The Joint Public Safety Training Center (JPSTC) is in West Humboldt Park, an impoverished Chicago neighborhood that had seen no significant building in generations. When it was announced the project was the target of widespread protests from skeptical residents and observers. By working with neighborhood stakeholders, the design team facilitated several public engagement events with local residents and community members. Together they crafted an aspirational vision to create a catalyst for economic growth and a significant civic building, which invited interaction with community members as a step toward building trust and mutual understanding.

The design team considered the surrounding community as a partner in the design. Together, they crafted a vision based on transparency and rebuilding the relationships between residents and the City of Chicago’s public safety departments. Neighborhood stakeholders were included as the design evolved, creating excitement and a sense of ownership in the process and a positive, welcoming outcome for residents.

The design-build team worked to maximize minority business involvement and community workforce opportunities and substantially exceeded the minority participation requirements established by the City of Chicago. More than half of the 1,119 project team members were minorities, with 66 team members coming from the immediate project area. The impact of the project is already taking root in the community with ancillary projects under the way such as a Boys & Girls Club and two restaurants.

In addition to job opportunities and restoring relationships, the community desired a dramatic civic building. The JPSTC was conceived using transparency as a metaphorical and physical device. Inspired by the checkerboard hat band synonymous with Chicago Police, the public façade is an abstraction of that Sillitoe tartan flickering to create openings that allow the community to see inside, observe and invite curiosity. Cantilevering bays open and turn to face the sidewalk, revealing a peek to the training taking place inside. The effect is striking and the direct result of community input and symbolic meaning.

The construction budget for this 180,000 square foot civic project was capped at a very lean $85 million. The design-build team worked to reduce costs without sacrificing quality or design. They delivered the project under budget and returned $4 million from contingency allowing the City to buy furniture and training equipment that had been previously unfunded. One way the design team accomplished this was by “building less”. In addition to saving money, this strategy improved the project’s carbon impact. Replacing suspended ceilings with acoustic insulation on exposed construction and eliminating hard flooring in favor of exposed slabs are simple examples of a strategy that balanced construction costs with responsibility and experience.

Public perception is changing from protests to pride. The newly constructed JPSTC is seen as a “… source of excitement and possibility for a West Garfield Park community no longer forgotten.” (Chicago Sun-Times, October 20, 2022)