Sullivan High School | City Year Chicago

Each year, the global design firm Gensler partners City Year Chicago to create a student center/room in a Chicago Public School at no cost to that school. City Year works to bridge the gap in high-poverty communities between the support that students actually need, and what their schools are designed and resourced to provide.

Gensler converted a neglected storage room at Sullivan High School in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood into an inspirational learning center managed by City Year’s AmeriCorps volunteers. Teens from the high school worked directly with Gensler during visioning sessions to design a vibrant, adaptable design space for the students and volunteers/mentors work together.

In order to build out the space at no cost to the school, Gensler coordinated donations of products and services from various Chicago-area furniture and construction partners. The refreshed room included new flooring, paint, mural, flat-screen TV, lounge and reading area, computer desks, mobile tables, chairs, a kitchenette, and long tables for volunteers to use. Henricksen donated all of the Allsteel Nimble stacking chairs in the space.

Today, the room is used for tutoring and academic intervention, after-school programs and clubs, group meetings for social/emotional well-being, and a welcoming place for students to read or study.