JFK Int'l Airport - International Arrivals Building, Terminal 4 - by S.O.M

[Edward]

From New York Times

January 23, 2002

A Dutch Touch in Flying (Right Down to the Flies)

By JOHN KIFNER

VICTOR VAN DER CHIJS began his first board meeting at the new International Arrivals Building at Kennedy Airport promptly at 9 a.m. on Sept. 11. The meeting ended at 9:10.

"It was incredible," he remembered. "My reaction was disbelief — `this cannot be true.' "

As he stared at the smoke pouring from the ruined skyline of Lower Manhattan, a mechanical voice oddly repeated every 15 minutes over the public address system: "Terminal 4 J.F.K. is a nonsmoking area."

The building had been open for only four months and there were still no television sets anywhere, so workers turned to a radio to find out what was happening.

"It changed my world quite a bit," said Mr. van der Chijs (it rhymes with wise), whose formal title is president and chief executive of Schiphol USA, making him, among other things, the boss of the new $1.4 billion terminal, which is the cornerstone of a $10.3 billion revitalization program under way at the airport. It is the first air terminal in the United States to be built, developed and managed by a private corporation, a subsidiary of Schiphol Group, the operator of the Amsterdam airport, and the only terminal in the United States that is operated by an entity other than an airline or a government agency.

A tall, slim man of 42 — he keeps trim running and bicycle racing — attired in an elegant double breasted gray pinstripe suit, Mr. van der Chijs studied law in his native Amsterdam (he conducts business in Dutch on a tiny cellphone), and was a banker in Hong Kong before joining Schiphol, which has an international business in airport management and real estate. The new terminal is the company's beachhead in America, but he finds himself in a somewhat different world than he had imagined.

First, of course, business fell off drastically. The terminal is designed to handle six million passengers a year, but in the immediate aftermath of the attack, business dropped to about 25 percent of normal. It has been slowly building back up, he said, to about three-quarters of the usual volume. "We are hurting," he said.

Then there is the issue of security and new federally mandated baggage inspections that many people fear will make air travel even more of a nightmare. No one, however, wants to get on a plane with someone wearing exploding sneakers.

In terms of security, the new Terminal 4 is pretty much state of the art. It already has three of the big CTX baggage-screening machines, which cost $1 million each and are the size of a small car, with built-in explosive-sniffing technology — machines that are to be required in all airports by Dec. 31. (There may be quite a scramble, Mr. van der Chijs observed, because factories are now able to turn out only about 85 a year.) There is also a computerized system that connects each piece of checked luggage with a passenger's boarding pass. If a passenger does not get on the airplane, the baggage can be quickly located and removed. No passenger, he said proudly, has to wait more than 15 minutes to get through security checks, while in some airports there have been lines lasting for two or three hours. But Terminal 4 does not yet have Mr. van der Chijs's favorite device, iris-identifying equipment that is used in some places in Europe, which uses a person's eyeball to verify identity.

It does, however, have illuminated signs picturing things passengers are not allowed to carry on: golf clubs, pool cues, hockey sticks, ski poles and corkscrews.

"This terminal is probably safer than a city," said Mr. van der Chijs, who likes to think of airports as small cities in themselves.

Of course, the new terminal was designed long before Sept. 11 made fear such a part of flying. A lot of what went into building Terminal 4 came from lessons learned at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, a famously passenger-friendly agglomeration of shops, restaurants, bars and hotels.

"We want to look at it through the eyes of the passenger," Mr. van der Chijs said. "There should be lots of daylight, an open feeling. We have a lot of art. We use our airport knowledge. The airport should be a pleasant place to stay. Especially now, when people may be staying longer."

So there are glass walls, flooding the building with sunlight. There are wide aisles around the counters of the 40 airlines, from Aer Lingus to World, using the terminal. The concourse with shops and restaurants is before the security checks, so it is open to friends and relatives accompanying passengers, encouraging them to linger. The artwork includes Alexander Calder's "Flight" mobile from the old International Arrivals Building, (whose last remnants are still being gobbled up by backhoes outside the windows) and ceramic bas-relief sculptures above the immigration booths depicting New York City street scenes, including Black Israelites haranguing people in Times Square.

