concept & vision

a 60-foot-long section, cut out between the main wings and the tail of a Boeing 747 fuselage, is placed on a sloping site on the University campus overlooking Lake Union. It is transformed into a student pavilion

design & architecture

the fuselage is held on a steel pipe cradle above the site sloping topography. A steel ramp allows access to its interior space. Inside, the airplane section is stripped down to reveal its intricate aluminum rib cage. The flooring on the main deck is substituted with metal grating filled with clear resin, to allow full perception of the entire circular section of the fuselage

program & use

we devise a rotating floor/seating system that takes advantage of the space underneath the floor, the previous lower freight hold. Seating wheels rotate to three different positions: flat face up and flush with deck line (floor) / flat face up and raised above deck line (bench) / contoured face up and raised above deck line (lounge). Rotating and/or lifting these wheels, the interior of the fuselage can be rest to house a variety of events, from lectures or classes, to screenings, performances or parties. Ethernet and power is provided to all seats, while projection screens can be pulled down along the perimeter transforming the space into a face-to-face theater

impact & significance

we travel to an airplane graveyard out west, and learn that fuselages, despite their aluminum content, are too costly to scrap. We visit many laying empty as precious carcasses, become enamored with their space and structure, and are intrigued to take this idea and experience to the UW campus, where Boeing begun. The project moves forward till September 11, when the section of an airplane suddenly takes a radically different visual connotation