111 NORTH MARION STREET 
                                  OAK PARK, ILLINOIS   60301 
                                                 (708) 848-8844 
                                         FAX (708) 848-8845

Stephen Huth, President 
Oak Park District 97 School Board 
970 Madison Street 
Oak Park, Illinois   60302 
  
  

Dear Stephen: 

The Oak Park Architectural League would like to thank you and your Board for participating in the informational forum to acquaint our members with the current design of the Middle Schools on September 16 at Pleasant Home.   Since that time we have met again to consolidate our comments on the proposed design of the schools. We offer these comments in the spirit of constructive criticism. 
  

General Comments 

· Design by Committee 
Although it is true that one does not create great architecture by a committee, it is equally true that it does not happen in a void.  We feel that the District waited much too long to seek input on the design of these important buildings from the community.  It seems to us that by the time the perspective drawing was published in the papers, not more than a few weeks ago, the design had already been completed and the buildings were about ready to go into the construction documents phase.  For those taxpayers that supported the referendum and participated in fundraisers, it is unfair to present the design as
a fait accompli. 

· Exterior Design Not Inspiring 
As a group of design professionals and residents of Oak Park, we have serious concerns about the current approach to the exterior design of the middle schools.  There is little detail to relieve the massive quarter-block long and four-story high flat and windowless wall facing Ridgeland Avenue in the case of Julian, and Kenilworth Street, in the case of Emerson.  We want the buildings to be more creative, neighborly, and human in scale, as we are sure you do as well.  We do not think the exterior is friendly to the pedestrian or to the neighborhoods.  The designs lack originality and inspiration that would be
expected in any major public project in the Village. 

· Focused On Plans But Not Exterior 
The plans are fairly well worked out, and it is apparent that this must have been the major focus of efforts by the design team and the Boards design committee.  But a building is three-dimensional in nature, and it is this aspect of the design that appears not to have been considered.  No matter how good the floor plan is now, functions inevitably change over time and the current plan will need to change, while the building mass and form will always remain the same. It will persist as a prominent image in our town. Most of us will only experience its outward appearance. 

· Site Context Ignored 
Placing the same building plan on both sites is wrong when the sites are clearly different in nature and their surrounding context.  The architects have stated that it was just coincidental that the plans developed to be so similar.  This response reinforces our belief that all their efforts were applied to functional interior planning to the detriment of the exterior design and how it would be attuned to the specific site context. 

· Brick Colors 
In our view, the application of two different brick colors for these nearly identical buildings is a weak attempt to try to differentiate the two buildings. We do not agree that the choice of colors is logically derived from the predominant colors in the neighborhoods.  There appears to be as many red brick buildings near Emerson as near Julian.  This is not an argument to make the buildings the same, but to make them contextual. 
  

Specific Recommendations 

The following is a list of suggestions of specific items that we recommend be changed or studied in order to improve the designs of the middle schools.  The District 97 Board should allow and encourage the architects to stretch their design muscles and produce a building that is well thought out and as integrated with the physical context as it appears to be with the educational context. 
  

     1. Abandon all use of Dryvit (and other synthetic materials) on the exterior. 

     2. Abandon the use of aluminum and glass curtain wall on the exterior this will provide additional funds  
         for more  important design issues. 

     3. Eliminate the large metal spandrel panels on the Washington Street facades. 

     4. Make all exterior wall materials brick with limestone trim. 

     5. Use only standard size brick, as opposed to the proposed large brick size. 

     6. Use the same color brick for both buildings. 

     7. Use only red-brown or red-orange brick, as proposed for Julian, and use a discreet range of color in 
         the  brick blend, so it fits within the context of the existing buildings and other buildings of the age of  
         the majority of  the Village. The monolithic buff color currently being proposed for Emerson is not 
         commonly used in Oak Park,  except in anachronistic 1950s buildings, which are not among the most 
         beloved in our community. 

     8. Make each building specific and sensitive to its site rather than a carbon copy design that 
         compromises both  sites. 

     9. Introduce imagination into the facades, and enliven the silhouette. 

     10. Develop a smaller, human scale to the façade as experienced from eyelevel. The scale of the 
           buildings is only big and middle scale. The walls closest to the ground are devoid of an identifiable 
           human scale or  character. 

