Flyline represents a bold new concept for airline customer service: an off-site street-level lounge, conveniently located in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, where VIPs can relax before being shuttled off to one of United Airlines’ terminals within the New York City metro area.
Even at only 4,200 sf in size, our design for the lounge envisioned an intimate location that nonetheless offers the traveller a variety of settings in which to unwind while waiting for the next step on their journey. There’s a buffet area where they refuel on gourmet meals prepared in an on-site kitchen. There’s a bar for beer, wine, and cocktails. It’s framed by a three windows inspired Spencer Finch’s The River that Flows Both Ways, a site-specific work installed on the High Line across the street that depicted a journey down the Hudson River in abstracted form using panes of colored stained glass. There’s a small area with computer nooks for quiet heads-down work. And there’s a lounge proper, with seating options allowing for both quiet chats with friends or alone-time.
To build this lounge out in line with United’s expectations, we had to work in tandem with a great number of different parties. As an auxiliary location to the local airports, our plans for the Flyline lounge required a great deal of coordination with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Transportation Security Administration so that we met their exacting standards for security. And as almost all of its furnishings and finishes—millwork, banquettes, lounge seating, lighting, carpets, and artwork—were custom-designed to fit United’s specifications for the space, we worked closely with multiple consultants, engineers, and product vendors to see to it that all of these elements could manufactured correctly and on time.
