08/22/2008
New JFK JetBlue Food Court a Feast for the Senses
To use an old cliché.
High on the list of all the places I'd least want to spend any length of time is an airport food court, which is why I'm posting these luscious renderings of the new JetBlue food court opening in the redesigned Terminal 5 at JFK. The well-known terminal was designed by Eero Saarinen and decommissioned in 2001. You can see more of these renderings, by design firm ICRAVE, AFTER THE JUMP...
Though my recent experiences with JetBlue have not been great, I thought these photos were pretty eye-catching. For those of you unfamiliar with my JetBlue saga, I unloaded in a personal rant back in July after they lost my luggage on a flight from Boston to JFK. Just to wrap up that tale, my bag, which included just about every favorite piece of clothing I owned as well as some other loved possessions, was never recovered. We have come to a settlement, and I am hopeful I'll receive it soon.
My other hope is that with this new terminal, they'll pay as much attention to the luggage system as it appears they have to the food court.
(via grub street and eater)
More shots, AFTER THE JUMP...
Eater also pointed us to this video...
Posted 11:40 AM EST by Andy Towle in New York, News, Transportation | Permalink
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This is lovely, but it's going to look very different when it's packed with fat-bottomed tourists bent over the bar and sleeping while surrounded by piles of rolling luggage and shopping bags.
Posted by: Don | Aug 22, 2008 11:47:52 AM
it'll be just wonderful until a flight attendant wants your seat and you'll have to spend the rest of your meal in the bathroom.
Posted by: alguien | Aug 22, 2008 11:59:12 AM
And exactly how are you supposed to navigate through those narrow spaces with bags and whatnot? That "tunnel bar" is going to get mighty claustrophobic with people and baggage added in. Yeah, the pictures are eye-catching, but the reality is going to be brutal.
Posted by: Joe | Aug 22, 2008 11:59:30 AM
well joe, if andy's unfortunate experience is any indicator, there won't be any baggage to worry about as it will all have been lost.
Posted by: alguien | Aug 22, 2008 12:23:33 PM
The blue room looks nauseating.
The tunnel looks clautrophbic. And like a place where people's b.o. can get nice and trapped in for everyone to share.
What's the theme of the bottom two pictures -- circa 1915 basement restaurant?
There's no cohesion from one space to another, and none of it is particularly great overall...which is sad because it looks like someone was trying to do something good but fell a bit short.
Posted by: paul | Aug 22, 2008 12:23:49 PM
I LOVE the blue, and the ceilings, but agree with the other posters: NON-FUNCTIONAL for an airport. Tall stools (not good for fat Americans) close together -- NO carry-on bag space, which at least in fast food booths you can shove next to you. No back support for weary travellers. Counters not deep enough for a tray and a book for people who have to kill time between flights. I am a designer: Designers who pay no attention to FUNCTION should be made to sit in their own creations.
Posted by: Strepsi | Aug 22, 2008 12:30:45 PM
Hey Bro next time you go to P-Town take the train and the boat not as quick but more scenic and you carry your own luggage :-)
Posted by: jimbo | Aug 22, 2008 12:49:24 PM
So Jet Blue took one of the most beautifully designed sculptural public spaces and instead of restoring it to it's spacious beauty, they are filling it with busy, over-designed, out of sync, claustrophobic rooms? Why bother? They could have just built a whole new space at half the cost to fill with this design.
Posted by: Critifur | Aug 22, 2008 2:26:36 PM
Bitter! So much bitter.
I hope they are serving strawberry shortcake when you all line up to be in the eye catching corner seats as you cruise your way through the comings and outgoings! Because44 you know you will be. . . Jeezy Pete!
Thankfully somebody has shown a little flair in their designs and not just cafeteria bullshit for a change.
See you there bitter pills.
Posted by: Br!on | Aug 22, 2008 3:30:04 PM
I have such great childhood memories of that Eero Saarinen TWA terminal..
But I'm so over shark-jumping Jet Blue, with their astonishing price increases and computer assurance that every flight will be 100% full to the gills. So far I am loving Virgin America, far cheaper and getting a row to myself is common. Hopefully the name alone weeds out the prudes and Christianists , lol.
Posted by: desch | Aug 22, 2008 3:37:21 PM
Nobody will look good in that blue light.
Posted by: voet | Aug 22, 2008 3:47:35 PM
Oh Andy, speaking of your bag dramas, I felt so sorry for you...
Then, I found out this week just how hot you are.
Damn you.
I kid!
The photos look wicked!
Posted by: PAULIE IN SYD | Aug 22, 2008 9:20:46 PM
Oh Andy, speaking of your bag dramas, I felt so sorry for you...
Then, I found out this week just how hot you are.
Damn you.
I kid!
The photos look wicked!
Posted by: PAULIE IN SYD | Aug 22, 2008 9:21:32 PM
I live on the west coast and only infrequently have to fly through JFK. I was there last month in the JetBlue terminal; what a filthy mess! I'd forgotten how truly bad the flow in the terminal was. The existing food court is not exactly what I would call great design either...looking forward to seeing the changes in person!
Posted by: Terry | Aug 22, 2008 11:01:48 PM
BR!ON tickles me. The only thing bigger than an american's bottom is their sense of entitlement. Everyone here seems to think she deserves air fares cheaper than greyhound, kowtow and bootlick service and spaces large enough for their auntie mame egos. Sorry about the bag Andy. I'm glad you are moving on. The post with an appreciative comment for the photos proves you have the class to move on. Have fun in Denver.
Posted by: Rikard | Aug 24, 2008 8:50:08 AM
i used to love jetblue so much that i wanted to be their spokesperson. until my flight got sent back to jfk because it was too foggy to land in vermont, we all had to spend the night in the airport, were taunted by the captain who "doesn't mind because he lives in new york" (so do i douche, it doesn't mean i wanted to sleep there that night) and were only given a $12 dollar gift card to the food court (which was closed) to compensate. that was three years ago and EVERY flight I have taken on JetBlue since then has had problems from minor things like broken headphone jacks to eight hour delays with no formal announcement. and when i complain the excuse is "we're a discount airline." Um, you're supposed to be Target, not Walmart. Trains are the way of the future.
Posted by: snarla | Aug 25, 2008 8:21:07 PM
I think this is a waste of money. I fly JetBlue very frequently (seven times so far this year), and the amount that everything has gone up in even the past few months is a bit startling (I'd rather see them just hike ticket prices higher than feel nickel & dimed at every turn--$100 to change your flight, $15 per person charge to book/change your ticket(s) via phone, $7 for a blanket, second bag fees, $50 for an overweight bag and on and on and on). And yet they've spent who knows how much money building something completely unnecessary and impractical that will serve as yet another excuse for them to charge travelers more money for basically the same service.
Personally the last thing I want when I've finally made it through security is some faux-luxury experience (that I'm sure we'll be charged accordingly for-it's like $4 for a bottle of water as it is) in a space that's overdesigned and impractical for its purpose. . . even if the food somehow manages to be halfway decent, I don't want to be bothered with a "dining experience" when I'm in transit. I want to grab some food, find a corner as far away from the crowding masses and turn up my iPod to drown it all out till it's time to get on my plane. I'm all for improving the food selections, but why couldn't they have just put in some organic salad places or something and kept the casual vibe?
Posted by: rachel | Aug 25, 2008 8:38:10 PM