location
Chicago, IL
project completion
August, 2013
size
215,000 sf
type
Education
awards
2014 Merit Award | Chicago Building Congress
2014 Best In Class | Brick Industry Association
BACK OF THE YARDS SCHOOL
Completed in August, 2013, the 215,000 sf Back of the Yards project responds to the programmatic prototype developed by John Ronan Architects for the Public Commission of Chicago. The program concept is organized around three thematic components: Body, Mind and Spirit and the site is also zoned according to these components. Thematic bars are created housing the athletics (body), the academy classrooms and teaching spaces (mind) and the library, arts and music (spirit). The thematic bars slide to create outdoor spaces on the site, programmed for specific activities that work in conjunction with the building’s entry courtyard, athletics fields, and reading room. The school hosts 1,200 students.
Back of the Yards is the first Chicago Public School that has been designed to incorporate a Chicago Public Library. The design of the Library took place during the construction of the project, and involved extensive cooperation between STL, the Public Building Commission and the Chicago Public Libraries.
team
Carolina Cartagena
Luis Collado
Jose Luis de la Fuente
Cole Gagnon
Beatriz Gonzalez
Janelle Moody
Jose Luis Perez-Griffo
Eduardo Ponce
Tracy Salvia
Zeltia Santiago
Alyssa Stowe