The Building Team for the new Aquatics Center at Niles North High School in Skokie, Ill., included Chicago-area firms Legat Architects and IHC Construction—but a case could be made for listing a much larger group of official participants. The AEC firms made a concerted effort to involve not only district officials but also the user community. As a result, the project became a unique learning experience for students, staff, and neighbors.
The Niles North Aquatics Center serves 2,200 students—all of whom must take swimming—as well as 275 competitive student athletes in swimming, diving, and water polo. Feeder programs from park districts and local partners are also housed there. By 2012, the pool in the 48-year-old building was considered too small and shallow to meet current requirements.
Stakeholders asked for a new competition “cold pool,” a renovated community-accessible “warm pool,” a new public connecting corridor, locker room renovations, coaches’ offices, and meeting and storage space. Lighting and mechanical systems also needed an energy upgrade.
SILVER AWARD
Project summaryNiles North High School Aquatics Center
Skokie, Ill.BUILDING TEAM
Submitting firm: Legat Architects (architect)
Owner/developer: Niles Township High School District 219
Structural: KJWW Engineering Consultants
Mechanical/plumbing: AMSCO Engineering
Electrical: Hansen Palmer Associates
Civil: Gewalt Hamilton
CM: IHC Construction CompaniesGENERAL INFORMATION
Project size: 39,200 sf (24,600 sf new + 14,600 sf renovated)
Construction cost: $15 million
Construction period: April 2012 to August 2013
Delivery method: Design-bid-build
District 219 teamed with Legat Architects to plan the revitalization. Students and community members were surveyed regarding their priorities, and the Building Team held design workshops that elicited feedback for the floor plan. Daylighting is an important aspect of the final design, including a mix of clerestories, clear windows, translucent windows, and internal glazing to offer glare-free illumination and visual connections.
Eventually, the project was incorporated into the district’s architecture and engineering class curriculum. Biweekly tours were coordinated with faculty to focus on current classroom topics, and students were able to receive insights on various career paths.
“It became quite the living classroom,” says Building Team Awards judge Nathan Snydacker, PE, LEED AP, Vice President at Environmental Systems Design.
“It’s a lot of involvement you’d want in a school project of this type,” adds BTA judge Terry Fielden, LEED AP BD+C, Director of K-12 Education for International Contractors.
The Building Team phased construction over two summers to minimize disruption, keeping the community involved with a blog, video tours, signage with QR codes, and outreach to local news outlets.
In spring 2013, a severe flood created leaks in the lower-level filtration room. The damage stalled excavation and construction of the pool slab and walls, but IHC Construction, Legat, D219 staff, and other contractors managed to keep the job on schedule and within budget.
The result is a more functional, accessible, energy-efficient facility, designed to use 42% less water and 44% less energy than typical natatoriums. The project, whose heat-recovery dehumidification units should also sharply reduce CO2 emissions, is expected to become the first aquatic center in Illinois to achieve LEED for Schools Gold certification.
Related Stories
| Mar 11, 2011
Renovation energizes retirement community in Massachusetts
The 12-year-old Edgewood Retirement Community in Andover, Mass., underwent a major 40,000-sf expansion and renovation that added 60 patient care beds in the long-term care unit, a new 17,000-sf, 40-bed cognitive impairment unit, and an 80-seat informal dining bistro.
| Mar 11, 2011
Research facility added to Texas Medical Center
Situated on the Texas Medical Center’s North Campus in Houston, the new Methodist Hospital Research Institute is a 12-story, 440,000-sf facility dedicated to translational research. Designed by New York City-based Kohn Pedersen Fox, with healthcare, science, and technology firm WHR Architects, Houston, the building has open, flexible labs, offices, and amenities for use by 90 principal investigators and 800 post-doc trainees and staff.
| Mar 11, 2011
Blockbuster remodel transforms Omaha video store into a bank
A former Hollywood Video store in Omaha, Neb., was renovated and repurposed as the SAC Federal Credit Union, Ames Branch. Architects at Leo A Daly transformed the outdated 5,000-sf retail space into a modern facility by wrapping the exterior in poplar siding and adding a new glass storefront that floods the interior with natural light.
| Mar 11, 2011
Historic McKim Mead White facility restored at Columbia University
Faculty House, a 1923 McKim Mead White building on Columbia University’s East Campus, could no longer support the school’s needs, so the historic 38,000-sf building was transformed into a modern faculty dining room, graduate student meeting center, and event space for visiting lecturers, large banquets, and alumni organizations.
| Mar 11, 2011
Mixed-income retirement community in Maryland based on holistic care
The Green House Residences at Stadium Place in Waverly, Md., is a five-story, 40,600-sf, mixed-income retirement community based on a holistic continuum of care concept developed by Dr. Bill Thomas. Each of the four residential floors houses a self-contained home for 12 residents that includes 12 bedrooms/baths organized around a common living/social area called the “hearth,” which includes a kitchen, living room with fireplace, and dining area.
| Mar 11, 2011
Oregon childhood center designed at child-friendly scale
Design of the Early Childhood Center at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore., focused on a achieving a child-friendly scale and providing outdoor learning environments.
| Mar 11, 2011
Guests can check out hotel’s urban loft design, music selection
MODO, Advaya Hospitality’s affordable new lifestyle hotel brand, will have an urban Bauhaus loft design and target design-, music-, and tech-savvy guest who will have access to thousands of tracks in vinyl, CD, and MP3 formats through a partnership with Downtown Music. Guest can create their own playlists, and each guest room will feature iPod docks and large flat-screen TVs.
| Mar 11, 2011
Construction of helicopter hangars in South Carolina gets off the ground
Construction is under way on a $26 million aviation support facility for South Carolina National Guard helicopters. Hendrick Construction, the project’s Charlotte, N.C.-based GC, is building the 111,000-sf Donaldson Hangar facility on the 30-acre South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center, Greenville.
| Mar 11, 2011
Texas A&M mixed-use community will focus on green living
HOK, Realty Appreciation, and Texas A&M University are working on the Urban Living Laboratory, a 1.2-million-sf mixed-use project owned by the university. The five-phase, live-work-play project will include offices, retail, multifamily apartments, and two hotels.
| Mar 11, 2011
Chicago office building will serve tenants and historic church
The Alter Group is partnering with White Oak Realty Partners to develop a 490,000-sf high-performance office building in Chicago’s West Loop. The tower will be located on land owned by Old St. Patrick’s Church (a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871) that’s currently being used as a parking lot.
