Little is known about the airplane graveyards in the deserts
of the Southwest and their expanding area and ever-growing
number of obsolete airplanes. The once majestic and most
advanced technological inventions of mankind are discarded
to decades of slow erosion by the sun and the wind. For
architects, this junkyard is an untapped resource ready to be
reshaped, reused, and brought back to life. A potential refuge,
a new line of furniture, a new housing typology, and many other
visions could be created as a second life from these obsolete
airliners.
The issues of reusing and recycling are important components
in architecture, and as we design new environments there must
be a future value given to these concepts. Added to the second
life concept is another embedded issue of resiliency.
These issues have been the mainstay of my studios in the
last five years. Using a three-week portion of a semester in a
third-year architecture studio, we were able to build a design
vocabulary using airline parts as primary building materials in
creating innovative architectural space, and finding a reuse for
these forgotten airliners. The student projects were introduced
to a young group of aeronautical engineers working at Boeing
and the chief-engineer of the 747-800, Roy Eggink. They
encouraged us in the continuation of these projects, and invited
our students to visit the assembly plant in Everett, Washington,
where they were introduced to aero technology, airplane
components, assembly logistics, new materials, and integral
design methodologies. Then, by engaging an architecture
graduate studio, the students were able to attack the issues of
sustainable re-use and resiliency in architecture. This booklet
illustrates their creative concepts and future possibilities in
research and development.