An 87,000-square-foot office building in Warrenville, Illinois, is being converted into a K-12 STEM school. When Orion STEM Schools opens for the 2027–2028 school year, the former office building will include classrooms, labs and a new 13,000-square-foot addition housing a gymnasium, auditorium and storm shelter.
For Orion founder and CEO Selvei Rajkumar, the project turns an idea she has carried since she was a child into a permanent campus.
Rajkumar’s interest in education began with a letter. In seventh grade, she and her friends wrote to Mother Teresa to thank her for her work in the community. Mother Teresa’s response encouraged Rajkumar to consider how she could make a difference by educating children.
The idea stayed with her. In the early 2000s, Rajkumar began looking for a place to open a STEM and entrepreneurship school. She eventually started three preschools while continuing to develop the school she had imagined years earlier.
“I didn’t have a strategic plan,” Rajkumar says. “It was just a seed.”
That seed became Orion STEM Schools, a research-based independent school built around STEM, entrepreneurship and design thinking. Orion describes its approach as a connected, transdisciplinary learning experience rather than one organized around separate academic subjects. The model includes courses developed with MIT and a focus on skills such as self-advocacy, empathy and emotional intelligence.
“We built a school that we wish existed,” says Delphine Lenoir, Orion’s Chief Admissions Officer.
Orion is an adaptive reuse project, converting a former two-story office building into a new K-12 STEM school in Chicago’s western suburbs. ARCO/Murray joined the project during planning in partnership with the project architect.
With initial space plans complete, the team developed an early budget, giving Orion a clearer understanding of cost and scope. As the design evolved, ARCO/Murray provided design-assist support, reviewing drawing packages, pricing the work and helping refine the scope. That early involvement helped the project team make decisions with both the educational vision and the existing building in view.
Orion’s campus will include specialized learning spaces, including medical science and chemistry labs, robotics and fabrication labs, an entrepreneurship incubator and a music studio. These spaces will sit alongside classrooms, offices and shared gathering areas. A new precast addition will house a gymnasium, auditorium and storm shelter, creating room for athletics, performances and larger school gatherings.
“Everything here is intentional,” Rajkumar says.
Once complete, Orion’s campus will bring its educational model to life, giving the school Rajkumar first imagined as a child a permanent home. For ARCO/Murray, the project shows how early planning and the right team can turn an existing building into a place built around the people and purpose it will serve.