V3 provided comprehensive site civil engineering, water resource, environmental, and sustainability services for the development of a Chicago Public Charter School on the underserved Southwest side of Chicago. This project, in collaboration with Cultivate Collective, aims to foster systemic change in education through innovative, sustainable, and holistic approaches. The school, which serves pre-K through 8th grades, spans 40,000 square feet and accommodates 600 students. The campus also features a neighborhood marketplace, urban farm, community center, and other community-based initiatives, all designed to achieve the highest levels of climate resiliency and regenerative environmental sustainability.

We led the feasibility, design, and construction coordination for the Water Petal system, which harvests, collects, stores, and treats rainwater to potable standards, significantly offsetting domestic water needs. This project, which reduces typical water consumption by 50% and removes 1.5 million gallons of rainwater from combined sewers,

The Academy for Global Citizenship is the first project in Illinois, as well as the first whole school building in the world, to be Living Building Challenge certified, which is the world’s highest environmental building standards.

This project has also won multiple awards, including:

• AIA Illinois 2024 Great Impact Honor Award
• 2025 ACEC IL Engineering Excellence Honors Award in Waste & Storm Water