Originally Posted by
badatz
I flew TWA extensively and almost exclusively in the 70's and 80's and while acknowledging that it is in fact a beautiful building, we tend to forget that it was a terrible airport terminal for the passenger. The checkin area on both sides of the doors was long and narrow with no room for passengers to properly queue up. The economy check-in was mostly on the right side and when 2 or 3 747's were leaving at the same time it was an utter madhouse.
My praise for the beauty of the design notwithstanding, I was afraid that was the dark side of reality for that terminal. That happens a lot with beautiful designs, unfortunately. The spaces that look so sublime when empty or when sparsely populated with models for photography fail quickly when exposed to typical usage levels.
Take that picture of the lovely waiting waiting area for example. It looks like an amazing place for 20 people to relax. Now imagine it with 120 people in it, waiting to board a 727. That's reality.
Take that picture of the soaring pedestrian bridge. It looks great empty and it'd still look pretty good with a handful of people scattered across it. But now imagine it with 20 crossing it in either direction at any given moment, including elderly people shuffling along, toddlers darting side to side, adults pushing strollers and baggage carts, and impatient business travelers weaving between them all. That's reality.