Giant Magellan Telescope Enclosure Ready for Construction

Architecture and Engineering firm, IDOM, has completed a successful final design review for one of the largest mechanized smart buildings in the world.

The Giant Magellan Telescope, which is now 40% under construction and on track to be operational by the early 2030s, is the work of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium of 14 universities and research institutions representing the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan. The telescope is being built in America and will be reassembled and completed in Chile by the early 2030s.

Once completed, the 65-meter-tall enclosure will be one of the largest mechanized buildings ever constructed and will represent a true feat of modern engineering and precision manufacturing. At over 5,000 metric tons, the enclosure will be able to complete a full rotation in four minutes and be equipped with 46-meter-tall shutter doors that reveal the 25.4-meter telescope for unobstructed scientific observations. The smart building is designed to control the telescope’s operating environment by protecting seven of the world’s largest mirrors as they track celestial objects across the sky more than a billion light years away.

IDOM began developing the Giant Magellan Telescope enclosure design over two years ago following a competitive, global search and extensive evaluation process.

“Our team approached the challenge of the Giant Magellan Telescope enclosure knowing that this structure would be responsible for enabling some of the most important scientific discoveries of our lifetimes,” said IDOM North American President Tom Lorentz. “We are proud to have delivered a successful design and look forward to the Giant Magellan Telescope’s success.”

With the enclosure design milestone complete, the Giant Magellan Telescope is now preparing a global search for a firm to leave their mark on the future of astronomy with construction of the enclosure.