Green Community Center Opens in Chicago
The most prominent green feature is the rainwater harvesting system.
Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 6/11/2007 12:00:00 AM
Last week marked the opening of the Midwest's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community center, the Center on Halsted. Sporting a green design by architecture and design firm Gensler, the three-story, 185,000-square-foot complex is earmarked to land LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
The restored terra cotta and brick façade of the 1924 building is now wrapped with a new glass structure. Inside, the community benifits from a vast array of offerings, including an entertainment venue, a Whole Foods grocery store, a café, offices for more than a dozen community service partners, a technology center, a gymnasium, a theater, a public roof garden, an underground parking structure, and several other gathering spaces.
The most prominent green feature in the design is the rainwater harvesting system, which is the city’s first and is estimated to save over 500,000 gallons of water a year. Other environmentally-friendly elements are a highly-efficient mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, harvested brick, and a green roof planted with drought resistant local plants.
“The diverse identities of all of the people who will be using this building is what inspired our design,” sai Jason Longo, an architectural design director at Gensler. "Expressions of transparency, color, pattern, and historic elements reflect diversity while presenting a unified composition.”
To furnish the facility, Gensler conceived a unique donation program.
We would love your feedback!
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
