Veterans Memorial Campus UNO Charter School

United Neighborhood Organization’s (UNO’s) Veterans Memorial Charter School Campus is a 180,000 square foot learning facility transformed from an abandoned warehouse. This adaptive reuse structure serves more than 1,800 K-12 grade students and represents the culmination of grassroots leadership and community activism within Chicago’s school reform movement to provide cutting-edge education and building design within the local southwest Latino community.

This design-build project stacks two elementary schools and a high school on separate floors. Dramatically glazed building volumes create sunlit communal spaces that breathe new life into an existing brick and concrete industrial structure. Extensive green elements transform spaces that promote good health through sustainable technologies. A 90-panel solar thermal photovoltaic system supplies hot water for the campus. An extensive green roof provides pleasant outdoor spaces for students and faculty.

David Mason + Associates provided structural engineering for this project. Our scope included design of new stair towers, building additions, and modifications to the existing structure for a new gymnasium. New openings and opening infills were required for new MEP systems. The new gymnasium required selective demolition of existing floor areas, and a new enclosure.

We provided extensive construction management services in order to expedite steel detailing, fabrication and execution.

The UNO Charter School has received LEED Gold Certification, and has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Chicago Chapter for design excellence.