This build­ing serves two pri­ma­ry roles: aca­d­e­m­ic space for stu­dents enrolled at the Col­lege of DuPage’s Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion pro­gram and a care cen­ter for 116 chil­dren. The co-loca­tion of these two pro­grams pro­vides a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro-type­/re­fine teach­ing method­olo­gies and design for child­hood edu­ca­tion under one roof. 

With a tight bud­get and sched­ule, the building’s bones are pre-fab­ri­cat­ed. Col­ored pan­els and an enhanced build­ing enclo­sure ani­mate the façade against the Illi­nois prairie. Dis­tinct yet con­tex­tu­al, the build­ing feels famil­iar to the agrar­i­an archi­tec­tur­al lan­guage of Glen Ellyn. 

Essen­tial­ly a large open space, inte­ri­or class­rooms are orga­nized around a cen­tral inte­ri­or place space dot­ted with sky­lights over­head. Each learn­ing space is afford­ed views and day­light­ing, includ­ing from lit­tle win­dows only tod­dlers can see out of or nes­tle into. Obser­va­tion rooms are scat­tered through­out the build­ing to allow col­lege stu­dents oppor­tu­ni­ties to observe and learn through the Co-Op pro­gram with­out dis­tract­ing the care center’s curi­ous minds. 

An exten­sive geot­her­mal sys­tem is just one of numer­ous design strate­gies that enhance operations/​main­te­nance while also explor­ing low-tech sus­tain­able solutions. 

Client: Col­lege of DuPage
Pro­gram: Child­hood care and edu­ca­tion
Size: 22,500 sqft
Cost: $5,800,000

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Part­ners:
EVS Con­struc­tion (Gen­er­al Con­trac­tor)
Infra­struc­ture Engi­neer­ing (Civ­il Engi­neer)
Jacobs Ryan Asso­ciates (Land­scape Archi­tect)
KJWW Engi­neer­ing (Mechan­i­cal, Elec­tri­cal, Plumb­ing and Struc­tur­al Engineer)

Pho­tog­ra­phy Cred­it: © Kate Joyce, Hedrich Blessing