We are proud to announce that V3 has won a 2025 ACEC IL Engineering Excellence Honors Award in Waste & Storm Water for our work on the Academy of Global Citizenship! This annual award recognizes engineering achievements that benefit public welfare, meet client goals, and elevate engineering practices, and we are thrilled to be recognized for our water and civil engineering expertise on this game-changing project. Learn more about our work on this Living Building!
Project Goals
The Academy for Global Citizenship’s (AGC) newest campus was ideated with an ambitious goal: to be Chicago’s first Living Building Challenge-certified and Phius-certified building. Aligning with the school’s mission to be a beacon for what’s possible in elementary education and community engagement, striving for net-zero water conditions was an important pillar in creating a green space for young minds and green technologies to thrive.
V3 was hired to lead civil engineering and water engineering consulting for this visionary project. In order to meet the strict Living Building standards, the AGC team had to be extremely mindful in every element of its built environment, creating a “symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built and natural environment.”
Project Approach and Complexity
Aiming to be the first Living Building in Chicago was first and foremost driven by the school’s mission. It’s an extremely difficult designation for any structure to achieve, but that desire to shine a light for an underserved community inspired engineers to work through the project’s many challenges.
The project was developed on a brownfield site with environmental concerns, but V3’s engineers rose to the challenge by finding creative ways to maximize the capture, treatment, and reuse of rainwater, pushing the boundaries of existing methods to achieve net-zero water conditions.
Working within the constraints of an urban environment also proved challenging, especially given the diverse spectrum of desired programming. V3’s engineers found solutions within the spatially constrained site to lay out everything AGC wanted for their students and neighbors. The water system was the most complex challenge of all. AGC and V3 saw an opportunity to showcase the collected water’s storage and filtration directly to the students as a learning moment. The school features a dynamic watershed display that educates students on how their school collects and reuses water as it’s happening, sending water below ground before coming back up and creating moments of curiosity and wonder.
Client and Community Impact
Transforming a brownfield into a revolutionary school of the future has made a tremendous impact on this community. AGC’s mission was to be a beacon for the surrounding area by setting a standard on what can be achieved when community builders work together. The engineering efforts of AGC’s team not only minimized the school’s carbon footprint but also improved conditions beyond the previously environmentally compromised brownfield site. Additionally, the school incorporated a variety of community amenities on its campus, including a farmers’ market (with food grown in their own urban farm) and community health care center.
Harnessing the power of best practices and creative thinking, this project helped lift up an underserved neighborhood and prove that change can happen anywhere. Through the power of partnership, the City of Chicago and AGC teamed to make a significant investment in upgrading the surrounding area’s infrastructure.
AGC saves one million gallons a year with its net-zero water conditions and creates a net-positive water condition and awaits recognition as the first Living Building in Illinois and is the largest of its kind in the world.
Work with V3’s Water and Civil Engineering experts
The Academy for Global Citizenship is a preeminent example of innovative thinking, sustainable engineering, and thoughtful community investment. We are proud to be part of this year’s celebrated engineering firms; connect with our team to start your next project.