Former power plant to save power as LEED school
The 104-year-old Chicago power plant-turned-public school will earn LEED gold.
Source: Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 9/2/2009 12:02:55 PM
A team of engineers, architects, and foundation leaders in Chicago has turned a handsome but derelict old power plant that once served Sears Roebuck & Co.'s massive West Side headquarters into an inspired public charter high school, according to the Chicago Tribune. What once powered an entire neighborhood of buildings will now save enough energy to earn an anticipated U.S. Green Building Council LEED gold certification.
The 104-year-old structure is now the Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center, which includes Power House High School. The $40 million project, aided by $17 million in federal tax credits, has recovered the architectural glory of the old power plant, especially in a soaring turbine room with glistening white brick walls and tall, arched (and energy-efficient) windows. The building also features geothermal wells for heating and cooling, a planted roof, natural daylighting from skylights, low-flow toilets, and solar-powered sinks.
Spaces that were once filled with other engineering marvels are now retrofitted into school spaces-the three-story turbine room is now a great hall, and the boiler rooms will serve as classrooms and meeting rooms.
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