Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Stevenson High School’s 56,000 sf East Building Addition was an inspired response to a growing student enrollment, with an interior courtyard, classrooms, labs, lounge space, a greenhouse, photovoltaic solar panel arrays, a three-story living wall, recycled water filtration, a weather station, and green roofs.

On the south end of the building a perennial-focused green roof with native shrubs offers a place of respite and contemplation with year-round beauty. The west and north sides of the roof were planted with Omni Meadow species and forage crops like carrots and kale. Accessible table-top planters contain cover crops which support seasonal produce and cut-flower production.

The green roofs support innovative instruction in biology and botany, with students producing food for the cafeteria. This is the first verified Net Zero Energy building in Illinois as acknowledged by the New Buildings Institute (NBI), LEED Schools Platinum, and the first Living Architecture Performance Tool (LAPT) Platinum certified project in the world.