1 / 1

New Trier High School, a nationally acclaimed and residentially land-locked high school, faced a situation familiar to many long-established districts—aging facilities that had not kept pace with modern approaches to teaching and learning. The school chose to replace within the same footprint three adjacent buildings that were among the most inefficient, inaccessible, and obsolete on campus with a 280,000-sf new addition that would provide students with the educational and cultural experience of a collegiate environment.

Given the school’s rich past, the community expected the heritage of the existing school to be celebrated. In response, the addition delivers a modern program within a historically sensitive “envelope.” A new north student entrance provides a modern, glassy interpretation of the iconic art deco tower at the school’s historic main entrance. Design elements of masonry, stone, and terra cotta seamlessly blend the new addition with the existing building.