Educare Family Center

EDI provided complete Civil Engineering and Site Design services as well as Topographic & Boundary Surveying for a 7,800 SF addition to the existing Educare Family Center (originally designed by architect Stanley Tigerman) located on Chicago's Southside. The new addition houses family education and early childhood development programs for lower-income/at-risk children and families. Working within a tight $2 million budget, the design team combined economical and durable materials to create a facility that aims to inspire those who visit, while keeping future maintenance/operational costs to a minimum.

Highlights of EDI's role include assisting the General Contractor in developing a value engineered parking lot design, where only the extension portion of the lot was constructed and the existing lot was sealcoated. The stormwater system, including detention basin, were designed to account for the reconstruction of the existing lot. EDI also worked closely with the project Architect, von Weise Associates, to design a dry detention basin that includes features to blend the design with the adjacent new building and use of the basin as a play area during dry periods. These features include colored retaining walls, perimeter landscaping, and special below grade inlet and outlet structures. The basin incorporates sustainable design features, such as an infiltration system to permanently retain the water on site so that some of it can percolate into the ground or evaporate into the air.