Charter School of the Dunes

Gary, IN, United States

Add To Collection

Other Projects by Public Design Architects LLC

Add To Collection

Charter School of the Dunes

Gary, IN, United States

Firm

Public Design Architects LLC

Type

Educational › Elementary School High School

YEAR

2013

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$5M - 10M

PDA was the Design Architect for this new home for an existing charter school in Gary, a 62,000 SF expansion to a full K-12 program. Designed to LEED Gold, it is created from three primary volumes in a pre-engineered building system, to meet the exceptional demands of cost, dead load limitations, and schedule. The school embraces a section of existing oak savannah on this sandy duneland site to create a safe and quiet teaching court, sheltering students from the violence and noise along the truck route it faces in this post-industrial community. The lightweight metal building system was completed for under $150/SF, on poor sandy soils, and opened a year after groundbreaking.