Dulles International Airport a masterpiece by Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen was one of the greatest exponents of the space-age era architecture. His MCM structures are iconic for a bygone era, an era that I personally look at as the greatest era in the mankind history. From the TWA Center to the Gateway Arch and from the  General Motors Technical Center to the  Bell Labs Holmdel Complex his creations are not only great feats of engineering but also pure art. One of his top creations is the Dulles International Airport .

The original design included a landscaped man-made lake to collect rainwater, a low-rise hotel, and a row of office buildings along the north side of the main parking lot. 

The original terminal featured a 4 acre roof, whose 4,000,000 pound weight is suspended on cables slung between 32 concrete pylons.

Up until the 1980s the airport used mobile lounges that carry passengers in comfort to the aircrafts parked half a mile away. Each of those mobile structures that was lowered and locked to the chassis when traveling on the field is 49 feet long, 15.5 feet wide, weighs 75,000 pounds and is powered by a single 195hp diesel engine with a maximum speed of 19 mph. The official name is "The Plane-Mate".

The airport covered 10,000 acres if Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia.

At some point soon after the airport became functional, a Holiday Inn opened nearby, on 1000 Sully Road. The luxury Inn with country club setting and facilities plus complete business and convention accommodations offered courtesy transportation to and from Dulles Air Terminal Building.

 

Next chain that opened near the airport was Dulles Marriott. It had 200 deluxe rooms, 2 restaurants, swimming pool, tennis court, meeting and banquet facilities and it also offered free transportation to and from airport.