Chatham County Schools | Pittsboro, North Carolina
Seaforth High School is a state-of-the-art facility developed to provide 21st Century educational environments and accommodate new teaching practices and methods.
The new school is located on about 70 acres, off of Seaforth Road, west of Jordan Lake and south of US Highway 64. The sitework includes a full complement of athletic facilities, parking for staff, students and buses, as well as an on-site sanitary system. The two-story, 217,000 square foot facility is designed to accommodate 1200 students on Day One and 1400 students in the common spaces (a 200-student addition is planned in the future). Upon entering Seaforth High School, students, staff and visitors will experience a generously proportioned, daylight-filled, welcoming space that connects all the major building spaces. Highlighted by the connection across the courtyard to the Dining Room. The Great Room enables students to easily see where they are and where they want to be. The design of the room provides wayfinding at an appropriate scale for the overall high school building. The media center’s stack area opens directly onto the Great Room and becomes the reading room for the media center. The landmark grand staircase connecting the upper level to the Great Room below will anchor the room and will highlight the underlying importance of the space as a place to see and be seen. The large windows in the offices on the second level provide transparency and promote good stewardship of the space. In addition to the Learning Commons, several innovative student study facilities are provided throughout the school to provide individual or small group study, while still being supervised by a teacher. The school is inwardly-focused with a central courtyard that is accessed from the Learning Commons and the Cafeteria. The courtyard is designed to provide a variety of uses, including large vibrant spaces for social gathering as well as smaller groups settings for studying. The auditorium accommodates 540 spectators for presentations and performances and is a good technical teaching space with wide, safe catwalks and lighting galleries.
