TWA Flight Center & Hotel - The Washington Post

Photography Phillip Reed

The hotel opened on May 15, 2019, has 505 guest rooms, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and an observation deck of 10,000 square feet.

Last summer Phillip was commissioned to shoot Eero Saarinen’s 1962 TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport for The Washington Post. The building was reopened to the public and now serves as a hotel for travellers stopping over on long haul flights. 

Shooting this project was a strange experience as Phillip had spent a lot of 2019 travelling in and out of JFK on other assignments. He took his routine taxi to the airport but then experienced none of the stresses that usually accompany that journey. 

Shooting this building was therapeutic, it’s gentle curves invited Phillip inwards to its spacious light-filled interiors. Every new vantage point offered different interpretations. It was an incredible experience for Phillip to spend a few hours shooting this space. 

The majority of Phillip’s commercial shoots tend to involve a creative brief or director that needs to be adhered to. Sometimes that’s a good pressure to work under as it tests your abilities but with this shoot, he was given complete creative control.

Rather than a large team of people, it was just him, the camera and his assistant. It made it easier to engage more meaningfully with the building. The image of the sunken lounge made it to the front cover of the Washington Post Style section.