Readers know The Observer is quite fond of Jet Age JFK, broken down as it is. The old terminals are almost gone now, as Delta broke ground on its expansion of Terminal 4 two weeks ago, meaning Terminal 3 will surely be torn down. But even newer pieces of the airport are not secure. The Times reports that the operators of Terminal 1 want to demolish and artwork there—to make room for more concessions. But Alice Aycock, the creator of the Star Sifter, is angrier than a TSA screener about it all.
The lawsuit said that Ms. Aycock found out about the plan to remove “Star Sifter” when the terminal’s management unit, the Terminal 1 Group Association, wrote to her last December. The same unit had commissioned her to design the sculpture in time for Terminal 1’s opening in mid-1998 as the first new passenger building at J.F.K. in more than 25 years.
“The sculpture had a dual purpose,” the lawsuit said. “Not only was the sculpture intended to enrich the terminal aesthetically, but it was also intended to fulfill a functional purpose by filling an opening in the rotunda that created an unanticipated security risk in the building design.”
The lawsuit quoted from a letter the management unit had sent her in 1997 that said “the main objective is to create a screen” separating the mezzanine from the departure area beyond the security checkpoint. The lawsuit quoted an article in Woman’s Art Journal that said the idea behind the opening had been to allow people on the mezzanine to “look down upon passengers making their way through the security checkpoint directly below.”
Apparently another Au Bon Pain would do just as good a job of keeping the security of the terminal intact.
