From the Archives
May 31, 1962: Trans-World Airlines Terminal Building at JFK Airport
This 1962 cover image depicts the Trans-World Airlines terminal building at JFK Airport in New York, featuring a distinctive wing-shaped, thin-shell concrete roof.
It was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, one of the pioneers of Neo-Futurism. The two upward-slanting wings and two downward-slanting ones are supported by four Y-shaped piers, and cover a column-free area of 50,000 sq ft.
The two larger wings cantilever more than 80 ft beyond their buttress supports. The concrete shells vary in thickness from 7 in. at the edge to 44 in. Huge cellular concrete pile caps supported on 50-ton concrete piles resist the tremendous thrusts of the roof buttresses.
The building’s irregular geometry put both structural engineers and contractors to the test. Shaping the wooden formwork for the curving wings and buttresses was especially challenging.
The project’s structural engineer was Amman & Whitney and the general contractor was Grove, Shepherd, Wilson & Kruge, Inc.
It served as a terminal until 2001, and was repurposed in 2017 as part of the TWA Hotel, part of JetBlue’s Terminal 5.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