"Let me show you something else we learned from Schiphol," said Mr. van der Chijs, an impish bad-boy grin breaking his strait-laced demeanor, leading a visitor into the men's room.

On each of the urinals, a black fly had been stenciled several inches above the drain.

"This saves you a lot of cleaning," he said happily. "The male nature is to want to aim at something."

[NY4Life]

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new6.jpg

Anyone have updates on this project?
For those of you who are clueless, the above project is the new mega-Terminal 8 at JFK International.

[NY4Life]

TERMINAL 8

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new1.jpg
Concourse - Gates & Waiting Areas


http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new5.jpg
Departure Level - Ticket Purchase

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new4.jpg

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new3.jpg

Current Construction:
http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/jfk/images/new2.jpg

[STT757]

The AA terminal project at JFK is going to eventually replace their current two terminals (8 & 9) with a single large terminal, the project was launched in '99 and was originaly scheduled for completion in '06.

It was originaly envisioned as a 55 gate terminal, however due to economic conditions and AA trying to preserve it's cash position (it barely avoided bankruptcy a couple months ago) they are "slowing" construction and scaling the project back.

It will have fewer gates (39 instead of the originally envisioned 55) and it's completion will not come untill '08, however the mid-field concourse should be open by late '06.

AA is getting hit hard by low cost carriers at JFK like Jetblue, they have pulled down alot of their shorter Domestic flying. Their future plans for JFK are for Trans-Cons and International flying, the Domestic stuff (minus LAX, SFO etc) will be at LGA.

AA is at the same time building a BEHEAMOUTH terminal in Miami, which is where they are concentrating their current resources.

I believe most major work at JFK has actually been suspended for the time being, it should resume within a year or so.

The airline industry was alot different in '99 when AA launched the JFK project, they have had to alter their plans to meet the current market.

[NY4Life]

What about the Terminal 5/6 project? I've seen renderings of it and was wondering if they are really going to do this new mega terminal. Wow! :shock: JFK International is really spicing things up and creating a "capital of the world" type airport equipped with a light rail system that connects the terminals to local transit centers, two up-to-date terminals (Terminal 1 & 4) and two new mega terminals on the way.[/img]

[STT757]

The new Terminal for Jetblue that will replace T-6 and include T-5 will be 23 gates, not HUGE but decent size compared to other terminals.

T-4 at JFK for instance only has 16 gates!..

For a comparison..

JFK has 9 terminals, EWR has three.

Yet EWR has more gates with three terminals than JFK's 9.

[lofter1]

American Airlines Unveils $1.1 Billion Terminal At JFK Airport
July 27, 2005

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=52391

More space is on the horizon for travelers flying out of JFK Airport.

American Airlines unveiled a new $1.1 billion passenger terminal Wednesday. The airline says it should be up and running next month.

The terminal has more ticket windows, and more screening lines to help speed passengers through baggage claims and security check points.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says travelers who use the new terminal should feel safe.

“They certainly have purchased the ultimate in state-of -the-art technology, and they understand that we live in a world, sadly, where security is in everybody's interest," said Bloomberg.

"When you check your luggage here, we'll actually have inline screening systems that will screen baggage as it's checked. So from a security standpoint, when the facility opens it will be state-of-the-art," said American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey.

When phase two of the project is completed in about two years, American Airlines says the ticket agents and security staff will be able to process 1,800 passenger an hour.

