Hansberry College Prep High School

Chicago, Illinois, 2013, built

Tom Bader Design Principal and Project Architect for Wheeler Kearns Architects

Located in the Auburn Gresham (Brainerd) neighborhood of Chicago, the project entailed the remodeling of and addition to a former parochial grade school for a new 1,100 student charter high school.

The original single-story facility, built in 1954, houses a rejuvenated gymnasium surrounded by new classrooms and a main entry. To the north, a 38,500 sf single story addition provides the majority of the academic space, organized around three semi-private courtyards. The hallway of the addition serves as a “college corridor”, where 435 college logos, geographically organized, emblazen hallway lockers. Maps along the hallway display the location of colleges attended by faculty and Hansberry alumni. Daylight floods into the hall at each courtyard, providing a space where teachers can work during planning periods in view of the landscape.

Constructed with non-composite insulated precast panels and a superinsulated spray-foamed roof, the addition provides an extremely quiet and energy efficient envelop with abundant internal thermal mass.

General Contractor: Bulley & Andrews
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Landscape Architect: Wolff Landscape
MEP Engineer: IBC Engineering
Photography: Steve Hall / Hedrich Blessing