project story
Referencing the precision and beauty inherent in aircraft, the LEED Gold® Welcome Center on Boeing South Carolina’s campus is designed to capture motion through material and form. The campus is home to the company’s second 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery facilities.
The CJMW design team focused on creating a sense of progression that begins as visitors approach the building, with its 400-foot-long sheltering roof form resembling aircraft wings. At night, the building acts as a beacon, with light shining through the transparent walls. The central reception lobby is a grand open space and the building’s focal point.
Further inside, exterior materials – metal panels and columns – wrap into the interior, forming a frame for the large sculptural walls. These walls channel visitors through the building, separating the public and unsecured areas (café bar, multiple conference and meeting rooms) from the private and secured areas.
Interior detailing allows the floor and wall to visually merge, echoing the unified feeling of the 787’s seamless composite exterior. The overall themes of motion, transitions and connections remain constant down to floor patterning abstracted from aircraft flight patterns across the globe. Other design details reference local South Carolina culture, landmarks and iconic arts and crafts.
Location: North Charleston, South Carolina
Square footage: 18,000
Services: master planning, architecture, interior design, ffe