Tour of the AIA Chicago Decarbonization Award Recipient: The Keller Center – Harris School of Public Policy

Join AIA Chicago’s Committee On The Environment (COTE) and Design Knowledge Communities for a tour of the University of Chicago’s Keller Center, home to the Harris School of Public Policy, winner of the inaugural AIA Chicago Decarbonization Award in 2022.

The first LEED Platinum building on campus, and one of the first higher-education projects to achieve the Living Building Challenge’s Petal Certification, the Keller Center highlights include a 150 MWh photovoltaic array, innovative daylighting strategies, Red List compliant products, salvaged materials, 15,000-gallon rainwater cistern, rain gardens, bird-friendly glazing, gender-adaptable restrooms, radiant heating/cooling, and a rooftop event space with stunning Midway and downtown Chicago views.

Architects: Farr Associates (Design Lead & Architect of Record) Woodhouse Tinucci Architects (Collaborating Architect, Interior Designer)

Tour Leads
Doug Farr, FAIA, LEED AP, CNU-A, Founder/Principal at Farr Associates
Kelly Moynihan, AIA, Principal at HPZS

Learning Objectives

Learn how designers achieved the Materials Petal of the Living Building Challenge; impacting manufacturer’s material composition through the stringent Red List Imperative and meeting the Living Economy Sourcing Imperative through locally salvage materials that created community jobs.

Learn about the history of the University of Chicago campus, and how an adaptive reuse strategy was the winning strategy for the Harris School’s mission as well as dramatically reducing the project’s embodied carbon and energy demand with a higher performing envelope.

Learn about different daylighting opportunities through the building’s high-performance skylights & integrated shading systems.

Learn about water-saving strategies, complete with policy-pushing gender neutral restrooms and a rainwater cistern that diverts over 525,000 gallons of water per year from Chicago’s sewer system.