New York, NY

NASA selected the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum to house the decommissioned Space Shuttle Enterprise. To create an appropriate new home for the shuttle, the Intrepid selected Jones Lang LaSalle and H3 to study the viability of a new facility on an empty lot across the street from the existing Museum.

The goal for the design of the new building is to create a hybrid facility that will cultivate a memorable experience and persist in the minds of its guests and ultimately broaden visitor’s understanding of space science.

The program includes a theater for accommodating approximately 250 guests, a series of interactive media displays, rotating exhibition galleries, multi functional room lecture hall, educational facility, and outdoor roof garden for special events.

The building and its exhibits aim to engage visitors in a “backstage” experience of NASA technology and space flight. Visitors enter from an urban pedestrian plaza along the north side of the site that provides a buffer against the busy West Side Highway.

A spacious ground floor lobby displays an inspiring history of NASA and space technology and doubles as a dramatic, rentable event space. A dramatic multistory atrium visually connecting all four levels of exhibits. Vertical circulation directs guests to the upper levels while offering views of the Enterprise and visitor activity from all angles.

Combining a memorable new museum building with multi-media exhibits creates a fitting new home for the Enterprise.

CLIENT: Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum
COMPLETION: 2012
SIZE: 80,000 square feet