UFPE School of Music

Recife, PE, Brazil

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PAVILHÃO ESPORTIVO MINAS NÁUTICO

UFPE School of Music

Recife, PE, Brazil

Firm

Horizontes Arquitetura e Urbanismo

Type

Cultural › Hall/Theater
Educational › University

STATUS

Concept

YEAR

2028

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

BUDGET

Undisclosed

The project for a Music School with concert offerings for the public presents a double challenge. On the one hand, the program of a concert hall itself is loaded with complexities and symbolic significance, while a music education school carries didactic and cultural challenges that even define a "musical school," as was the case with the Serialist School around Pierre Boulez and the IRCAM research center at the Centre Pompidou. Several composers and conductors have even created their own schools and pedagogies, shaping the work of an entire generation and the musical culture of a nation.
As Arthur Schopenhauer said, architecture is frozen music.
An ordinary school, without any special meaning, would be nothing more than a haphazard collection of rooms, an organized program. However, a school with exceptional architecture must have character and meaning beyond the program itself. The design of the UFPE Music School organizes the provided program around elements that qualify and differentiate its architecture: light and shadow, communal spaces, spaces to see and be seen, and, most importantly, movement.
In response to these challenges, we began the design of the UFPE Music School with a focus on acoustic excellence. To achieve this objective, the architectural form and spatial organization presented here are the result of acoustic demands rather than architectural whims. The guiding question throughout the project is the acoustic aspect, which determines the shape and proportion of the rooms, their zoning, and adjacencies. The architecture takes advantage of these guidelines to construct the volumetrics, utilizing angles and cantilevered planes to generate the idea of movement and rhythm. The facades express the inherent movement and dynamics of musical creation through these angles and variations in planes.
In this regard, it should be emphasized that recital halls, rehearsal rooms, and practice rooms require perfect acoustics. In these acoustically sensitive spaces, large openings (windows) are undesirable as they would be prohibitively expensive to achieve the necessary acoustic performance. Therefore, the resulting volume of the building emphasizes solids over voids.
The resulting volume receives special treatment in the external envelope, with textured sunshades and metallic panels arranged to create vertical rhythmic patterns. The external cladding will use metallic colors to convey a contemporary image of the building.
Contrasting with the metallic facade, neutral tones will be employed in the corridors, internal circulation spaces, and acoustical treatments of the practice rooms and offices. In the theater foyer, perforated metal cladding will emphasize the importance of the Recital Hall, highlighting its significance within the rest of the building.
However, a school is not merely defined by contemporary aesthetics and perfect acoustics. The comfort of teachers, staff, and students is an important part of this project. The ventilated facade, consisting of aluminum panels detached from the masonry, creates a ventilation gap between the wall and the external envelope, contributing to the reduction of internal temperature.
Within the main volume, the large void of the central courtyard acts as a natural ventilation chimney, channeling airflow, promoting natural lighting, natural ventilation, and creating visual connections between the floors.
At the ground level, the entrance to the building is welcoming, featuring a grand foyer shaded by vertical elements that mark the facade, modulating light and protecting against the afternoon sun. The main entrance hall functions as a pilotis, open to the external courtyard and serving as a transitional space to access the recital foyer and the school.
The front setback is treated with a topographical design, preserving existing trees and creating gentle ramps, terraces, grandstands, and an outdoor stage, generating a large communal space (similar to Place Stravinsky next to IRCAM in Paris and the plaza of Lincoln Center in NY). An amphitheater completes the composition of this entrance plaza.
The use of free and angular forms in the layout and volumetry, along with surfaces with a metallic appearance, epitomize the contemporary nature of the project, capturing the spirit of the times within the building itself.
With its exceptional acoustics, dynamic architecture, and attention to the comfort of its users, the UFPE Music School goes beyond being a simple educational institution. It embodies a vibrant hub of musical education and performance, a place where the power of sound and the beauty of architecture converge.
The use of free and angular forms in the layout and volumetrics, along with surfaces with a metallic appearance, denote the contemporary nature of the project, capturing the "spirit of the times" within the building.

Architecture: Horizontes Arquitetura e Urbanismo (Gabriel Velloso da Rocha Pereira, Luiz Felipe de Farias e Marcelo Palhares Santiago), Fernando Luiz Lara, Acústica & Sônica (José Augusto Nepomuceno e Júlio Gaspar), Rafael Yanni, Silvia Guastaferro e Thais Minardi.
Acoustics, Space Planning, and Recital Hall: Acústica & Sônica (José Augusto Nepomuceno e Júlio Gaspar)
Collaborators: Camila Alberoni, Iris Dias Resende Pereira e Mariana Carneiro
Interns: Ana Vitória Leão, Heidi Brandenberger e Mariana Tobias Leite
Renders: Box Image
Isometrics, floor plans, sections, etc.: Horizontes Arquitetura e Urbanismo
Location: Recife Campus of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
Area: 8.884 m²
Site area: 2.925 m²