Performing Arts Center
Freeport High School

Freeport, Maine
450 students	grades 9-12
19,000 sf new,   2,500 sf renovated

An ambitious music and drama program persuaded voters to support this new 500-seat performance venue. A no-frills budget dictated its location, its compact parti, and use of common, off-the-shelf materials. The skived footprint responds to the public street bisecting the campus, and the corner entrance serves as public access to both the theater and the existing gymnasium.

We chose traditional Maine brick, woven with a decorative pattern, as a durable plinth; on it sit long, unbroken fields of silvery steel siding. Both materials are suddenly interrupted, peeled away to reveal the entrance and glazed lobby. Inside, we expressed structure in the lobby (exposed columns and bracing) and the house (plywood-wrapped columns revealing lighting galleries beyond), and color and pattern abound. In this teaching/performing space, the backstage is also the band rehearsal space, and multiple doors and passageways encourage interaction during the teaching/rehearsal process.

Photos:  Bernie Meyers, Joe Hemes, Philip Hart