A First Look at JFK’s New Terminal One

Displays in JFK’s new Terminal One by Pentagram and Arup bring a little bit of New York indoors. One was modeled off Penn Station’s old split-flap board; the other reflects the sky overhead.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

A brief survey of friends’ recent experiences flying through JFK include a public-transit nightmare trying to get there, a five-hour delay spent disassociating on a bench because nearby shops were closed or under construction, and a tale of lost luggage. Would a hanging art installation of clouds in dichroic glass have helped in any of these situations? No, but one will be coming to JFK’s Terminal One anyway. After the first part of a $9.5 billion upgrade is completed by next summer, Terminal One will be the country’s largest single airport terminal (a hulking 2.6 million square feet). It may also be, per CEO Jennifer Aument, the “hottest new cultural destination in New York City.”

That’s a tall order, and given the airy but sterile building by Gensler, the burden is falling on the new terminal’s blue-chip art, which was unveiled on Monday. (Artists were put forward by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen of Culture Corps — two curators with downtown chops and experience in huge public projects.) The clouds, which will hang past the security gates, are by Tomás Saraceno, an Argentine who builds abstractions of clouds and spiderwebs. In an entry hall, kites overhead, frozen mid-swoop, are by Yinka Shonibare, a Nigerian Brit who works in batik as a prod at colonialism. By the ticketing counters is a massive bronze hand by Kelly Akashi, a brainy, Brooklyn-based sculptor. The goal is to turn the pass-through into what Aument calls “a destination” and make the terminal an experience worth having on its own — forget the fact that you need to get to that conference in Switzerland.

The snazzy terminal, designed by Gensler, will serve a group of international airlines that are funding most of the work privately.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

By the gates, wall-size LED screens will show short silent films of surfers paddling in the Rockaways, cart vendors making it through a night shift, and a saxophone player busking through Queens — three of the pieces by nine local filmmakers, who were tapped by Gentilhomme, a firm that specializes in digital displays. (They also designed banners programmed to announce “Welcome to New York” in sync with the languages spoken in the countries of travelers then coming through customs.) Walk out to baggage claim, and you’ll find the center of the carousels capped with oozy, organic, metal odes to city pay phones and street lamps by Woody De Othello, a young sculptor repped by downtown’s Karma gallery. A playroom allows toddlers to climb a mini–Empire State Building, like little King Kongs, next to a mural by Brooklyn-based artist Julie Curtiss of hands holding the classics: a Mister Softee, a black-and-white cookie.

The art is part of a grander plan to New York–ify the space with shops and restaurants, too. So now’s the time to lobby for a Zabar’s.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

Even the tagline, from Pentagram, is a slightly askew nod to the city: “Like No Other.” Also from Pentagram: a monumental display that’s an ode to the maddening flicker of the old Penn Station departures and arrivals board. It will wrap along a curved wall over the security lines, making a shuffling noise as it gently flips through images of the state — Niagara Falls, downtown skyscrapers — in colors programmed to match the time of day. Saraceno, the Argentine who built the glittery disco-ball–like clouds, says he pulled the tones for the dichroic-glass film from images of the city at sunset. There’s an 85-foot-wide piece in customs, by Firelei Báez, which was laid over blown-up images of city maps but looks more like a calming expanse of swirling, far-off galaxies. Another mural, by Ilana Savdie, apparently includes patterns from Lenape beading, but the jewel-toned abstraction obscures any political bent. Then there’s the bronze hand, by Akashi, who based its charm bracelet off what she found in jewelry stores on Canal Street and made the largest bloom in the bouquet our state flower, the rose. This is subtle stuff, but anything more literal might feel cheesy.

The Pentagram sign over security will be the world’s largest split-flap sign.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

And cheesy is not the image. Terminal One is aiming for the top shelf. “If we are gonna be a part of that cultural experience, we needed world-class art,” says Aument. Shonibare was in last year’s Venice Biennale. Saraceno has displayed his glass pieces to big crowds on the roof of the Met. And De Othello made waves with his gloopy ceramics at the Whitney Biennial. There will be lots to see while you’re racing to catch that flight to Dubai. And isn’t that mix of high culture and zero time to experience it quintessential to the city? As Aument says, “We sought to have a more immersive experience that enables you to feel New York.”

The largest terminal in North America meant a chance for monumental art.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

Early renderings showed a literal cab on a baggage carousel, but the planners eventually went with something more subtle: sculptures by Woody De Othello.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

Imagine kites by Yinka Shonibare overhead, and this scene might look a little less sterile and a little more fun.
Photo: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup

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