Evanston Township High School
Evanston Township High District 202 sought improvements to its more than 60-acre campus, including the design of a new sports stadium and synthetic turf surfaces for existing football and soccer fields.
EEA was brought in by OWP/P Architects (now Cannon Design) to assist with planning and design of the site’s athletic facilities.
While working on the stadium field improvements, EEA encountered unique design challenges as noted in an article by Stormwater Magazine. The school wanted to reduce their reliance on City water for irrigation, while improving the existing system that utilized host connects. To meet these needs, EEA facilitated the installation of a new fully-automated irrigation system to collect the runoff from beneath the new synthetic turf fields and route it to an underground storage tank system. The stored water is then pumped through a network of pipes and sprinklers.
The system’s benefits extended beyond reusing rainwater for irrigation and storing stormwater, it also reduced runoff to the school’s adjacent neighbors with a history of localized flooding. The City of Evanston recognized the long-term advantages of this unique system for both stormwater detention and water-quality regulations.
EEA was also asked to solve soil condition issues. Several feet of unusable soil was located in the old stadium area, and excavation costs were estimated at $300,000. EEA developed an alternative solution utilizing lime stabilization that ultimately reduced the cost to $80,000, saving more than tw0-thirds of the original estimate.
Following the work on the fields, EEA was asked to assist with the detailed design of the school’s stadium beginning in mid-March of 2008. The project deadline? Summer of 2008. EEA quickly prepared phased drawings and specifications for the project meeting the requested timeline and budget.
The combination of efficient design phases and a soil treatment solution were critical in keeping the project on its aggressive schedule and ready for the season opening football game in August of 2008.