Built to serve foster and community children and at-risk families in Chicago’s Roosevelt Square area, this 11,000-sq-ft community center was completed in just 13 months. Crucial to keeping the project on schedule and within budget was close team collaboration, from extensive upfront design coordination to early procurements. The team always kept its mission in focus. “It’s this mindset of a village of people coming together and saying these children, this community, is important,” says Tim McCormick, CEO of SOS Children’s Villages Illinois.
The building, which represents one of the first permitted uses of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in Chicago, includes columns, beams and a roof structure all executed as CLT. The choice of exposed wood was crucial to the design, the team says.