Discovery Partners Institute Design

• Oscar Almanza
• Jesus Escobar
• George Lopez

On a vacant 62 acre-development site in Downtown Chicago, sits the opportunity for an urban Silicon Valley, interconnecting all University of Illinois students with companies, investors, and peers to encourage innovation working with the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI). DPI is a purpose driven, collaborative research institute based on bettering Illinois by offering solutions to challenges that face this state. This Chicago based institute is set to be built at the southwest corner of Roosevelt Road and Clark Street , near the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC ) main campus. The team is determined to design a UIC facility as an extension to bridge the gap between the main campus and the Discovery Partners Institute. With residential and commercial buildings accounting for 35 to 40% of energy consumption and 50 to 65% of total electricity consumption in the U.S. (EIA 2014), designing a building with a relatively small ecological footprint is the main priority. To reach this goal, the group is incorporating sustainable materials, such as triple glazed windows, recycled steel, and a rooftop irrigation system for the proposed 4 story international style building. These materials are chosen due to their low impact to the surrounding environment, and by running an appropriate cost-benefit analysis, emphasizing the importance of sustainability. 1.EIA (2014) International Energy Outlook 2014, U.S Energy Information Administration, Washington DC, USA.