The 5th Ward of Evanston has long faced disinvestment—limited green space, environmental concerns, and until recently, no neighborhood elementary school. In 2022, when District 65 began exploring a new school on a vacant industrial site on Emerson Street, I proposed a design that treated the building and landscape as one continuous system.

The site was only a few blocks from my own home. On my walk over, I noticed the abandoned and overgrown Pacific Union railway viaduct—now part of the Weber Spur Trail initiative. This became the project’s organizing move. I shaped a circular berm that loops up to meet the future trail, extending it into a public park that doubles as outdoor learning space. The school is set six feet below grade, shielded by a 15-foot berm to the south, with a green roof that aligns to the surrounding prairie so the building reads as landscape rather than object.

Working with architects at Studio Gang and STL, and consulting with Professor David Corr at Northwestern University, I developed a cross-laminated timber structure capable of supporting the living roof and confirmed the berm could be formed entirely from on-site material. A skylight generated through a Fibonacci-based algorithm brings controlled daylight into the commons.

Inspired in part by Crow Island School, each classroom steps toward the landscape, includes a reading nook, and opens directly outdoors. The result is a school embedded in its site—structurally, environmentally, and spatially—designed to function as both civic infrastructure and everyday learning environment.