Conservatório Regional de Musica de Vila Real
The Music Conservatory is the new guest of the S. Domingos Convent (XIV century) which in the past had already been used as a hospital, an army headquarters, a theatre…
On its urban elevation (XVIII century) a vaulted tunnel is the threshold of silence. The new south elevation opens onto the old stones of the adjacent church, creating an intimate patio.
The program is plainly stratified by levels. Auditoriums, Studio and Mediatheque (level 1), classes (level 2) and administration (level 3).
The lengthy circulation and the tactile light puncturing the interiors, recapture the aura of the monastic space.
The Conservatory is a reconstruction made from small traces, almost shadows that one imagines as ruins.
It is the light that rules the spaces. A physical light rather than metaphysical. A tactile light that praises the instant. That merges memory and forgetfuless.