By 1998 the ROTON launch vehicle (see previous project in GROUP B) was in full development at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, a focus for leading-edge aerospace research and flight testing. The client needed two buildings -

a fabrication workshop and an assembly hangar - in the shortest possible time at the lowest possible cost to meet the target date for the first test flight. The site chosen was directly behind the airport control tower and close to Mojave's two runways. The time and cost constraints determined that the best approach was to design the buildings as neutral boxes and treat them as backdrops for the rocket fabrication and assembly activities inside, culminating in a grand roll-out through the tall hangar doors (photo right). The structures were steel frames fabricated from welded plate. These were clad in insulated steel panels. The notoriously high winds at Mojave in the afternoons - periodically gusting to 100 mph - combined with the high risk earthquake zone required the construction of massive column foundations. The ROTON prototype performed successfully in low-level flight tests in late-1999 (video below). However, lack of further investment forced the company to halt the project.