Our client
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a conservation real estate company with expertise in negotiations, public finance, and law. Their aim is to protect and create parkland in park-poor urban areas across the country. These parklands include greenways, community gardens, urban playgrounds, and wilderness. TPL has proudly accomplished expansions of seven city parks and playgrounds in Chicago since 2001, and they have helped protect more than 1.6 million acres nationwide.
Project highlights
Their challenge
Located in Logan Square, one of the most park-poor neighborhoods in Chicago, the Haas Park Field House project was a top priority for our client. They wanted the new field house to include features such as a half-size gymnasium for basketball and volleyball, a fitness center, and community rooms for Chicago Park District activities. Our client also wanted the building’s design to include systems that achieved maximum natural efficiency.
Our solution
Salas O’Brien designed mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems for this 11,300-square-foot building in the Logan Square community. Our design for the field house included a multi-purpose gymnasium with bleachers, gym storage, a reception area, administrative offices, public restrooms, club rooms, and an exercise equipment room. Then, to meet our client’s desires for a sustainable field house, our design featured geothermal mechanical systems targeted to reduce energy consumption. Our design also helped them achieve maximum efficiency by using natural light, a green roof, and rainwater harvesting.
The results
Thanks to our team’s design work to reduce energy consumption while also providing a comfortable environment for field house users, this new field house surpassed our client’s PBC goal of LEED Silver Certification, and was instead awarded LEED Gold certification.
