With the schematic design phase of the Northern High School (NHS) replacement project completed, the firm of GWWO Architects now has the design phase underway. On Thursday, Jan. 23 GWWO representatives gave the Calvert County Board of Education (BOE) an overview on where the progress of the new building’s design.
According to Calvert County Director of School Construction George R. Leah Jr., the architects recently met with NHS staff to discuss instructional needs and what they (staff) would like to see incorporated.
The replacement building will be three stories tall, four wings wide and will be built on the site of the existing school—on Chaneyville Road in Owings—with demolition of the current NHS building scheduled to take place after the new structure is occupied.
Architect Brian Eschman said in addition to the new NHS, the adjacent Mary Harrison Center will be expanded to include new restrooms that address the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates, some classrooms for music instruction and a new eastside entrance. The new NHS and the expanded Mary Harrison Center will not be connected.
Project architects are seeking Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and the new NHS will be geothermal.
Eschman indicated that because the construction site’s topography the three-story structure won’t seem too imposing when viewed by motorists traveling the rural road. The entire school site—NHS and the adjacent Northern Middle School (NMS)—will have additional parking. Eschman said 610 parking spaces are envisioned for NHS and the entrance for NMS will be on Flint Hill Road.
The middle or “entrance” level of the new NHS will include lockable doors past the vestibule and main offi
