Dome

View from behind the central information kiosk; With engineer Boyd G. Anderson. TWA Flight Center was the original name for the Eero Saarinen designed Terminal 5 at Idlewild Airport --later called John F. Kennedy International Airport-- for Trans World Airlines. The terminal had a futuristic air; the interior had wide glass windows that opened onto parked TWA jets; departing passengers would walk to planes through round, red-carpeted tubes. It was completed in 1962 and is the airport's most famous landmark (as well as being a National Historic Landmark). Gates in the terminal were close to the street and this made it difficult to create centralized ticketing and security checkpoints. This building was the first airline terminal to have closed circuit television, a central PA system, baggage carousels, an electronic schedule board and precursors to the now ubiquitous baggage weigh-in scales. JFK was rare in the airport industry for having company owned and designed terminals. The building is under restoration and expansion by JetBlue. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 1/10/2008)