The terminal will also feature self serve ticket kiosks, as well as shops and restaurants, and 800 feet of curb space to keep traffic moving during passenger pick-ups and drop-offs.

http://www.dmjmhn.aecom.com/media/4384.jpg

http://www.dmjmharris.com/media/4259.jpg

more info at DMJM:
http://www.dmjmhn.aecom.com/MarketsAndServices/40/28/index.jsp

and at DMJMHarris:
http://www.dmjmharris.com/MarketsAndServices/39/99/index.jsp

[BrooklynRider]

JFK is head and shoulders above both Newark and LaGuardia. It is not "your father's JFK". NOw, if they could only get us there quickly and on a direct route...

[pianoman11686]

Is there an underground walkway to the concourse in the rear?

[Alonzo-ny]

That could have been more impressive, just average

[pianoman11686]

Demolishing a Celebrated Wall of Glass

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/07/23/nyregion/thecity/glas600.jpg
The stained-glass facade of American Airlines Terminal 8 will soon be reduced to souvenir key chains.

By RUTH FORD

Published: July 23, 2006

When American Airlines Terminal 8 opened in 1960 at what was then New York International Airport at Idlewild, its most striking feature was the great stained-glass facade. The structure, made of red, sapphire and white glass tiles, wasn’t just public art; it also allowed light into the terminal, while keeping those inside from broiling in the south-facing building.

But next May, the 317-foot-by-23-foot translucent wall will come down. American Airlines is razing Terminal 8 as part of a $1.1 billion expansion that will create one terminal to serve all its customers at John F. Kennedy International Airport. “The cathedral,” as the abstract mosaic has sometimes been called, will vanish.

The airline had hoped to salvage the window, designed by the artist Robert Sowers, but was put off by the expense. “It would cost $1 million just to take it down,” said Steven Silver, who manages real estate at American. So when the terminal is demolished, the only act of preservation will be to use some of the glass to make key chains for airline employees.

Martin Rambusch, a fourth-generation fabricator of stained glass, whose grandfather helped assemble the window’s 30,000 tiles, said the plan to scrap it was “very disappointing.” The facade was once the largest stained-glass installation in the world, he said, adding that it was surpassed only in 1979 by Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, three of whose four walls are stained glass.

A different fate is planned for two interior murals by the Brazilian artist Hector Carybé, which depict scenes of American frontier life and the art and music of Latin America. They are being sold, the proceeds to pay for a mural in the new terminal by a Haitian artist, Jean-Claude Leganeur.

While Terminal 8 is not a designated landmark, the idea of turning the glass mural into key chains has upset some. “It’s disrespectful and distasteful,” said Harriet Senie, a professor of art history at City College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. “It’s almost like a cannibalization.”

Recently, some American Airlines employees at Terminal 8 weighed in on the mural’s fate. “I assumed they would be saving the window,” said John Corrado, a pilot with the airline for 28 years. “It is part of the New York landscape.”

The plan to turn shards of glass into key chains seems “tacky,” he added.

“They should preserve it,” said Craig Kozan, a supervisor, who said the artwork reminded him of a calmer time in air travel.

But John Farrell, another pilot, said: “In this age, you can’t afford too much sentimentality. There are razor-thin margins in this business, and I don’t think anybody ever buys a ticket because American Airlines has a very nice stained window. ”

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[ManhattanKnight]

Is there an underground walkway to the concourse in the rear?

Yes, but it involves escalator/elevator rides down and back up to reach the outer concourse. I've been using Terminal 9 since last year. The main (ticketing) hall is enormous.

[lofter1]

Demolishing a Celebrated Wall of Glass

Very sad indeed.

Another sure sign of US Corporations' fall from their once-exalted perch (Cathedrals of Commerce) to the mundane world of bean counters, number crunchers and efficient functionaries (few of whom have retirement plans worth a pile of doo).

[macreator]

While I'm a bit disappointed with the fact that the glass wall will not be saved in some fashion (I was hoping for a few sections of it to be placed in the new terminal), I am just so thrilled that this otherwise awful and utterly obsolete terminal will finally be demolished.

Now we just need to either raze the former Pan Am terminal (now operated by Delta) or at least gut the place and renovate and we'll have a spiffy set of terminals at JFK.

