Conservatory for Music & Ballet

The whole renovation aimed to expand the repertoire of different spaces where musical education can be practiced and performed. The projects consist of four larger architectural interventions: Atrium, a renovation of a formerly non used existing terrace; Roof extension, which now provides additional classrooms and offices; Entrance staircase, now connecting the entire premises of the building, And a new concert hall with sufficient capacity to host larger performances.

The main concept of the renovation was to improve a relatively conservative program of schools stemming from the time of the AustroHungarian Monarchy, where the interaction between people outside of classrooms seemed detrimental. One of the more visible overall improvements is the newly formed concert hall. The hall has been enfolded with a wooden perforated shell in order to ensure high quality of sound, as well as to hide some of the ventilation shafts. In a place where a simple, rarely used terrace used to face the inner atrium, the architects arranged an external auditorium with a side staircase and a glass wall. The roof above the auditorium has been significantly dematerialized as well as equipped with light fixtures. The motif of flaps characteristic of theatre light fixtures is repeated in the negative on the suspended panels on the auditorium side. In this way, architecture paraphrases the basic musical structure with its expressive possibilities: the positive and the negative of the sample can be understood as an allusion to “question and answer” principle in music.

For the reinforcement of the old wall was used reinforced concrete. The reconstructed roof construction is made of steel beams, columns and wooden rafters.