North High School at Union Square is located in the lakeside community of Eastlake, Ohio. The district building program was designed to unite its two separate high schools that once formed Union High School. North High was developed in tandem with its sister school, South High, complementing one another and supporting both the student body and the community. While South is dedicated to athletics, North is the hub of the district’s arts program with spaces tailored to support creative expression, including a 525-seat performing arts center.
Integration of heart, body, and mind drives the building’s organization. The centrally-located Student Union is designed as “the heart” of the building, which unites the active learning spaces (“the body”) and the academic learning spaces (“the mind”) and serves as the building’s hub.
The academic portion of the building is divided into two wings: STEM and Humanities. Central to each wing is an extended learning area with flexible seating for small or large group collaboration and instruction. Overhead doors separate the classrooms from the central space, allowing learning to extend from the classrooms. Acoustically private breakout rooms are connected to the collaborative hubs and provide a quiet place for project work or individual study.
525-seat performing arts center, which includes an orchestra pit, control room and green room, serves all community members and students within the district. It features a lobby that is used as a collaborative space during the day and is secured in the evening to be used as a PAC reception for community access.
The collegiate-like Student Union features a two-story collaborative stair and foodcourt-style dining, acts as the main circulation hub, and provides a central gathering space for students before, after, and during the school day.
A second floor circulation bridge visually connects the STEM and Humanities Wings. It also serves as an Extended Learning Area, overlooking the learning courtyard and offering abundant natural light.
Willoughby-Eastlake Schools’ new building program presented an opportunity for a much-needed cultural shift within the district. The two district high schools that once formed Union High School developed a rivalry over the past decades, fueled by cultural and socioeconomic disparities within the communities. Uniting the two schools and their respective communities while providing equal educational and extracurricular opportunities for all students became a driving force behind the building’s programming.
The result was two high schools that promote student-centered learning and provide facilities supporting the surrounding communities’ active lifestyles. The new South and North High Schools were developed in tandem to offer residents access to a community fieldhouse with athletic courts, indoor track, and competition pool, as well as a Performing Arts Center with a reception space.
The architecture of each wing mimics the type of learning taking place. The STEM Wing fosters instruction of innovation, discovery, and problem-solving. Spaces that support the practice of soft skills such as public speaking and critical thinking are central to the design of the Humanities Wing. The two-story Student Union provides a connection to the spaces, both academically and visually, where learning is blended and architectural elements, colors, and textures meet to create an inviting and engaging environment.
North High School embodies 21st-century learning principles and is integral to the district’s arts program. Each space supports different education methods, provides learning opportunities for students of all levels, and is essential to the district’s curricular program.
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Role at Organization
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