The international arrivals portal at Delta is enough to make a first time tourist to the US think that America is a third world nation (although I suppose the recent weeklong blackout in Queens could do the same). I doubt the terminal has been renovated since it was built.

[ablarc]

Now we just need to either raze the former Pan Am terminal (now operated by Delta) or at least gut the place and renovate...
That was once the cat's meow. Even had air curtains.

[ZippyTheChimp]

^
And Pan Am was the cat's meow.

http://www.panamair.org/memorabilia/707menu.htm

[Jim856796]

terminal 9 was demolished during 2005 or early 2006. I cheched the GlobExplorer Image atlas and it's not there anymore. Terminal 8 should be under demolition right about now. Or has it already completed its destruction?

[ManhattanKnight]

^Check again. The new Terminal 9, which opened only a few months ago, is one of the largest at JFK (it's cavernous, actually). Parts of the old T9 remained in use while the new terminal was being built. Almost all of AA's domestic and international flights now use the new terminal instead of the original AA terminal (Terminal 8). In this photo, taken while T9 was still under construction but nothing remained of the old T9, the large, gray-roofed structures on the on the left are parts of T9; T8 is on the right. There is an underground passage connecting the two main parts of the new terminal.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6931/t9dt2.jpg

[Jim856796]

^Check again. The new Terminal 9, which opened only a few months ago, is one of the largest at JFK (it's cavernous, actually). Parts of the old T9 remained in use while the new terminal was being built. Almost all of AA's domestic and international flights now use the new terminal instead of the original AA terminal (Terminal 8). In this photo, taken while T9 was still under construction but nothing remained of the old T9, the large, gray-roofed structures on the on the left are parts of T9; T8 is on the right. There is an underground passage connecting the two main parts of the new terminal.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6931/t9dt2.jpg

!. When was this aerial photo taken? If so, is it outdated?
2. Why is the old Terminal 8 not under demolition?
3. I thought the new Mega Terminal was not supposed to open until every portion of it is completed.
4. When was the old Terminal 9 destroyed?

[ZippyTheChimp]

08.11.2010


JFK Burns Out On Jet Age Terminals


SOM will expand Terminal 4 for Delta,
tearing down the iconic if unloved midcentury Terminal 3

http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/image/JFK_Terminal4_Gate.jpg
SOM is designing an expanded Terminal 4 at JFK, which will include nine new gates for Delta Airlines.


JFK airport is entering a new jet age—one without many of the iconic terminals that defined the previous one and established the cool, hyper-modern look of flying for generations of travelers. To that end, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced an agreement today with Delta Airlines for a $1.2 billion expansion of Terminal 4 that will lead to the subsequent demolition of Terminal 3, the former Pan Am Worldport.

Designed by Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton, the 1960 Terminal 3 is famous for its flying saucer–like shape and rooftop parking, and for receiving the Beatles for their historic arrival in America, though a 1972 expansion has marred its original character and led to numerous complaints about it being the worst of JFK’s eight terminals. The Port Authority and Delta insist the building is beyond repair, arguing that its replacement with taxiways and plane parking will improve efficiency at JFK, by some measures the most congested airport in the world.


http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/flypanam/ngy8BmQwBKBY9y8TmrelYg1OUnCcYUhYYPHH8LjXahKdw7FEWS 2B1KWHDXlc/worldport.jpg.scaled.1000.jpg
The original Terminal 3 was considered revolutionary when it opened, but it soon became outmoded
due to larger planes and a later expansion that destroyed much of its charm.


“There are always people who want to preserve our heritage and I sympathize with that,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a City Hall press conference, where the new plans were unveiled today. “But you can’t preserve everything. You have to strike the right balance and make room for new airports, new parks, new development.”

