Barcelona Music School

The site is located in the Poble Nou neighborhood of Barcelona, an area that was originally developed by textile industries but since the 1992 Olympics has transitioned to mostly apartments. It lies in Cerda’s planned portion of the city, accounting for the regular city blocks as seen in the nolli diagram below and is a short walk from the Mediterranean. It is only about a 20 minute walk from other major music sites in Barcelona, l’Auditori and Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.

Ground floor program includes a cafe open to the public and intended to bring in revenue for the school, small library for students and the public, a small street facing performance patio/sitting area and a much larger sunken performance patio/sitting area.

Music is part of the daily beat for most people, even if they are not attending a school to practice it. It is consumed through the radio, our Bluetooth speakers and even the rare but evocative personal experience. Listening to music via headphones shares many of the same qualities we often set for our architecture. With headphones, person is able to listen to the music of their choice but still interact with the public, walking down the street or completing some work. They are respectful of the surroundings, generally not too loud to disturb their neighbors. It can sometimes even feel like a soundtrack to our own lives, impacting our feelings and moods. All of these similarities are inspiration for the Music School.

Done well, higher education institutions can provide resources to a community. The music school hopes to do this by splitting the classrooms with the practice rooms, located on the upper floors of the east wing of the building. The rooms can remain open independent of the rest of the school. In addition, all of the lot coverage that isn’t allowed to be built on due to FAR restrictions is given back to the street and the public.

Design iterations start with Gaudi-esque forms and continued into a more modest facade that fits better in the neighborhood and surroundings. Axon sketching and parti diagrams helped determine elements like the divided public and private spaces in the building and the bridge between the two. It helped orient the corner of the building to the corner of the site, placing the bridge and passageway there to emphasize this.

Design development of the section helped inform the final design of the grade change between the school first floor and the cafe first floor (private for students and public). The plans keep some of the organic shapes from the elevations for fun.

The courtyard/large outdoor stage space has a few functions. It offers stage/performance space OUTDOORS in the year round fair-weather Mediterranean climate of Barcelona. Provides light to the other side of the school without threat of another building being built in its spot. And it tries to bring anyone passing by on the street into the building.

The structure is similar to many other institutional buildings in the vicinity, reinforced concrete beams and floor slabs with a curtain wall facade. This would provide the moderately long spans necessary for classrooms while at the same time allowing a high performance thermally broken envelope. The materials are readily available in the vicinity and construction techniques are well-known by local contractors. Columns would be used in the lower floors to free up additional open space.