Northern Illinois University Center for Community Sustainability
The Future of Sustainability
Farr Associates and Berglund Construction were selected by the State of Illinois Capital Development Board to design and construct the new Northern Illinois University Center for Community Sustainability.
The transformative state-of-the-art facility will serve as a regional hub for sustainability research, innovation, and public engagement and support advanced research and education focused on energy, water, food, and environmental resilience.
The building itself will serve as a model of sustainability, while featuring specialized laboratories, flexible learning spaces, and innovative technologies rarely found together under one roof.
Client: Northern Illinois University & Capital Development Board
Location: Dekalb, IL
Role: Architect of Record
Project Area: 17,900 sf
Estimated Completion: 2028
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Berglund: General Contractor
Farr Associates: Architect of Record
TERRA Engineering, Ltd.: Civil Engineer & Landscape Architect
dbHMS: MEP Engineer & IT
TYLin: Structural Engineer
Gwen Grossman Lighting Design (GGLD): Lighting Consultant
Threshold: Acoustics Consultant
Corktree Creative: Environmental Graphics
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Shaw Local: Northern Illinois’ agricultural innovation heritage part of new NIU center for community sustainability
Rockford News First: NIU breaks ground on $21M sustainability research center
Northern Public Radio: NIU breaks ground on sustainability center
Northern Illinois University: NIU breaks ground on $21.5 million Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability
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Daylighting & Energy Use
The center’s interior spaces will leverage natural lighting, and the building will initially generate 20% of its power from solar—with the capability to add more later. Walls in the facility will be highly insulated and designed to reduce energy use.
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Flexible Learning Spaces
The building will include two flexible classrooms designed for transdisciplinary teaching. Equipped with advanced audiovisual technology, modular furnishings and movable partitions, the classrooms will make it easier for students and faculty from different academic areas to work together on sustainability challenges.
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Atrium & Lobby
A welcoming, light-filled hub for collaboration and events, the atrium will showcase sustainability research, building performance data and NIU achievements while providing a flexible commons area for meetings, workshops and student interaction.
“This new innovation hub will build partnerships across the region and chart the path to future discoveries. As construction ramps up, we celebrate more than the start of a new building; we mark the beginning of an exciting new chapter for NIU, one grounded in curiosity, collaboration and service.”
— Governor JB Pritzker
Early hand rendering
Early aerial hand rendering