Chicago Public Schools Project
Big Design Ideas Suit Little Village High School
by Craig Barner

Several groups have had a dramatic impact on the design of the $51 million Little Village High School on Chicago's Southwest Side.

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They included residents of the Little Village neighborhood, the Chicago Public Schools and the design and construction team itself.

The "small schools" concept, a trend in K-12 schools that the CPS wanted, is driving the layout of the facility at 31st Street and Kostner Avenue, said Rick Dewar, director of K-12 education for Chicago-based OWP/P, the design architect.

Even though the structure will house 1,800 to 2,000 students, the 287,000-sq.-ft., two-story building will accommodate four separate schools. Each 450- to 500-student school will have its own administration, identity and principal, who will report to a master principal.

The hope is that the environment will spur the students' educational and social development and keep them enrolled.

"Once [students] fit in, the dropout rate decreases," added Tom Smith, project manager with Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Co., a member of the McHugh/Riteway Joint Venture general contracting team.

But some spaces will be shared among the four schools, including the library and media center, two gymnasia, pool, cafeteria and 500-seat auditorium, as well as baseball and soccer fields outside.

A key issue for the design team was to accommodate the small schools approach but also the common areas.

The arrangement of spaces was key, said George Beach, project designer for OWP/P. In many schools, a main hallway, or "Main Street," is in the building center and classroom wings and common spaces cluster around it.

At Little Village High School, a modified version of this layout was used.

Four Main Streets were used, one per school. They are arranged as four east-west hallways, and the classrooms look out on courtyards.

Perpendicular to the Main Streets are the common spaces. The auditorium, administration and library are arranged in a north-south strip on the east side near Kostner, and the athletic facilities are also in north-south band on the property's west side.

"We took the Main Street concept and folded it over itself," Dewar added.

"We have the [two] outside bars that are public oriented and the classroom wings that bridge the building."

Big Culture

Many Little Village residents derive their ancestry from Mexico, and an Aztec myth was studied to come up with a identity for each school in Little Village High School.

The myth relates that there were four worlds previously, and the existing world that comes from them created harmony. A theme was developed for each school that reflects the four ancient worlds - earth, fire, water and wind.

Color schemes were developed for each school in the mostly masonry building to reflect the element. An emblem cast in glazed tiles will be displayed inside and outside. A two-story common space in each academic wing will feature a distinctive floor pattern.

To find an element that reflects unity, the team went back to Aztec culture again: A 60-ft.-tall solar calendar is located inside the central courtyard.

The stunning structure will feature a cone-shaped gallery to serve as a gathering space.

"It is the only public link from the front of the building to the support spaces in the back," Dewar said.

The solar calendar with sloping roof is monumental, and more than 800 steel pieces form the structure, Smith said. The first 13 ft. will be framed in glass so the interior can be seen, and zinc panels will frame the remainder.

Inside, ceramic tile will shape the inside walls with a calendar. A skylight will allow a beam to hit mirrors, and the ray will point to the date.

"I still have to work out the mathematics of the actual placement," Smith said.

"The mathematics refer to the placement of the two reflective mirrors and the tile."

Activism that affected the project will be commemorated in the calendar's functioning, Dewar said. Between May 13 and June 1, 2001, protesters held a hunger strike on the site to pressure city leaders to begin the project.

After the issue was resolved and planning started, residents who were consulted about the project repeatedly referred to the strike and wanted it commemorated, Dewar said. A repositioning of the solar calendar's oculus during the dates the strike occurred will cause the beam to disappear from the calendar temporarily and reappear on a different wall.

"The idea of tracking time and using the sun is a very central idea when it comes to Mexican culture," he added.

Big Coordination

It hasn't been easy to handle such a complex project on a tight schedule.

The project started in November 2003, and the timetable called for the building to be complete by summer 2005, a 20-month schedule.

"At $50 million, that's $2.5 million a month, so you're pushing a phenomenal pace on the job," Smith added.

Some issues have weighed heavily on the schedule.

Smith said that the dirt on the site previous to construction start was contaminated because a production facility for vegetable oil had once occupied the spot. The soil was remediated to 3 ft. to satisfy state requirements.

But then a problem arose because the bid documents required the soil to be cleared to a 5-ft. depth due to the 4.5-ft.-deep footings.

Further causing difficulties, time was needed to accommodate the unconventional structural support - steel in some areas and masonry in others.

OWP/P's Beach said that the two-material approach was chose because cost savings can be realized.

Another matter is that high-end finishes, such as the ground-face masonry walls with glazed bases and terrazzo floors in corridors and common areas, portended a significant amount of time for receipt and installation, Smith said.

Ground-face masonry can require 12 to 16 weeks before delivery is made because the material usually has to be specially manufactured, while conventional masonry can be obtained in a day. Terrazzo takes weeks to install due to the pouring, curing and grinding, whereas conventional vinyl flooring can be laid in a couple days.

And then there is the intricacy of the solar calendar.

Hitting Time Big

A number of things were done to move things along.

In winter 2003-2004, the dirt awaiting test results was moved around the site, piled and used for insulation, Smith said. This, along with heaters and blankets, kept the ground below warm so it could be excavated for footings and below-grade plumbing.

(The tests results eventually came back, and 30,000 tons of dirt were shipped to a landfill.)

Normally, the mechanical systems and mains are set first before the branch lines, but due to the late arrival of some masonry, not all mains could be installed.

As a result, the team went backward to ensure progress was made, and branch lines were set first.

And specialty cranes that could turn tight corridor corners were used so they could set roof sections.

"We actually considered a tower crane for awhile here but it's too spread out," Smith added. "You couldn't get one that's big enough."