Even if there were room for Terminal 3, Delta CEO Richard Anderson said the Worldport would not be worth keeping. “The terminal is fully depreciated,” he said. “It’s not an asset you can recover at this point. We put a lot of money into it to keep it going, and we will for three more years, but we can’t put anything more into it.”



http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Today.jpg
Top to Bottom: Terminals 2, 3, and 4 today.


http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Tomorrow.jpg
When the project is finished, Terminal 4's Concourse B will expand by 9 gates, a
connector will extend to Terminal 2, and Terminal 3 will be replaced by plane parking and taxiways.


Terminal 3 will not be demolished until 2013, when the expansion of Terminal 4 is due to be completed. That project is being designed by SOM, who designed the rest of Terminal 4, and will include nine new gates for Delta, for a total of 25, 16 of which will be used by Delta for its international flights. A connection will be built with Terminal 2, which will continue to serve Delta’s domestic passengers, and security and baggage handling facilities will be expanded to accommodate the additional passengers. Otherwise the terminal will look much as it did when it opened in 2001.

Port Authority executive director Chris Ward said there will be no interruption in service due to the project, nor would the expanded terminal cause additional delays at the busy airport. “If anything, it will improve it, providing Delta with a more efficient operation,” Ward said. This is because the elimination of Terminal 3 will allow for double taxiways for both Terminal 2 and 4, and parking for planes so they may move between the gates, runway, and hangar more readily.



http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Walkway.jpg
A new connector between Delta's Terminal 2 and the expanded Terminal 4.


The announcement has still given preservationists some pause. “Perhaps the Port Authority should have some preservation plan of action,” said Nina Rappaport, chair of Docomomo-New York/Tristate. “And not just for airports but all their properties. Because transportation involves so much modern technology and architecture, perhaps they need to look more closely at preservation.” As for the Port Authority and Delta’s contention that it would be a hindrance, financially and functionally, to keep even part of the building, she replied: “It just takes foresight.”

Rappaport said her larger concern remains the preservation of I.M. Pei’s Terminal 6, which is slated for demolition next year to make way for another expansion of JetBlue’s facilities. Susan Baer, who was named the Port Authority’s director of aviation last fall, said that neither has been deemed worthy of retaining. “In the environmental review, all our experts said that Terminal 6 could come down but that we should save Saarinen, the significant one,” Baer said. She added that the $20 million renovation of Terminal 5 is nearly complete, though a Port Authority spokesperson said an opening date has not yet been set.



http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Security.jpg
Security facilities will be expanded to cope with more passengers as well as new measures implimented since the terminal opened in 2001.


John Morris Dixon, the former editor of Progressive Architecture, said he remembers Pan Am’s Terminal 3 fondly, from when he wrote about it for the magazine when it first opened. “You had this great statement, this canopy, with the planes nuzzling in beneath it,” he said. “But it was outdated almost immediately” due to the trend toward ever larger planes. He agrees that the 1972 addition has made the terminal “miserable,” akin to what Robert Moses did to Penn Station, and noted that mounting a case for its salvation will be difficult.

“It’s such a great idea, and so unique,” Dixon said. “I don’t know if there’s another circular terminal like it. But I just think it’s damned anyway. I don’t know if any amount of preservation lobbying would make a difference, and I don’t know what the argument would be. What are they going to do with another structure there with no assigned use? They’ve already got that with TWA.”

Matt Chaban

Copyright © 2003-2010 | The Architect's Newspaper, LLC

[ttk]

In light of Hizzoner's obdurate refusal to allow even a hearing about protecting the old Huntington Hartford gallery before it was slashed and bludgeoned into its present ridiculous form, for the Mayor to say “There are always people who want to preserve our heritage and I sympathize with that” is little more than self-aggrandizing empty posturing.

But on the merits of saving the Worldport, all I can say is that preservationists should concentrate on saving the front part of I.M. Pei's Sundrome instead.

