the Lincoln Academy provides vision of school of the future

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A shining example of an independent charter school built for the future, the Lincoln Academy is a gleaming, all-new 115,000 square-foot, four level K4-12 operation produced by an extraordinary partnership between the academy’s leadership teams and Corporate Contractors.

The project was initiated by Kids First Beloit, a nonprofit group led by Diane Hendricks, board president. CCI and more than 20 other firms provided more than $230,000 worth of money and materials to support the academy. CCI went beyond contracting to offer different site options and budgets and helped bring in an architect, Thomas Beebe Jr. of Eppstein Uhen Architects for the project.

CCI and other team members fought through the pandemic to stay on schedule.

“We paid a premium for expedited deliveries on a few orders to ensure we could maintain the schedule,” said Aaron Combs, CCI project manager.

Michael Norris, CCI superintendent, added, “Material delays forced us to work out of sequence … not everything could be neatly installed at once.”

BIM software helped avoid various difficulties, from avoiding obstacles in advance to building systems off-site for schedule efficiencies.

With an Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “the building performs better than 75% of others built today,” Combs said.

Energy-efficient windows, LED lights with motion sensors, an efficient HVAC system and above-code exterior insulation contributed to the rating. Part of the roof also employs green technology.

Essentially a structural steel core and shell, the building’s exterior features brick, cedar and prefabricated steel panels.

Some design features are actually part of the student curriculum; one of the school’s 23 labs makes a particular nod to the building’s functions.

“The design spotlights how the facility was built, with exposed and color-coded mechanicals throughout, open corridors, exposed steel columns and beams, yet all this enhances the space,” Combs said.

The building’s classrooms and equipment include a digital lab, computer science room, engineering and robotics lab, and a “fab lab/makerspace” fitted with CNC machines, a vinyl cutter and 3D printers. Another area holds a full-size ambulance for training EMTs. A biomedical science room, media-production area, labs for agriculture, applied arts, construction and welding provide more career instruction.

In Lincoln Academy, 590 tons of steel, 3,000 yards of concrete, 165 tons of stone, 130,000 bricks, 9 tons of TPO roofing, 889 exterior panes of glass, and 31,000 linear feet of cedar and hickory form a present-day vision of the future.