Schuff Perini Climber

Schuff Perini Climber, Children’s Museum of PhoenixDeveloper: Children’s Museum of Phoenix
Contractor:
Perini Building Company
Architect:
Ganymede Design Group
Size:
37-foot tall interactive exhibit constructed of 50 tons of steel
Location:
Children’s Museum of Phoenix, 215 N. 7th St., Phoenix
Completed:
April 2010

The Schuff Perini Climber, a 50-ton wild maze of steel, is the newest and perhaps most unique interactive exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. It is the largest and most creative climber in the U.S. With 981 pieces of steel all placed at an angle and no design repetition, the structure was comparable to erecting a complicated building. Adventuresome climbers (it is intended for youths 10 and under) have four options to ascend the structure. Children can crawl, walk and climb on tube steel columns and beams, a water-park slide lined for traction, a ladder, plywood ramps and see-through fiberglass grating. As part of the design/build team, Schuff Steel spent more than 400 hours inputting each piece (all 981) into AutoCAD. Perini Building Company and its subcontractors built and attached all of the super-sized appendages, laid plywood, painted, and enclosed the structure with wire netting. Approximately 75% of the climber was donated, with Schuff and Perini the major contributors.