     11. Introduce a coherent texture into the vast blank planes and masses see the Crow Island School in
          Winnetka. 

     12. Create some depth and articulation into the façade, especially into the curved façade at the entrance  
            to  amplify the effect of this curve. 

     13. Create a discernable difference in height between the lintels above the windows and the sills below,  
           as is traditional. 

     14. Eliminate the eyebrow projections above the windows. 

     15. Integrate the landscaping into the design it currently appears as an after thought.  As Mr. Wright 
           might say in  response to this design, the building is on the site, not of the site. 

     16. Integrate and detail exterior lighting into the building, so it does not appear as prison type lighting 
           attached at  the last minute. 

     17. Completely eliminate the unsightly parking lots and replace with a landscaped courtyard for the 
           children to  make the main entrance to the building elegant, beautiful and safe. 

     18. Eliminate the abrupt change of height at the transition of spine between the 4-story classroom wing 
           and the entrance wing.  This could provide a good opportunity to introduce a clock tower or some    
           other vertical feature  of the façade. Alternatively, extend the spine over the entrance area, keeping  
           the same cornice line. 

     19. Take out the translucent Kalwall skylight and substitute transparent clerestory windows in the wall  
           at  the top  of the hallway spine.  This would be less costly and embellish the appearance of this    
           blank  wall while infusing  sunlight into the interior.  It would have the added benefit of being less   
           prone to leakage, since the windows  would be installed on a vertical plane. 

     20. Relocate the boiler into a basement level to allow the courtyard between the classroom wings to be   
           centered  by the students from the main corridor of the building and be viewed from the corridor in  
           front of the  Auditorium.  This feature would allow additional surge space at a graduation or other  
           crowded event. 

     21. Eliminate use of old building artifacts stuck in the wall of the new building as is being proposed at    
           Julian. These are unrelated to either the new façade design or any textural scheme. The new 
           buildings should have their own ornamentation, integral with and a natural outgrowth of their designs. 

     22. Increase the circulation space, particularly the width of the spine, which is only 10 feet wide at its 
            most critical point near the entrance. 

     23. Develop uniqueness in each school by changing the design of interior elements, such as handrails, 
           doors, floor patterns, colors and materials, signage, furnishings, carpeting, etc. 
       
      

We, the undersigned architects and Oak Park citizens, strongly urge the District 97 Board to take these comments to heart and to reinvestigate and refine the designs of the exteriors of the middle schools.  We applaud your progress to date on implementing these new state-of-the-art facilities for our children.  We understand that a lot of peoples time and effort have gone into securing of funds and planning.  We realize that Oak Park is a large and diverse community and that you cannot  please everyone.  However, as design professionals we truly believe that above suggestions would greatly improve the new middle schools for the benefit of the School Board, the students and the Oak Park community as a whole.  We welcome
further discussion of these comments with the Board and/or your architect at your earliest convenience. 
  

               Floyd Anderson 
               William Arnold 
               Stanley Balodimas 
               Chuck Bassett 
               Robert Bell 
               Tim Blatner 
               Lynn Boeke 
               John Bolchert 
               Fred Burghardt 
               Chun Cham 
               Jeff Clark 
               Jim Collins 
               Carlos Concepcion 
               Dirk Danker 
               Garret Eakin 
               Lou Garapolo 
               David Genc 
               Taras Halibey 
               Frank Heitzman 
               Richard Katz 
               Gus Kostopulos   (an Oak Park Village Trustee.. Oak Park Journal.com note)
               Mary Jo Kuenster 
               Hans Lagoni 
               Bob Lempera 
               James Lencioni 
               David Muriello 
               Mark Nussbaum 
               Bruce OBrien 
               Larry Oltmanns 
               Walter Pancewicz 
               Scott Rogers 
               John Thorpe 
               Werner Sabo 
               Sam Sample 
               Rob Steffen 
               Jim Vanderheyden 
               George Vrecek 
               Peter Weismantle 
               Marvin Worley 
               Cengiz Yetken 
               Mike Zanko