Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy

Client:  STR Partners, JV with Nia Architects, Architect of Record

Completed: Summer 2012

The Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy was built as a new school on Chicago’s south side and was based on a prototype design.  HJKessler Associates led an integrative design process with the owner (Public Building Commission of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools), the architect (STR Partners), the entire design team, and community members.  Through this process many sustainability goals were identified and achieved that brought significant daylight into the spaces, improved indoor environmental quality, significantly increased energy efficiency, added a community garden, enhanced connectivity with the community, and much more.

Two significant changes in this project as compared to the prototype included significantly larger windows designed to optimize daylight and views and use of a ground source heat pump system instead of a conventional variable air volume HVAC system.  The heat pump system allowed reduction in the building height (due to much smaller ducts). That system, together with solar water heating for the pool, also increased the energy efficiency significantly. The end result was the first LEED Platinum high school in Illinois as well as a less expensive building and HVAC system that saved almost $1.4 million ($7 per square foot) compared to a prototype of the same size bid at the same time.  (The three other prototypes, for which HJKessler Associates was also the sustainability consultant, achieved LEED Gold.)