The Annex provides a state-of-the-art learning environment for a thriving Fine and Performing Arts Magnet school in Chicago. The additional learning spaces replace antiquated portable classrooms and alleviate a significant problem with overcrowding. Currently, students loose valuable instruction time moving between the portable classrooms and the main building. Students must now eat breakfast and lunch in the auditorium and meals are prepared in a converted classroom space. The Annex connects to the current school building providing all students with equal access to high quality instruction spaces, a proper kitchen, servery, and lunch room, as well as a new music classroom. New Kindergarten classrooms include multiple instruction areas and dedicated restrooms to reduce staff time needed to monitor remote restrooms.
The building design emphasizes the integration of daylight to enhance the well-being of students and enhance academic performance. Glazed areas within the classrooms are maximized and a continuous clerestory along the lunch room brings borrowed light into the corridor. The public stairwell opens out towards the landscaped grounds adding a dynamic element of movement to the campus. The second floor Music Room is prominently located along the street highlighting music class as well as community programs held in the evening.
The LEED-Silver addition utilizes simple, cost-effective building strategies to reduce energy costs. A high-performance building envelope that includes superior insulation, air barrier, and glazing reduce solar heat loads in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Harding Partners developed a rain-screen wall system that was later adopted as a standard cladding system by the school district. Sunscreens are integrated into the window wall to control the late afternoon sun and reduce glare within the classrooms. Coupled with daylight sensor controlled LED lighting fixtures, a heat recovery system in the air handlers, and variable speed motors, the Annex is projected to us 25% less energy than a typical school building.
Year: 2016
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Area: 45,000 square feet
Key Features
9primary classrooms
5 kindergarten classrooms
computer classroom
music room
cafeteria
full service kitchen
faculty offices