LEARNING BY DESIGN magazine - John Hancock College Preparatory High School

Site Plan
First Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan
Landscape integration was key in the early phases of the project through which the design team sought to create connections with the community fabric and generate social activity using the site as an asset.
Exterior, SW Corner – The curtain wall enclosing the gymnatorium, STEM labs, and library features a mix of clear, tinted, and spandrel glasses.
Exterior, SE Corner – Brick accents at the windows include folded corners accentuating the building corners and approach.
Exterior, North from Public Row – Five colors of brick identify the black box theater and represent low- and high-frequency sound waves.
Exterior, North from Courtyard – Cantilevered program elements highlight the media center and STEM labs while reflecting the design of the social spaces in the courtyard.
Exterior, Night, from Courtyard Toward West – Glazed brick in vertical ribbons highlight and differentiate the black box theater as the primary performance space in the school.
Brick relief feature at select windows
Interior at Social Stair – The media center overlooks the social stair connecting the spaces vertically and dynamically.
A 4,500-square-foot black box theater with 300 seats reinforces Hancock High School’s focus on the arts.
Interior at STEM Lab
Interior at Second-Floor Social Seating
Interior at Media Center
AJ Brown Imaging
AJ Brown Imaging
AJ Brown Imaging

PROJECT NARRARTIVE

An arts-focused high school uplifts its underserved community, promotes diversity, and pays tribute to the nearby Chicago Midway International Airport. Though construction took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the design-build delivery enabled the project to finish under budget and on time.

The new John Hancock College Preparatory High School, designed by Legat Architects and UrbanWorks, forms a community hub within Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood. The 178,000-square-foot facility enables its students (94% Hispanic, 82% from economically disadvantaged families) to ascend from a 1950s-era building to a campus that prioritizes learning and community connections. The facility acoustically and aesthetically responds to the Chicago Midway International Airport just two blocks away. Hancock High School is Public Building Commission of Chicago/Chicago Public Schools’ only new school completed in 2021.

The project encouraged inclusion, from gathering community input (e.g., pot-luck engagement sessions, bilingual meetings, student input meetings) to building a diverse design and construction team (e.g., 32.8% MBE participation, 10.2% WBE participation, 98% minority laborers, 21% community resident workforce).

Thanks to design-build delivery, a strong focus on coordination of construction teams and technical accuracy drove everything from the execution of façade details to developing and tracking Chicago Public Schools’ environmental goals.

John Hancock College Preparatory High School

Description

Owner
Public Building Commission of Chicago
Chicago, IL

Architecture Firm
Designers: Legat Architects/UrbanWorks Client: Public Building Commission of Chicago/Chicago Public Schools
Gurnee,Illinois
legat.com

Photography By:
AJ Brown Imaging

John Hancock College Preparatory High School

Category

Description