For decades, the jet company Boeing has been as much a part of the Pacific Northwestās identity asĀ coffee and rain.
So when real estate development firmĀ WestbankĀ was searching for just the right touch for itsĀ WB1200 developmentĀ in Seattleāwhich features a common galleria space full of shops below two 47-story apartment buildingsāit found the answer in a 250-foot-long Boeing 747 airplane. āWe were always looking for a way to make this space not feel like your typical three-story retail mall,ā says Michael Chaplin, Westbankās VP of development in Seattle. Westbank partnered with Tokyo-based architecture firmĀ OSOĀ on the project.
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[Image: courtesy Westbank]
As people walk through the galleria when it opens later this year, a full-size plane will float a story above their heads. āThe landing gear will be semi-deployed, so it looks like itās coming into a landing,ā Chaplin says. Westbank will use the planeās interior as an office for leasing properties in the development, holding meetings, and hosting events. But this private office will have a public gallery thatās open for visitors, too.
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[Image: courtesy Westbank]
Of course, itās not easy to integrate a full-size airplane into a building. The 747 was the largest plane in the skies when it was introduced back in 1969 and remained so until 2005, when it was unseated by the Airbus A380. Nearly the length of a football field, the plane has a wingspan that is just about as wide as the plane is long. Luckily, Westbankās galleria is built over a long alley that can accommodate the planeās length. As for those wings? They had to be clipped, right near the first engine.
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[Photo: Lukas Dong/courtesy Westbank]
Even without all of its components intact, the plane should be quite the spectacle squeezed into this space. The firm acquired a decommissioned 747 that was first built in 1990 and flew for the now-defunct Continental Airlines. Westbank hired specialists to scrape all the white paint and branding off the planeās body to expose the raw aluminum panels.
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[Image: courtesy Westbank]
Once itās fully cleaned up, the 747 will be driven in pieces from its home in California to Seattle. Structurally, the planeās skeleton and shell are completely functional, requiring no extra reinforcement. However, to integrate the 747 into the mostly finished building, architects are replacing the buildingās floor. Flooring will run continuously from the building into the plane so that walking on and off the 747 is a seamless experience.
![](https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_596,c_limit,q_auto:best,f_auto/wp-cms/uploads/2022/03/10-90736884-this-floating-office-is-built-inside-a-boeing-747.jpg)
[Image: courtesy Westbank]
As for what it will feel like inside the 747, thatās a detail that Westbank is still holding close to the vest. However, Chaplin insists that the interior wonāt feel like a 747 whatsoever. āItās one of those opportunities where, if we did just create a replica of something else, it wouldnāt be that unexpected,ā he says. And the entire project is largely about executing the unexpected. āYou walk down the street, turn the corner, and probably the last thing youād think would be in this space is the 747 fuselage.ā