Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects coor­di­nat­ed the efforts of the muse­um and engi­neer­ing con­sul­tants to inte­grate a 135-foot, Boe­ing 727 Air­craft into the struc­ture of the East court bal­cony in the cen­tral pavil­ion of the Grif­fin Muse­um of Sci­ence and Industry.

Con­tain­ing 5,500 square feet, this per­ma­nent exhib­it pro­vides vis­i­tors with an extra­or­di­nary expe­ri­ence in the world of com­mer­cial avi­a­tion. The cen­ter­piece of ​“Take Flight” is a 135-foot-long Unit­ed Air­lines 727 air­plane attached to the Museum’s bal­cony. The dis­tinc­tive learn­ing envi­ron­ment incor­po­rates 25 exhib­it units and inter­ac­tive dis­plays, and three videos on and around the air­craft. The inter­ac­tive dis­plays include a mul­ti­me­dia show and four exhib­it areas: On-board Explo­rations, The Basics of Flight, The Engine Shop, and the Take Flight Theater.

Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects coor­di­nat­ed the efforts of the muse­um and engi­neer­ing con­sul­tants to inte­grate the Air­craft into the struc­ture of the East court bal­cony in the cen­tral pavil­ion of the Muse­um. Because of the speed at which the project had to be com­plet­ed, the work was orga­nized into three phas­es of demo­li­tion, struc­tur­al mod­i­fi­ca­tions, and space prepa­ra­tion. All work was com­plete to a point that Muse­um exhibits could be roughed in at four months, before the open­ing of the Avi­a­tion Exhibit.

Client: Grif­fin Muse­um of Sci­ence and Indus­try
Pro­gram: Retro­fit 727 Air­craft into His­toric Muse­um
Cost: $968,000
Size: 5,500 SF

Select­ed Awards/​Honors:
Award of Mer­it, Chica­go Light­ing Insti­tute, 1995.