Bronzeville Classical School

Location

Chicago, IL

Owner

Chicago Public Schools

Architect

Koo, LLC

Features

9.5 million dollar renovation finished within 6 months
Class room expansions
Masonry upgrades

Description

Bronzeville Classical School, received 9.5 million dollars worth of renovation which had to be finished in time for the start of the fall school semester, a mere 6 months from the start of the work. From March 2018 to August 2018 the project team had to complete $1-2 Million dollars in construction every month to meet the schedule in the many scopes such as floor tile abatement, heavy demolition, plaster repairs, drywall/framing, painting, flooring, athletic flooring restoration, elevators, playground/play areas, astro-turf, electrical/ plumbing upgrades and extensive facade restoration.

Utilizing large containment areas for the abatement of nearly all the floor tile in the facility enabled the abatement contractor to reduce time and turn over large portions of the building for heavy demolition operations. Five class rooms on the second floor were expanded into larger learning spaces for Music, Science and a Resource Center. To do so, load bearing walls had to be demolished between the rooms and temporary shoring had to be erected to hold up the building before new load bearing steel & masonry could be installed to carry the weight of the demolished load bearing partitions that separated these spaces.

Masonry upgrades included lintel and steel repairs, brick removal/replacement, graffiti removal, cleaning and extensive tuckpointing. Decorative sunshades, cementitious paneling, metal trims, signage and exterior painting were other complimentary scopes to the extensive masonry restoration that have given the once bleak facade a colorful and vibrant appearance.

Mock-ups were done on paint, plaster, flooring, masonry, cement paneling, solid surface wall paneling, etc to aide the design team, owner and contractor in selecting colors & coordinate their installation with the existing conditions. Due to the tight schedule, lead times and procurement of materials were analyzed by the team and several alternate products had to be utilized so they could be installed before the start of the school year.