An informed tipster told Curbed to watch out for a GEMS World Academy construction start in the coming days. The Lakeshore East private school will focus on its phase 1 building for K-4, expected to open in time for the 2014-15 school year. The broad and shallow 9-story building will total 82,000 square feet at the northwestern corner of Magellan Development's self-contained skyscraper city, and will face inward toward the park. Nearby, squeezed between two towers, a phase 2 building will start at a later, unannounced date and will offer 285,000 square feet to grades 5-12 in a 16-story tower facing Wacker Drive. Both are designed by bKL Architecture and broadcast a more interesting, irregular facade to the city than the surrounding residential towers (except for Aqua). The materials — glass and metal — are nothing special but their arrangement into barcode (with a couple splashy colors thrown in) works for us. This is the school's first entry into the U.S. market. The two phases taken together will serve about 2,000 kids at a tuition cost of $6,000 to $25,000/year.
·GEMS World Academy Chicago [Official]
·GEMS World Academy Renderings [bKL Architecture]
·Behold! Lakeshore East's GEMS Academy Has Been Rendered [Curbed Chicago]
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