JFK Terminal 4
Queens, N. Y.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

SOM replaces its 1957 building with an international terminal better suited to the exigencies of twenty-first-century air travel

© Jeff Goldberg/Esto

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By Sarah Amelar

In 1996, SOM was commissioned to revisit its original JFK site and address the demands of late-twentieth- and early twenty-first-century air travel, its 1957 Arrivals Building had largely outlived its usefulness. The growth from 100- to 400-passenger planes; the evolving security requirements first prompted by 1970s hijackings; and the huge increases in air traffic stimulated by airline deregulation had all compromised the logic and wayfinding clarity of SOM’s 1957 scheme.

The architect’s challenge included: 1) providing for flexibility and potential expansion; 2) increasing the number of contact gates from 14 to 16; 3) integrating a future light-rail system (to transport passengers from New York City and elsewhere in the airport) into the building; 4) introducing a 100,000-square-foot retail court and routing passengers through it; 5) reestablishing clear circulation with a strong sense of the whole.

For the grand design gesture and spatial strategy, SOM partner Marilyn Taylor, FAIA, brought in lessons learned from Eero Saarinen’s 1962 Dulles Airport, which SOM expanded in the early ’90s. SOM, working closely with ARUP engineers, created a great arcing roof as the terminal’s iconic form. Lined in sheet aluminum, it recalls the taut, lightweight quality and articulated flaps of an airplane wing. It is supported by a modular, braced-frame structure erected perpendicular to the curbfront. Soaring over the departures hall and retail areas, the roof’s 230-foot-span trusses extend several feet beyond the old terminal’s arrival hall, allowing for complete structural independence between the existing building and the new one. By fully glazing the curbside and airside facades, the architects restored immediacy between entry point and airfield.

SOM provided 100,000 square feet for a retail zone. To avoid obstructing views to the airfield, the architects sank the retail space one level below the departures hall, but left it open to the great roof. SOM and ARUP also devised an open tripod column, instead of a bulkier member, to support the trusses. (With moveable joints, these tripods allow the roof to flex with snow and wind loads.) Reinforcing wayfinding, skylights mark major intersections and lines of circulation.

On the curbside, the architects projected the arrivals area out from under the departures roadway, taking advantage of the fact that international arrivals—with immigration and customs, in addition to baggage—typically demand more space than the corresponding departures. Open to daylight and views, the curved and canted facade of the arrivals hall is fully glazed—as are the exterior walls of the gate concourses that look out onto the airfield.

The interior is also enlivened by an arts program, including a sequential piece by architects Diller + Scofidio that unfurls a visual narrative as travelers proceed along a "sterile" (controlled) corridor from arrival gates to immigration. An Alexander Calder mobile—evoking loft and motion—from the 1957 terminal was restored and placed prominently in the new departures hall.

See the January 2002 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
JFK International Air Terminal, Terminal 4

Location:
Queens, N. Y.

Gross square footage:
1,520,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$ 1.4 billion

Owner:
JFK International Air Terminal (JFK/IAT) www.jfkiat.com

Architect:
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
14 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
Tel. 212-298-9300
Fax. 212-298-9500
www.som.com