The National Academy of Global Citizenship (NAGC) is the first of its kind in the world – a six-acre campus and public charter school built on fully sustainable materials through a process to meet and preserve complete sustainability.
Located in the underserved southwest side of Chicago, the school’s innovative and holistic approach to education aims to foster systematic change and inspire how society educates future generations. It includes future educational, farming and workforce development programming, creating a reliable model for learning well into the twenty-first century.
To bring the mission of this groundbreaking school’s visionaries to life, NAGC engaged in constructing a net positive energy campus that totals nearly 90,000 square feet. The campus would include 550 kW of solar energy on-site, 50 geothermal wells and battery storage to ensure climate resiliency.
ER2 Image Group was recommended by global design firm Gensler to handle all creative services, including the design of all environmental graphics, signage and wayfinding required, as well as the engineering for that design.
The Challenge:
Build An Environment With 100% Sustainable Materials.
Nothing Less.
That’s right. Every single product utilized in this project had to be recyclable and sustainable.
Why did this high degree of sustainability matter so much to the National Academy of Global Citizenship?
It stems directly from the school’s belief that harmony with nature provides opportunities to see how environmental graphic design affects the way we learn. As a result of that learning experience, NAGC provides a setting in which 450 students can change the world.
To meet these sustainability guidelines at the highest level, ER2 Image Group and our Applied Surfaces division applied an incredibly stringent eye to selecting precise materials for NAGC that were fully sustainable in nature.
For example:
- Wallcoverings are 35% post-consumer product
- Signage and wayfinding utilize all-natural maple hardwoods
- A donor wall is entirely recyclable
- Each classroom (referred to as “villages”) features writable surfaces
This isn’t the kind of school that puts up bulletin boards with today’s lesson or agenda. Its leadership team had wanted something more meaningful and unifying in its concept.
Therefore, each grade at the National Academy of Global Citizenship is represented by a different biome and color scheme: Wetlands, prairie, tundra and more.
During our project, we also selected images of each grade to display on the walls where appropriate. ER2’s team members would have to collaborate often to ensure each image fit the color scheme, fit the biome theme and was local to Illinois nature. We also produced custom magnetic panels within the wall coverings in each biome so kids could post artwork.
The masterpiece of this project is the “heart,” a two-story staircase that opens on all four sides of the building. ER2 wrapped the entire structure of this stairway with the repeating pattern of a forest.
The National Academy of Global Citizenship is our biggest sustainable design project to date at ER2 Image Group. More importantly, if this remarkably innovative school thrives the way many believe it will, it should become the first of many more schools like it.
And when that happens, we’ll be more than ready at ER2 to source and apply 100% sustainable materials where needed, ensuring we bring these built environments to life, too.
