# My Home is a Boeing 747



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Jumbo architecture turns jet into dream home *

SANTA MONICA, California, April 20, 2006 (AFP) - A wealthy California woman is to turn a Boeing 747 jet into a house on some of the most exclusive real estate in the world. 

Francie Rehwald wanted a house that was environmentally friendly and "feminine". Architect David Hertz, a specialist in using recycled materials, said she was stunned when he recommended an old 747, the biggest commercial aircraft in service. 

The jumbo jet cost about 40,000 dollars from a cemetery for more than 1,500 scrap airliners in the California desert. 

The jet is to be moved in parts to a 55-acre (22-hectare) site in the Malibu Hills near the Pacific Ocean and Rehwald admits the final cost will be several million dollars. 

The wings will be the main house. The cockpit will become a meditation temple, the jet's trademark hump will become a loft and the remaining scrap will be used for more buildings. 

"The whole idea stated very seriously, about a beautiful, sublime architectural piece. It's not just living in an airplane," said Hertz, who runs a design firm in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles. 

"The client just asked me to create something that was curvy, linear and feminine," he added, noting the site had a beautiful view toward a mountain range. 

"To build -- that would have been very expensive, so I started to think: 'Well, there is something that does that much better, that's a wing,' and then we started to superpose different aircraft wings on the site to find the best size and shape." 

"When you look at them, they are very curvy, very soft, and very feminine and thin." 

Finding an old version of the 230-foot-long (70-metre-) jet was easy in California because of the desert scrapyard. 

Rehwald, whose family set up the first Mercedes-Benz concession in California, bought the 28th of the approximately 1,430 Boeing 747s built up to now. It was delivered in 1970 to TWA and finished its flying time with Tower Air 30 years later. 

The architect needs permission from 17 government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for the project, which still needs final planning permission. 

Hertz hopes construction will start in June. 

The jet will be cut up and taken in parts by road to the Malibu Hills and then taken by helicopter to the site. "It is thrilling to imagine this wing becoming a roof," said Rehwald. 

The roof, however, will have to be registered with the FAA and a red cross painted on it so that planes flying over do not mistake the house for a crashed jet. 

The house will incorporate many state-of-the-art energy saving devices, including special air conditioning and a rain-collection system. 

"This projects embodies a lot of a philosophies in architecture I've been interested in for many, many years," said Hertz. 

"It deals with prefabrication, recycled content. 

"Think about the airplane as a giant aluminium can. It's 100 percent recyclable product. It represents an abandoned infrastructure unutilized, billions of dollars of research and development that went into the plane, a 200-million dollar airplane, that you can buy for 40,000 dollars."


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

That would be really cool but honestly I prefer the common house


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## Car L (May 5, 2005)

"太陽報" also mentioned the story above today. The interesting thing is even the chinese newspaper has the english name of the house but not the english article above. 

Try search for "747 Wing House" and you will find some interesting drawings and photos of the house...

http://www.bright.nl/node/285

http://www.syndesisinc.com/arch/rehwald.html

__________________
Buildings that don't get posted often (HK) Part I 
Buildings that don't get posted often (HK) Part II
Buildings that don't get posted often (HK) Part III 
Artistic decorations inside and outside of the buildings


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Since the news was published by the newswires, I'm not surprised that individual newspapers around the world picked it up and published it in their local editions as well.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)




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## Castle_Bravo (Jan 6, 2006)

WOW great idea


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## Halawala (Oct 16, 2005)

Ok I thought that the actual plane is her house (fully assembled).. but seeing the renders, who cares about her house..