[Merry]

The Future Future of JFK Terminal 4

by Matt Chaban

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4902336979_27f825b3fd_b.jpg (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4902336979_27f825b3fd_b.jpg)
JFK Terminal 4, with 30 additional gates, as planned for some time in the future. (CLICK TO ZOOM)

If this rendering of Terminal 4 at JFK looks familiar, good. That means you’re reading, as it, or something very much like it, was in our story last week about the Port Authority and Delta’s plans for expanding the terminal. What is different, though, if you look closely, is the number of gates. This rendering was released by Delta last week, though it initially confounded us because the talk had been of nine new gates, not the 30 we counted when we compared it to the terminal’s current layout, which you can see and compare after the jump. It turns out, the wrong rendering had been released, and this is in fact the ultimate plans for the future development of Terminal 4, with 10 new gates on Concourse A (right) and 11 more added to Delta’s nine on Concourse B (left). That makes for a total of 46 gates—larger than some mid-sized airports—up from a current 16. No wonder they have to tear down Terminal 3 to make room for more plane parking. But not before Hal Hayes has something to say about it.

http://archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Today.jpg
Terminal 4 today, with 16 gates.

Hayes was the lead planner at SOM when it created the current Terminal 4 a decade-and-a-half ago, and then he filled a similar role at HOK when it developed a prior plan for Delta at JFK. Now on his own, the architect takes issue with the preservationists we spoke to last week—to his mind, Terminal 3 is easily the most important of all at JFK, even compared to Saarinen’s Terminal 5, which he said is formally but not functionally groundbreaking. As for the threatened Terminal 6 (http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4626) by I.M. Pei, Hayes said Terminal 3 is “superior to Pei, especially in terms of aviation architecture. Pei’s is a pretty corporate box, but it could be anywhere.” Terminal 3, however, had an unparalleled design that allowed for passenger loading and maintenance to take place all under its unique canopy. “This is really the place that established the paradigm for airport architecture, and these terminals were treated like international headquarters, intended to be corporate icons,” Hayes said of JFK.

http://archpaper.com/uploads/JFK_Terminal4_Tomorrow.jpg
Terminal 4 in 2015, after Delta has added nine new gates and Terminal 3 has been torn down to make way for parking and taxiways.

Hayes said the biggest problem is that Terminal 3 “suffers from a no-name architect,” otherwise it might have a better shot at preservation—something he insists would be far easier than the Port Authority, Delta, or even some preservationists will allow. He proposes demolishing the ’70s addition, running the connector Delta is planning between terminals 2 and 4 through the old Terminal 3, and turning it into a grand mall of some sort, with the shops and eateries that are now familiar to any airport. As for the Port Authority’s insistence that there is no room for even remnants of the building, Hayes disagrees. “They can leave it pretty much where it is and not impact the new terminals or the parking one iota,” Hayes said. He should know, as this is precisely what his previous plans called for.

UPDATE: It was just announced (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/email/headlines/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&div=-333956256&newsId=20100817005082) that AECOM has won the $11 million contract to oversee construction on the terminal project. Is there anything they can do (http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4637)?

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/8487

[LightningEagle]

Demolition of terminal 6 has began.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ED26GFjCHU

[futurecity]

I think the new T4 is fine and an improvement over T3 for Delta, but I don't like this bridge to T2 idea. JFK has such a shitty layout though, and is crap compared to the new designs. Should have bulldozed it all back when they had the chance and built a couple of mega terminals + a proper rail link, not a half-baked 2 seat ride. NYC really has a long way to go to catch up to the airport system infrastructure of its peer cities around the world.

If JFK could expand a new terminal could be built to serve a new runway away from the central core, perhaps. If they don't expand one of their airports, they are stuck and will start to lose out economically. It's only a matter of time before expansion talks will start and the fight will begin.

[BBMW]

I always thought they should demo Ts 2 and 3, and bridge T1 and T4 into one large terminal.

[macreator]

It's bad enough that that bridge has the most absurd path, but the fact that it seems to have barely any ceiling height is ridiculous. On a project of this scale, couldn't we have gotten higher ceilings on the ped bridge or at least a skylight?

[BBMW]

What are the plans to replace it?


Demolition of terminal 6 has began.