Global Citizenship Experience Lab School (GCE) is a non-profit high school with a unique, sustainability-driven curriculum. Founded in 2010, GCE uses the City of Chicago as an extension of their classroom. They cultivate an environment where curiosity, risk-taking, diversity, and empathy are celebrated. Having outgrown their current location in the West Loop, GCE is in the process of moving their campus to a new downtown location. GCE has assembled an interdisciplinary design team to realize this ambitious interior build-out which will be located on the third floor of an existing high-rise.

Civic Projects collaborated with an interdisciplinary design team to realize this interior build-out, including Farr Associates and Architecture Is Fun.

The design of the school mirrors the cyclical nature of the GCE education. Students circulate through spaces dedicated to the acts of watching, discussing, and making. Classrooms are organized around a central corridor, buffered on either side by a “thickened wall” — inhabited with bookcases, meeting spots, and spaces for students to take refuge in while reading or studying. Above all, this space aims to serve the many types of students that call GCE home, while celebrating and showcasing the work they produce. Civic Projects was tasked with identifying the spatial needs of each learning space, incorporating vital feedback from current students and faculty.