Evanston/Skokie School District 65

The Joseph E. Hill Education Center meets the environmental, social, and economic concerns of the community it serves. Consolidating preschool, pre-primary special education, adult education, social services, and district administration into one building, the Center fosters a holistic system of social and educational services that benefits the entire community.

Site development and planning preserves significant open space as community parkland. New on-site bus staging, serving both the Center and a neighboring elementary school, reduces congestion on public streets, increases child safety, and enhances the community environment. Lower, transparent building elements surround a courtyard garden that opens to the neighborhood and contains planting beds used by the preschool education program. Ground-level planting boxes and trellises reinforce the relationship between building and landscape.

Particularly significant among the project’s environmental benefits is its stormwater management. A series of underground tubes collects, filters, and drains stormwater into the adjacent North Shore Channel, greatly reducing erosion and sedimentation of local waterways and dramatically lowering municipal sewer infrastructure expense.

• Campus is served by commuter bus lines
• Building footprint is minimized to reduce site disturbance
• Highly reflective roofing materials reduce heat-island effect
• Water runoff strategy eliminates discharge into municipal storm sewer system
• Low-cutoff light fixtures avoid contributing to night-sky pollution

• Building addresses neighborhood’s social, economic, and environmental concerns
• Reduced dependence on the municipal storm sewer system exceeds LEED targets

• No-smoking policy
• Carbon dioxide monitoring system provides feedback on ventilation performance
• Operable windows in all occupied rooms improve ventilation effectiveness and occupant control
• Low-VOC paints, carpets, adhesives, and sealants used throughout
• Automated temperature/humidity monitoring system optimizes building conditions
• 75% of all occupied spaces have access to natural daylight and views
• Air-distribution system filtered and flushed prior to occupancy

• Soft, resilient playground surface is composed of recycled automobile tires
• 20% of building materials are manufactured regionally
• Structural-steel and aluminum-cladding systems incorporate recycled content

• HCFC-free and halon-free refrigeration and fire-suppression equipment prevents ozone depletion
• Insulated, low-E coated glass reduces energy consumption

• Elimination of permanent site irrigation system reduces potable water usage
• Hardy and/or native vegetation minimizes irrigation requirements
• Lavatory sensors reduce potable water usage

• District-wide professional development/resource library
• Early childhood education/community childcare
• District registration and early childhood screening
• Pre-primary special education
• Adult education: GED & ESL services
• District administration: superintendent, curriculum, pupil and special services, human resources and business offices
• District health screening
• Social Services provided through Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association