The Department of Capital Planning and Construction is committed to providing CPS students with a building that is safe, warm, and dry. The department’s mission is to make students and staff proud of their school so that they can concentrate on their studies and core missions, by investing in its physical assets (i.e. buildings, sites, and equipment) to ensure children have a safe and quality learning environment.
Our goal is to achieve an optimal standard of physical condition for each school through renovations and improve learning through educational enhancements by using innovative design, planning, and construction techniques.
These guidelines have been developed through the collaboration of various parties with Capital Planning and Construction leadership. Information contained within these guidelines utilizes a range of recently built and in-progress projects for the Chicago Public Schools. These guidelines, including drawings, data, etc., are based upon and limited to information available at the time of this update. Persons utilizing or adapting this information, shall verify all decisions and/or actions with current codes, regulations and/or conditions and shall take full responsibility for all work being implemented at a CPS facility.
The Department of Facilities, CPS Departmental Groups and Management, and Schools shall reference these guidelines when planning to undertake any work for CPS. Facilities is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of CPS schools/facilities and administrative offices. The Department of Facilities ensures that the district’s schools and facilities are clean, safe, heated and cooled, and dry. The Department of Facilities supports school-based staff with the day-to-day physical operation of their buildings, assist schools to effectively use their building maintenance funding, and work with schools to develop energy efficiency measures and reduce their energy consumption and cost.
The Design Guidelines are intended to normalize design outcomes across the entire CPS system. They are not intended to supplant sound architectural/engineering judgment or common sense. If in the opinion of the designer of record a deviation should be considered, then a written/formal request should be made to deviate from the design guidelines.
It is furthermore understood by users of these guidelines, that there may be other/additional contractual requirements which must be considered in unison with these guidelines and users shall ensure that they have the most current versions available for review and use. These guidelines shall be considered a “living” document considering CPS will be implementing regular updates going forward into the future.
As a living document, these Design Guidelines are being continuously updated for language and documentation, therefore, the individual sections still under review are marked “In Progress” and may contain ‘Draft’ watermarks.
