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comment Chicago Offers Elementary Students a Green School
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In September 2009, just in time for the new school year, Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy opened in the northwest Chicago neighborhood of Belmont Cragin. The 106,000-square-foot, three-story green school will house 900 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
In addition to state-of-the-art teaching tools, the school offers students and teachers daylighting, superior indoor air quality, and control over the heating and cooling systems in individual classrooms. STL Architects designed the building for LEED-Silver certification with sunshades and lightshelves to control daylighting and limit both the glare and the need for electric lighting.
Over 25 percent of the roof is vegetated with three separate green roofs; the remaining surface is covered with a reflective, white roof to reduce the heat island effect. Also, the school uses no potable water for landscaping and is designed to use 30 percent less water than a comparable school built to code.
Copyright 2009 by BuildingGreen, LLC
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