Museum aboard U.S.S. Intrepid opens with help from CSSI

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City reopened on Veteran’s Day 2008. The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid that served in both World War II and the Vietnam War houses the museum. Chicago Scenic is proud to be a part of the $115 million renovation which was designed in part by Chicago’s Eva Maddox Branded Environments/Perkins + Will Architects.

Since visitors can now access areas of the ship that have not previously been open to the public, much of the work that Chicago Scenic performed involved installing protective gates, railings and acrylic covers that allow access to the ship while maintaining visitor safety. This included five pens around aircraft on the ship’s deck with a total of more than 300 feet of custom railings.

In the ship’s Foc’s’l’e (the ship’s forecastle), CSSI installed protective acrylic covers to preserve graffiti and artwork that shipmates had inscribed on the ship, much of it dating back to the 1940s. Chicago Scenic also installed signage honoring donors and trustees. Chief Curator John Zukowsky, formerly of the Art Institute of Chicago, oversaw the museum’s massive renovation.

Naval center project wins two more awards

The Battle Stations 21 Complex won two awards from the Design-Build Institute of America. One award was for public project over $15 million and the second was for best overall project of 2007: the first time this award was given out for any project. CSSI worked for McHugh Construction as part of team to complete this project at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

CSSI’s portion of the work included developing and assembling realistic training dummies for the smoke rescue drill. CSSI also developed and installed the berthing room floors and equipped them with transducers (low-frequency speakers) to simulate the vibrations of a moving ship and further enhance the training experience.

In 2008, Battle Stations 21 also won a THEA award from the Themed Entertainment Association for Outstanding Achievement: Themed Training Experience.

Museum of Science & Industry updates aviation exhibits

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry added new displays to its aviation exhibit with the help of Chicago Scenic.

Completed in stages over the course of several months, the first phase included custom railings and reader-rail panels that both protected and provided information about its historic replica of the first plane built by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

The second phase includes new LED-illuminated reader rails that contain graphical information about the historic aircraft hanging from the ceiling of the Transportation Gallery.