Engineering Inc. - Spring 2020 - 36

BIM HELPS TWA HOTEL TAKE OFF

TWA HOTEL

The revitalized TWA
Flight Center at JFK
Airport is part of the
newly constructed TWA
Hotel (background).

PROJECT: TWA HOTEL JFK AIRPORT, JAMAICA, NEW YORK
FIRM: LANGAN PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY
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L

angan has completed thousands of
projects over its 50-year history, but
none quite like one that involved
an architectural landmark, a Florida
university, and a New York hotel developer.
In 2015, Langan was contacted by Lori
Walters, a professor and director of the
ChronoPoints laser-scanning initiative at
the University of Central Florida's Institute
for Simulation and Training. Walters
wanted the firm to help create a 3D, digital
model documenting the TWA Flight
Center-the iconic, wing-shaped building
designed by the late Finnish-American
architect Eero Saarinen-which opened in
1962 and closed in 2001.
Walters' request connected Langan to
MCR Development when it began planning a $265 million transformation of the
Flight Center into part of a 505-room,
first-class hotel.
"MCR Development wanted an
existing-conditions Building Information
Model (BIM) to refer to during the design
and construction of the hotel," says Joseph
Romano, principal who oversees surveying
and mapping efforts at Langan.
The Langan team, headed by Matt
Sipple, senior project manager, and John
Hsu, BIM manager, along with several
staff, had to overcome several unique
challenges in its dual-client undertaking.
One issue involved surveying the distinct
36

ENGINEERING INC. SPRING 2020

interior and exterior of the architecturally
Center. The innovative process involved
complex structure amid JFK's vehicle and
"slicing" the point clouds-similar to
pedestrian traffic, limited access to secure
layers of a cake-and modeling each layer,
areas, and myriad objects above ground
or slice, individually. The slices were then
and below the adjacent JetBlue terminal.
merged into single-model elements that
"We solved that problem by utilizing
defined the features of the building.
Leica's Pegasus Mobile Mapping System
"This required a tremendous amount
to collect data quickly and efficiently,"
of collaboration between our surveyors,
Romano says. "We could
scanners, and modelers
drive the system around
and the client's architects
the area on a truck instead
to ensure we delivered
of having a surveyor walk
something usable for the
a stationary scanner from
hotel design," says Hsu.
point to point."
"We did test studies within
Next came the challenge
the building to make sure
of scanning the Flight
we were complying with
Center's extraordinary
their standards and the
interior and its unique
end user's needs."
shapes and forms. To
Ultimately, Langan's
meet that challenge, the
deliverables allowed the
team employed multiple
design team to create
JOE ROMANO
Leica 3D laser terrestrial
connection points for
Principal/Vice President
scanners. All together, they Surveying & Mapping
the new TWA Hotel's
Langan
collected more than 600
(www.twahotel.com) towers
scans with point cloud data
and JetBlue terminal,
at millimeter-grid density.
adjacent to the Flight Center, and provided
Weaving the data together to develop
the entire project team with a detailed
the BIM of the entire structure, inside and
understanding of the architectural and
out, presented Langan with its greatest
structural complexity of Saarinen's design.
challenge. The team had to tweak Revit
"When you have a team of
software, which is most efficient at modelinnovative thinkers and the correct
ing flat surfaces and linear structures, not
technologies are applied, every challenge
the amorphous elements of the Flight
can be conquered," Romano says.
http://www.twahotel.com
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