With the Space Shuttle Endeavor now set in liftoff position, the concrete and steel frame of the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is now taking shape at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

Aerial view looking northHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography

"Endeavour is a bit more covered up while the construction of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center continues," explains a recent social media post from the museum. "Work on the structure of the Shuttle Gallery's roof will be commencing....A ‘dance floor’ of plywood has been added on top of a maze of scaffolding to allow workers more convenient access to the first layer of the diagrid structure that will support the roof of the building and to install various electrical and other systems in the Shuttle Gallery."

The $400-million project, now a visible landmark to motorists on the nearby I-110 Freeway, will roughly double the size of the California Science Center - already considered the most-visited museum in the state. The roughly 200,000-square-foot structure will be divided into three multi-level galleries called Air, Space, and Shuttle, and house roughly 150 educational exhibits .

ZGF is designing the center, which will tower over Exposition Park at roughly 20 stories in height when completed.

Aerial View of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space CenterZGF

The project is one of two notable additions now taking shape within the confines of Exposition Park, joining the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art which is now under construction on Vermont Avenue to the west. Those projects serve as a prelude to the build-out of a new master plan for the park, which would underground parking lots on the southern perimeter of the complex to create more green space.

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