Monday, March 28, 2016

The legendary TWA Flight Center terminal of JFK airport


It's perhaps New York JFK's airport most famous terminal but it remains empty during the last 15 years. The TWA Flight Center terminal was designed by the famous Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen exclusively for Trans World Airlines and opened in 1962 when JFK airport was known as Idlewild Airport.

Saarinen envisioned a design that would speed up processes as well as reference to TWA’s corporate identity and convey the company’s image through a bird-shaped, emblematic construction featuring a harmoniously coordinated interior. The terminal was built to span a space with a minimum of material. 

Saarinen's original design featured a prominent wing-shaped thin shell roof over the headhouse (or main terminal); unusual tube-shaped departure-arrival corridors, originally wrapped in red carpet; and tall windows enabling expansive views departing and arriving jets. The design straddles Futurism, Googie and Fantastic architecture. Both the interior and the exterior were declared a New York City Landmark in 1994. In 2005, the terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The terminal was one of the first with enclosed passenger jetways, closed circuit television, a central public address system, baggage carousels, electronic schedule board and baggage scales, and the satellite clustering of gates away from the main terminal. Food and beverage services included the Constellation Club, Lisbon Lounge, and Paris Café.

As revolutionary as the design was, it was difficult to update over time to cater for the arrival of jumbo jets and the increase of passenger traffic. Moreover, terminal gates close to the street made centralized ticketing and security checkpoints difficult. Following TWA's financial deterioration during the 1990s and the eventual sale of its assets to American Airlines, the terminal ended operations in October 2001.

After its closure, there were proposals to convert the terminal into a restaurant or conference center. In September 2015, New York State governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the Saarinen building will be converted into a new on-site hotel for the airport's passengers, putting an end to the site's abandonment.

Ironically, another airport terminal designed by Eero Saarinen, that of Athens Elliniko airport, remains abandoned to this day. 




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Monday, March 21, 2016

The abandoned Devils Nest ski resort in Nebraska


The abandoned Devils Nest ski resort can be found in Knox County of northeast Nebraska. It opened in 1972 and it was supposed to become part of a $100 luxury development which included a 25-story hotel and luxury homes. It met some success at first with skiers flocking from as far away as Omaha and Lincoln to try the dozen slopes. By that time, eight houses plus an equestrian center and a yacht club had been built.

Just two years later though the Devils Nest Development Co. was dissolved by the Nebraska Secretary of State for nonpayment of corporate occupation taxes. The developers blamed poor lot sales and the declining economic climate and banks foreclosed the property in 1975. In 1977 the property was sold at auction to satisfy judgments.

Today, just rusty cables and decaying chairs remain amongst the cottonwoods and evergreens in the land where Jesse James and other wild west outlaws used to hide from the law.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

An abandoned church by the sea in Vietnam

The abandoned Heart church (Trai Tim) can be found on the coast of Xuong Dien (Xương Điền) in the Hai Ly commune and near the town of Nam Dinh, about 120 km from Hanoi in Vietnam

The Heart church, designed by French architects, was completed in 1943. It was one of many small and big churches in the sprawling beachside community. Most of them though had to relocate do to damage caused by coastal erosion. The Heart Church was abandoned in 1996 after it was heavily damaged during a storm. 

Today, the deserted church has become a tourist attraction as well as a background for many wedding photos and TV dramas. 


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Monday, March 7, 2016

The abandoned planes of Predannack Airfield



Predannack Airfield on Cornwall's Lizard peninsula opened in May 1941. It was one of the many Royal Air Force bases that opened at a time when the South West of England was vulnerable to attacks by the German Luftwaffe. The base itself was attacked several times by the Germans and the Royal Air Force initiated many defensive and offensive operations during the war including anti-shipping strikes over the Bay of Biscay.

By 1944 the base's personnel reached its peak strength of 3,600 but in 1946 the airfield closed, being reduced to Care and Maintenance. Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd used the base from 1951 to 1957 and in 1958 it was taken over by the Royal Navy that uses it until today as a practice base. Predannack is also home to RAF 626 Volunteer Gliding Squadron unit and is also used by ShelterBox disaster relief charity and a model flying club.

Part of the base has been turned into a plane cemetery where old military planes and helicopters are left to decay under the wet Cornwall weather.




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Thursday, March 3, 2016

An abandoned Soviet naval testing station in the Caspian Sea

This naval armament testing station is 2.7 kilometers (1.6 miles) away from the Caspian Sea shore, off the coast of Makhachkala in Dagestan, Russia

The station was built in 1939 but hasn't been used in a long time, being decommissioned by 1966. The underground part of the structure has a capacity of 530,000 cubic meters. 





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