Not many educators would look at a shuttered lumber yard on Chicago’s Northwest Side and declare it the perfect place for a new school.

But Intrinsic School’s leaders weren’t looking for a traditional school, instead they were inventing a new type of learning space. The large column-free spaces located in the high-need neighborhood provided the perfect starting point.

Seventy-five percent of the existing buildings, some over 100 years old, were preserved and left exposed within the new envelope.

The combination of new and old reflects Intrinsic’s educational tactics, where adaptive online learning is blended with traditional teaching in small groups to personalize education.

There are no 30-student classrooms, hallway lockers, or double-loaded corridors. Instead, up to 180 students and 8 teachers rotate within interconnected pods dedicated to each grade level.

The right-hand pod focuses on the Humanities, while the left-hand pod concentrates on STEM. Each pod is comprised of a large open area adjacent to a traditional acoustically-isolated classroom.

Students are immersed in a much larger social network than their counterparts in traditional schools. These larger networks promote encounters between students of different abilities and backgrounds, enriching their experience.

The open area of each pod is designed for rotating between different modes of learning.

A “coastline” of individual desks, furnished in both standing and sitting heights, provides a place for personalized online learning, where students learn at their own pace. “Exchange Tables”, situated under an oversized light shade, host peer-to-peer learning. Two “pop- up class” areas provide teachers a place where they can remediate a common misunderstanding or reinforce a newly learned concept with up to 12 students.

Instead of diminishing the teacher’s role with technology, Intrinsic enables them to more effectively use their time and talent.

Because city code prohibited windows along the east wall due to its proximity to the property line, large nanogel-filled skylights were added to the science labs and seminar rooms within the pods. They channel natural light into the enclosed spaces, offering a window to the sky where none could otherwise exist.

“Our quick evolution required that our architectural partners iterated plans quickly and meaningfully. Teachers and architects iterated after each round of designs to ensure teachers understood the physical design, developed processes for utilizing the space, and created naming conventions which would ultimately shape our culture. Similarly, architects met with our students to learn what elements of a school and classroom create a vibrant, comfortable learning space.

With collective feedback from teachers and students, Wheeler Kearns creatively designed a school which was purposeful, functional, and beautiful.”

Melissa Zaikos, CEO & Principal for Intrinsic Schools

Additional Images

General Contractor: Clune Construction Co.
MEP Engineer: McGuire Engineers, Inc.
Structural Engineer: Enspect Engineering
Civil Engineer: Terra Engineering
Landscape Architect: Wolff Landscape Architects
Acoustical Consultant: Threshold Acoustics
Photographer: Steve Hall (with Hedrich Blessing)
Videographer: Josh Deunsing – 80JD