Design
the local language,” he says. “For example, an image of a knife and fork indicating a restaurant, or a cocktail glass for a bar.”
The comfort of communal spaces is also far more important than one might expect – particularly when jet lag means that guests are unable to sleep and need somewhere other than their bedroom to unwind. De Geus describes an airport hotel as being “almost like an island” – a retreat from the busy airstrips outside – “so it’s very important to create public areas where you want to spend your time”. In order to make citizenM’s communal spaces home- like, Concrete Amsterdam sourced warm, darker fabrics for the lobby that contrasted with the fresh, white furnishings of the bedrooms.
Make the most of your location While many airport hotels seek to escape the fact that they sit moments from the terminals, the TWA Hotel at JFK New York celebrates its prime position as the only hotel operating within the boundaries of JFK Airport. Set just moments from Terminal 5 and overlooking the bustling runway 4 left/22 right, interiors have been designed to reflect the building’s past as the 1962 Trans World Airlines Flight Center. It stopped being used as an air terminal in 2001, and in 2015 plans were drawn up for its new incarnation as a site of hospitality. “The building is gorgeous; it’s a developer’s dream, but it had its own complications,” says Chitnis. Because the building is landmarked, MCR collaborated with 12 preservationists, 22 government agencies and 4,000 construction workers to bring their vision to life. “It’s a six-and-a-half-acre site in the middle of JFK Airport, the fifth busiest airport in the United States, and it’s physically connected to Terminal 5 by a flight tube.” The original Flight Center was built by Eero Saarinen in 1962 and commissioned by Howard Hughes, who formed the terminal to accommodate a specific type of aircraft that he had built in 1958: the Lockheed Constellation L-1649. According to Chitnis, there are only four of these left in the world and MCR managed to track one of them down in Maine. “It is a beautiful propeller plane that had been abandoned, so we completely renovated it back to exactly how it would have looked in the 1960s and made it a cocktail bar.”
For Chitnis, the goal of the project was to create a sense of being transported back to the height of the Jet Age – and repurposing Hughes’ original aircraft this way was the cherry on top. “People can feel completely transported back to 1962 when they enter the building; we tried to really lean into that experience by giving people as much of that era as we could. For instance, in each of the 512 guestrooms there is a Western Electric 202 telephone that has a rotary dial, and they’re completely operational.” There
Hotel Management International /
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is also an aviation history museum in the hotel for aircraft enthusiasts, who can even watch aircrafts take off and land from one of the 200, impressive 4x10m floor-to-ceiling windows.
The design of Heathrow Hilton also sought to appeal to aerophiles, opting for large glass panels that give an impressive panorama over the runways. “One of the challenges might well be an uninspiring view of hangars, so a more inward-looking hotel might be needed,” suggests Manser, “but at Heathrow, a view of the planes coming into land is rather exciting and adds to the drama of the hotel.” Drama is key for Manser: “Airport hotels should strive to have a little theatre about them,” he reveals.
While the experience at different airport hotels will
vary, the fundamental approach to success remains the same. CitizenM, Hilton and the TWA Hotel understand that, for tired travellers, the convenience of location is not enough on its own to make a hotel a proper base – particularly when it’s up against the bright and brazen phenomenon of air travel. ●
Above: A view from above – looking down on the terminal from the TWA Hotel London Club area.
Below: The TWA Hotel’s 1958 Lockheed Constellation ‘Connie’ aircraft, transformed into a cocktail lounge.
TWA Hotel/David Mitchell
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