Spinal Connecting: JFK Terminal 4

ARCH 485P | Degree Project Design Studio
Pratt Institute, School of Architecture · Spring 2005
Professors: Mark Rakatansky and Michael Chen
Authored by Sara Maniez (thesis completed under the name S. L. Kellner)

Thesis Statement

The existing problem at JFK’s International Air Terminal (Terminal 4) is the dominance of slow-programmed spaces—areas defined by waiting, congestion, and restricted movement—that diminish the sense of humanity and wonder once associated with air travel. What was once a grand passage of exchange between people has been replaced by high security and commercialization, leaving passengers with a dehumanized, oversized, and fragmented experience.

Spinal Connecting proposes to lift these slow-programmed spaces up and out of the terminal, threading them through the underutilized gaps between terminals. At varying scales, these programs wrap around a new pedestrian walkway that both connects terminals and transforms the passenger experience. Alongside this walkway, a baggage conveyor carries luggage for connecting flights in full view of travelers—restoring transparency, trust, and visual exchange to a process that is usually hidden.

The project operates at four interconnected scales:

1. Site to Terminal: The baggage conveyor links terminals across JFK, activating the empty spaces between them.

2. Terminal to Program: The pedestrian walkway cuts through the terminal, redistributing programmatic functions along its spine.

3. Program to People: Enveloping the walkway, architectural volumes house redistributed waiting and service programs, shifting large, static spaces to the periphery and introducing smaller, kiosk-like nodes that match the faster pace of terminal life.

4. People to Baggage (and Plane): The exposed baggage conveyor rehumanizes air travel by making the journey of luggage visible, while transparent walls at the gates reveal aircraft beyond—restoring the sense of destination, movement, and spectacle that has been lost.

By reframing waiting, circulation, and baggage handling as visible, connective experiences, Spinal Connecting seeks to bring clarity, transparency, and humanity back into the architecture of air travel.

Selected images from Degree Project Book show below