» Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure

Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Portal to somewhere else
Comment: In its early years, air travel was a thrill for the rich. Today, it is boring, necessary and commonplace. Through well-written stories and narrative history, this easy read gives a history of air travel from the perspective of the architectural structures that support it. As our understanding of air travel has changed, airport architecture has changed as well. There is now more glass and more security, painfully long passageways, more roadway than runway and, of course, acres of parking. One thing has not changed: the airport has always been a portal to somewhere else. Airports are the waiting rooms of adventure and freedom. Naked Airport gives insight into the challenge of making these waiting rooms less purgatorial.

I share the opinion of the other reviewer who says that the last part of the book is not as strong as the first. For example, there is no discussion of important recent developments such e-ticket kiosks and wireless networks. Even with this shortcoming, I still recommend this one.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Naked Airport - Good Book
Comment: As an Architect, I found Mr. Gordon's book to be a very accessible read. This is not a coffee table book with glossy photographs and difficult to comprehend architectural theory. Instead he gives a very clear overview of the development of the airport building type, much like The Architecture of Diplomacy by Jane Loeffler does. He uses simple and tasteful photographs and graphics pared with a well written history. I would give this book a high mark and recommend it for both architects and non-architect. Thank you, Alastair Gordon for a nicely written book.

Gregory Knoop
Oudens + Knoop Architects

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Airport Reverie
Comment: Alastair Gordon is at his best describing airport construction from the mid-1930s WPA era through the early 1960s. At one point, in fact, he says, "It would be nice to imagine a brief period, a golden moment, somewhere between say 1958 and 1963 ... when advanced technology and American-style marketing produced a perfect, jet-setting age of travel." Instead of devoting energy to a new preservationist movement for airports built during that period (for example, Saarinen's TWA terminal at JFK), Gordon bathes in reverie from this point of the book all the way to the end.

We are doomed to anonymous, repetitive styles in airports, he says, and promptly contradicts this assertion with descriptions of attempts to humanize airports constructed or refitted within the past five years. I can understand him being in love with airports of the late 50s and early 60s, since I am too. But this should not preclude his being fair with the newest efforts to make airports wonderful today. And some of these efforts are really impressive.

Be fair, Alastair! We keep flying; new passenger planes are more comfortable and more efficient (like the 777). Airports are improving, too. Don't lose your sense of wonder and leave your readers dehydrated...the best is yet to come.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A must for even the most expert traveler
Comment: Even for the most expert traveler, the Naked Airport will shed light on many facets of airports domestically and abroad. For instance, did you know that there are over 200 old bank safes in the landfill at Newark (EWR)? The history is layed out cronologically, but woven with social, political, economic and business history, such that it is any interesting narrative rather than a dry recitation of facts.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Alastair Gordon has done it again!
Comment: Through the pages of Naked Airport, Alastair Gordon examines the history of the world's most diverse structures. Going well beyond the architecture, this book explores airports in their historical and cultural context, defining well known edifices by identifying their place in the 20th century timeline.

I really enjoyed this book. Through a vivid and compelling narrative, Gordon manages to transport the reader to key points in time. Imagine attending the dedication of the New York Municipal Airport on October 15, 1939, where three skywriting planes circle overhead spelling out the words "NAME IT LA GUARDIA AIRPORT." The audience bursts into applause. Or picture being one of the first New York passengers in the early 1970s to walk through an electromagnetic gateway, a newly installed anti-terrorist device.

Naked Airport is perhaps the most comprehensive statement on airport architecture, history and culture to date. It is a must-read for history buffs and casual readers alike.

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