Northside Elementary School
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Located on a previously developed site with nearby public transit, this 100,000-square-foot school is the heart of the neighborhood and serves as a place for community events. Northside Elementary School is home to 585 students and includes classrooms, a media center, a multipurpose room, support spaces, as well as dining and kitchen areas. Large windows in the classrooms provide natural light for the students and teachers. A building dashboard is located in the media center and is accessible to teachers who can integrate the facility’s water and power usage into their lesson plans. While construction details such as skylights, solar heating, and a green roof evoke the future, the design celebrates the site’s history of education by featuring a historical timeline component to the main staircase.

Northside earned LEED Platinum certification in 2014, which made it the first elementary school to do so in North Carolina. It was also Designed to Earn the Energy Star.

Awards + Recognition

  • People’s Choice Award for Excellence in Architectural Design, North Carolina School Boards Association, 2013
  • Outstanding Design, American School & University, 2014
  • The Greater Triangle Stewardship Development Gold Award, Greater Triangle Stewardship Development Association, 2015