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Eero Saarinen - Dulles AirportTravel writer Wayne Curtis has a wonderful article in the current Atlantic in which he recounts his vacation visiting five U.S. airports in six days and never setting foot outside of any of them. He’s obviously a fan of the unique architectural possibilities that airports permit and how that architecture has had to change as security precautions have increased. The story begins with him amazed that a guard won’t let him photograph Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal at JFK.

Yesterday’s Terminal of Tomorrow (Terminal 3, originally the Pan Am Worldport, also from 1960) is a good example of what happens when the optimistic, outward- looking World’s Fair attitude collides with the post-9/11, hunkering-down worldview. It still has its great, gravity-defying umbrella of concrete, but has been recast as a House of Security Horrors, with clunky partitions, nonexistent directional signs, and, during my visit, the edifying sight of a family late for a flight running up an automobile ramp while dodging oncoming cars.

One neat nugget of travel know-how Curtis imparts is a pointer to sleepingairports.net, “a user-compiled directory of where to find quiet corners, and benches without armrests, at airports worldwide.”

Jun 26, 2006 | Comments

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