Flights of Fancy – the Modernist Terminal in the 21st Century: The Cases of Gander International Airport, Canada and Trans World Airlines, USA
Flights of Fancy – the Modernist Terminal in the 21st Century: The Cases of Gander International Airport, Canada and Trans World Airlines, USA

Summary/Abstract: Architectural icons of the early 20th century are now widely appreciated even in the field of conservation, however this seems less true for post World War II architectural gems. Modernism was inexorably linked with “the new,” the cutting edge of the avant-garde, a machine age that promised material, structural, typological and aesthetic innovation in order to meet the challenge of new uses (for example airport terminals) and the economy of mass society - a promising vision in direct contrast with the structural limitation, the culture of tectonics and ornament of the previous century. The modernist design ethic, conventionally defined as “providing instruments rather than creating monuments,” was used to justify any interventions that circumstances might require. This logic would dictate that something conceived only as a tool should simply be discarded when it has outlived its purpose. However, we are now at a conservation crossroads where some modernist treasures survive, to be reused and adapted for 21st century viability and some simply fall by the wayside, destined to deteriorate and crumble to make way for the “new” they once so eloquently epitomized.

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