Santa Monica Museum of Flying | Solberg + Associates

Santa Monica Museum of Flying - ENG - - ENG - Opening on February 25, 2012, the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California showcases Minardos Groups’ successful transformation of a former warehouse into an interactive and engaging museum. The Museum of Flying features extensive exhibits and displays on the history of the Douglas Aircraft Company and the Santa Monica Airport, and also preserves and curates a number of static and flyable aircraft. Other displays at the Museum highlight the pioneering aviation companies of Southern California including Boeing, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed, North American, and Northrop. The Museum also features a hands-on interactive area for children, a theatre for screening historic test footage, documentaries, and aviation related films, and an outdoor aircraft display plaza. The Museum is located at 3100 Airport Avenue on the south side of the historic Santa Monica Airport. Design: Transforming the pre-existing airport hangar into an exciting new museum required a holistic and human-scaled design. As such, the adaptive reuse that guided the design of the new Museum of Flying was three-fold. Primarily, and most importantly, the museum Chairman, David Price and Managing Director, Dan Ryan with builder, Minardos Group and architect, Solberg + Associates all wanted to pay homage to Douglas Aircraft Company, which transformed Santa Monica into an aviation hub in the early 1920s. Second, Minardos and Solberg were dedicated to keeping the project sustainable and maintaining the integrity of the existing hangar buildings that were on the site. Third, the museum itself needed to incorporate flexible exhibit spaces that would provide interactive features for aviation enthusiasts, historians, and local visitors of all ages. To begin, the museum successfully incorporated a number of elements that reflected Donald Douglas' contribution to aviation innovation nearly a century ago. The most notable plane in modern aviation, the Douglas DC-3, which launched the era of air travel, is parked boldly in the museums' front lawn. The plane anchors the entry to both the Santa Monica Airport (located just around the corner) and the museum. Minardos Group was also able to incorporate important memorabilia into the design of the site. In addition to a number of dazzling vintage airplanes, the building includes a loft style second-floor that displays Douglas' original round dining/boardroom table, complete with a lit globe in the center, that looks out amongst the museum. Second, Minardos was challenged by the desire to keep the site sustainable while also reinventing the existing hangar space. Deciding to keep the existing hangar structures as the wings of the museum, Minardos used corrugated steel cladding on the museum’s exterior and reused the building’s structural elements, reminiscent of buildings of the mid-century aviation era, and of the metal skins of airplanes. Additionally, the saw-toothed profile intentionally mimics the profiles of the old aircraft factories. The building utilizes low E double glazing to control heat gain, natural day lighting to illuminate the interior, cross ventilation, and on site storm water holding and filtering systems to control runoff and pollution. Finally, Minardos and Solberg sought a design plan that would offer engaging activities and that would bring new patrons to the site. The idea proved difficult, but Minardos was ready for the challenge. Incorporated into the physical construction of the museum, the jutting nose of a Boeing 727 alludes to this intention. Inside, museum visitors are encouraged to walk inside the planes’ cockpit, toggle with the various keys and buttons on the interior, and listen to live background chatter from the Santa Monica Airport Control Tower. With such dedicated attention to detail, the Museum of Flying serves as an intervention that has reinvigorated a dilapidated site. It is re-skinned, rehabbed, and fits comfortably into the fabric of the community. It's intent has been successfully achieved; engaging the general public, aviation enthusiasts, and youth alike.