling windows

What color is the carpet in the two hallways?

TWA red

At what degree do the hallways extend from the main space?

45 degrees

How many departure gates were there originally?

17

What do one of the flight tubes connect to today?

Terminal 5

What does the other flight tube lead to?

A small museum

What did the flight center represent?

The excitement of travel

Who was the president of TWA at the time of the commission?

Ralph Damon

What did Damon request?

A building that starts your flight with your first glimpse of it

What philosophy did Eero and Eliel Saarinen share?

Materials affect a building's expressive character

What things were an important starting point for a design for the Saarinens?

Textures, colors, and other qualities of materials

What materials did Eliel Saarinen work with?

Local Finnish stone and timber

What kinds of materials did Eero Saarinen work with?

Materials associated with machine age modernism

What effect did the stainless-steel cladding have on the St. Louis arch?

It produced a sleek, dynamic surface

What materials did Saarinen use for the TWA Flight Center?

Concrete over flexible metal mesh

What did the materials allow Saarinen to do with the flight center?

Shape the building into an exaggerated form

How thin is the roof of the flight center in some places?

7 inches

What is the roof made up of?

4 wedge-shaped segments

What did Saarinen insert at the intersection of the 4 roof segments?

Glass skylights

In which other building did Saarinen include a shell roof?

Dulles Airport

What did Saarinen believe about organic architectural forms?

That they would be more welcoming, visually interesting, and psychologically nurturing

Who was one of the modern architects designing skyscrapers?

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

By what time period did the international Modernist style become repetitive?

Late 1950s

What were some characteristics of International Modernist buildings?

Uniform, boxlike, transparent curtain walls

What does the term 'program' mean in architecture?

A building's function

What do the swooping, symmetrical forms of the TWA Flight Center express?

Mankind's aspirations of flight

What did Saarinen say about architecture?

Architecture must make a strong emotional impact

What message did the TWA Flight Center send to visitors?

The beauty, thrill, and glamor of flight

What was TWA formed?

1930

What was TWA's most prominent client during the 1930s?

The US Postal Service

After WWII, TWA acquired a passenger route between which 2 cities?

New York and Paris

Who helped TWA acquire the New York-Paris passenger route?

Howard Hughes

How did TWA rebrand itself?

As a luxury airline

Before TWA, which airline was the only one to offer international passenger services?

Pan American Airways

What did Pan Am and TWA do to expand their clientele?

Marketed air travel as part of the American Dream

What did the airlines emphasize in their marketing?

Comfort, safety, and convenience

How much did the airlines' businesses grow in 5 years?

Tripled

What was the number of air passengers in 1945?

6 million

What was the number of air passengers in 1950?

17 million

By 1950, what was TWA's global market share in international flights?

25%

What happened for the first time in 1959?

A majority of Americans traveling overseas went by plane

What did TWA use its Flight Center for at the beginning of the jet age?

A form of advertising

What amenities did the Flight Center include?

Exclusive lounges, restaurants, automated baggage return, and covered jetways

What were some of Saarinen's other corporate clients?

Bell, General Motors, John Deere

What did Saarinen's architectural style become associated with?

Modernists of the 1950s and 1960s

When did TWA go out of business?

2001

Why was the TWA Flight Center saved?

It had architectural and historical importance

What was restored during the flight center's renovation?

Its color scheme and roof

What did the flight center become upon reopening?

Part of a hotel complex attached to JFK's Terminal 5

When did the flight center reopen?

2019