From the Daily News:Critics are slamming plans to raze an abandoned Kennedy Airport terminal - designed by famed architect I.M. Pei - four decades after the groundbreaking window-wall structure was unveiled.
Terminal Six, most recently occupied by JetBlue, will be torn down next year for an unspecified use - perhaps a new terminal, a parking lot or an area to de-ice planes, the Port Authority said.
Preservationists blasted the plan to destroy the terminal, which features Pei's distinctive Sundrome pavilion. It was the first airport structure to employ glass as a primary construction material.
"It represents an era of aviation," said Geoffrey Arend, founder and editor of the trade publication Air Cargo News. He called Port Authority officials' decision to tear down Terminal Six "remarkably stupid."
A spokeswoman for Pei, 93, said he was "very unhappy" to learn of the proposed demolition of the terminal, a transparent glass box connected by walkways to rear gates.
6 comments:
At some point you have to agree that preservationists get in the way of progress. You have to move on at some point people.
hey crapper -
I usually don't agree with you, but I have to say that you always link to every Queens story.
This one is difficult. We all wax poetic about the loss of the former Penn Station. This structure, while not as ornate, is equally impressive and important. At least save the curtain wall, and do a "facade-ectomy" and refurbish the inside.
The masterplan for JFK was to have the new T5 and future T6 as a combined terminal.
That is why the connector to the airtrain and T5 is an elevated bridge. The new T6 headhouse would fit underneath it.
Current T6 was to be torn down to use for the concourses and apron area.
the new T6 would either be more space for Jet Blue as they grow, or leased out to another airline.
Puh-leeze! This piece of crap building from the 60s is not Penn Station. Most modern archtecture is just cheap concrete and glass junk, and should not be worshipped. Level it ASAP and give us an airport that finally meets at least late 20th century standards.
I don't understand how a terminal like this becomes obsolete. The aircraft haven't changed much. People are still people. The function of the terminal is to load and unload people on and from aircraft. What made it obsolete -- if it was designed correctly for its function 40 years ago? (I asked this over in DN and there was no reply)
the elevated bridge connector from the parking garage to the t-5 terminal was an impractical venture.
it is too long of a walk,even when the people mover is functioning some times. transporting luggage is a bitch.
the elderly traveler was not considered.
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