California Science Center’s Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center

The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center hired MATT to construct a new 205,000 sf, four-level exhibition building to house the NASA Space Shuttle, Endeavour. The new addition invites guests of all ages to fuel their dreams of flight and space exploration. The building is divided into three primary sections. An Air Gallery houses interactive aerospace educational exhibits and approximately 20 static display aircrafts. A Space Gallery houses various science and technology exhibits beyond rocket travel, space research, and human spaceflight. Lastly, the Space Shuttle Gallery displays the Endeavour in vertical, launch position with solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank in full-stack configuration.

The coordination required to construct this building is an art. Challenges included installing the Endeavour Shuttle Stack while the building was half built, constructing the temporary protection around the shuttle, and constructing the roof diagrid structure over the shuttle stack with strategic temporary bracings until the roof structure could support itself.