Phase III of the California Science Center consists of a major expansion to the main building, adding 205,000 square feet for the new Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center. The addition includes 150 interactive exhibits in three multilevel galleries—air, space, and shuttle—across four floors and 100,000 square feet of exhibit space. It will be the permanent home of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle gallery will rise six stories, peaking at 200 feet to accommodate the height of the Endeavour in launch position.

Morley Construction Company is providing concrete subcontracting services for the project, totaling 14,800 cubic yards. The cast-in-place concrete structure includes one below-grade and four above-grade levels, with floor heights averaging 20-25 feet per floor. Above the cast-in-place structure are another four levels of steel framing averaging 30 feet per floor. Below the basement level, Morley is installing an 8-foot-thick foundation on top of seismic isolators for the shuttle to sit on. In addition to the typical columns, the project includes 60-foot-tall custom, teardrop-shaped columns requiring complex formwork.

Morley provided general contracting and concrete subcontracting services for the Endeavour’s temporary exhibit at the Science Center, where it has been on display since 2012.