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## I-275westcoastfl (Feb 15, 2005)

Yea i thought she was actually going to have the whole plane as here house but modified as a house. If I had a choice on what house to build id still prefer this


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Are we nearly there yet? For just £120, Richard Green got a suite with a flat bed and shower on board a 747. There was just one tiny problem*
1 February 2009
The Sunday Times

It costs up to £3,000 for a night on a business-class flat bed — but I've just done it for £120, without compromising one jot on frills. My bed was 22in wider than I'd have got on Virgin Atlantic — and, unlike Singapore's "suite", where the hostie can peek over the screen, my privacy was secure behind a full-size locking door. Oh, and there was no Emiratesstyle five-minute shower rationing, either. I could use any of the eight shower rooms as often, and for as long, as I liked.

But, dammit, there was a catch.

I boarded the plane in Stockholm and, after a snack, some telly and a night's sleep, I disembarked in Stockholm. This 747 doesn't fly anywhere. Parked up by the perimeter fence of the city's Arlanda airport, this is the Jumbo Hostel, Sweden's newest hotel.

And it's very, very weird. Even though you know it's a hotel, your brain keeps telling you you're catching a flight. And kindly provides all the accompanying stresses and strains. At the top of the steps, I fumbled for my boarding card; when the smiling girl in cabin crew uniform welcomed me aboard, I clicked into scrum-for-a-seat mode. I was away down the cabin before being called back, checked in and given a room card — a routine that ended with the crew member miming "two toilets at the front of the cabin and six at the rear".

Shutting the door to my room, I leant backwards on it, like they do in horror films. Calm down, I said to myself, it's only a hotel room. But it was tiny — barely the size of two double beds — with a single bunk above a double, a chunk of old hat rack and five windows.

Peering through them, I could see planes taxiing. I felt as though we were about to start taxiing, too..

I went back to reception and grabbed a member of the cabin crew — I mean hostel staff — figuring that a tour might make me feel more grounded. Like many of the staff, Rod is ex-cabin crew, and loves talking about the plane: "This jumbo was delivered to Singapore Airlines in 1976 and flew with Cathay and Pan Am, among others." He talked me around the reception and lounge area, with its 1970s-style logo, bright orange seats and little candlelit tables, then we went up the spiral staircase. It leads to the upperdeck bubble of the jumbo and the cockpit suite, where some of the instrument panels are intact and you get great views from the wraparound windows.

I tried to blag an upgrade, but Rod went into a tapering-off yarn about the hostel being busy tonight, and already having a cockpit booking, and ...

To distract me, he said: "The next plan is for a bar on one wing, with cushions for sunbathing, and the four engines are also being converted, with steps up the back, glass at the front and blinds that mimic the shape of the fan blades." I'm not sure I like the idea of kipping in an engine: I rarely snatch much sleep on planes at the best of times. My night on board the Jumbo Hostel was no exception. Not because of the noise of nearby takeoffs and landings, though — the beefed-up insulation muffled that amazingly well. No, the noise pollution here came from inside, with every snog or sneeze seemingly amplified. When someone next door fired up a hairdryer at 5am, I adopted the brace position.

When I emerged, feeling only marginally more rested than I do after an economy long-haul trip, breakfast was an airline meal served on a plastic tray.

Of course it was. I finished it and looked at my watch. Must get a move on. It's nearly time to land. I mean check out.

l + B& B dorm beds are £31; triple rooms (one double bed, one single) are £120; the cockpit suite is £290; 00 46 8 593 60400, jumbohostel.com l + Richard Green travelled as a guest of SAS (0871 521 2772, flysas.com), which flies to Stockholm from Heathrow, London City, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Dublin; from £108. Or try British Airways (0844 493 0787, ba.com). Take terminal car-park bus 14 and ask the driver for the hostel — it's free and takes five minutes

Is it a plane, is it a hotel? No, it's a hostel, actually, and our man was one of the first on board


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## redbaron_012 (Sep 19, 2004)

They should mount it on big springs, have slight vibration and a roaring sound from speakers throughout the cabin. Maybe not many would like to board this plane after a long flight? but sounds unique and affordable. Thanks for your post! : )


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## TowerKid (Feb 3, 2009)

That is sooo creative. The wings are perfectly placed!


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