When the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) was looking at building a training facility for electricians to work on a full sized train station they could not have imagined such a creative vision for a train station. About 45 minutes south of Chicago in University Park, Illinois is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -9 (IBEW) site, where they educate electricians on all kinds of work including climbing utility poles and working on stop lights. Now they have an eye catching futuristic paint over galvanizing train station for them to work on.

A training site for electricians may not seem that exciting, but with plenty of talent and creativity, the architect made a big impact. It was difficult endeavor with nearly every piece having beveled ends, how can the fabricator make it in their shop and send to the galvanizer to achieve the desired look? The fabricator worked with the galvanizer's production people to communicate where proper venting holes would need to be and how to stage the deliveries to meet quality and schedule demands. On a few visits from the galvanizer to the fabricator, both before project started and while the station was in process, a plan was set forth.

Some have called the train station a "birds nest". The white paint over the hot-dip galvanizing with many steel "sticks" does have that look. The train station is highly visible next to highly traveled Route 50/Cicero Avenue and a nice addition to all the other interesting things on the IBEW site. Being close to the road, the corrosion protection from road salt spray is in place. The cost of choosing galvanizing which will last several decades in the suburban environment, was an easy choice for the CTA. The CTA is one of the largest mass transits organizations in the country and they have used hot-dip galvanizing for most of their train stations and lines for decades. The sustainability of galvanizing was impactful as Chicago and the CTA are leaders in being a good citizen and choosing environmentally safe products.

The future looks bright for more hot dip galvanizing with recent federal funding of $2 billion to upgrade and extend the CTA's Red Line. The IBEW 's CTA ultra modern train station is a great highlight to their contemporary site.