Tarkington Elementary School
Public Building Commission
Chicago, Illinois

Architect: Warman, Olsen, Warman

The George Sollitt Construction Company completed Tarkington School, located at 3330 W. 71st St. in Chicago, in 2005.  This was the first school in Chicago to be certified a "green" school by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating system.

The building features reflective roofing to reflect solar energy and cool the building in hot weather, a plumbing system that uses 30 percent less water than the baseline calculated for the building, no refrigerants which deplete the ozone layer and 50 percent of the building’s electricity is provided by renewable sources.

The building also features the following:

√ Roof and site storm water run off that feeds into an adjacent lagoon.  This will reduce the load on municipal sewers.

√ Vegetative roof surfaces which capture rain water and return a portion back to the atmosphere.  It also lowers the roof temperature conserving energy.

The 134,000 square foot school houses approximately 1,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, including 27 standard academic classrooms, six kindergarten classrooms, four special education classrooms, a science classroom, a full-service kitchen and dining room facilities.  It also has an art room, music room, learning resource center, multi-purpose room, and gymnasium shared with the Chicago Park District.  The building has a state-of-the-art computer network, it is fully air-conditioned and accessible to people with disabilities, and it has a parking lot with 110 parking spaces.