The Conservatory of Tatuí, founded in 1951, is recognized as one of the most important institutions for dramatic and musical education in the country. The project to expand its physical facilities represents not only the opportunity to qualify their existing spaces, but above all the possibility to intensify the presence of the new complex in the city, with a design that reinforces the public and cultural character of this school.

URBAN INSERTION
The project seeks to enhance the value of the theater/old chamber complex as the urban identity of the Conservatory of Tatuí, recovering the original architectural quality of these buildings. The entire front of Rua São Bento will be treated as a large garden, establishing a continuity of the mass of trees, today limited to the side space of the Procópio Ferreira theater. This enhancement of the main facade of the Conservatory is reinforced with the new laminar building, a kind of lateral expansion of the stage box of the theater where the administration and lecture rooms are located. The new volumetric unit, resulting from the fusion of the original volumetry of the theater with the new building, dilutes the stage box and adds value to the old buildings. A second block, implanted along the back border of the land, houses rehearsal rooms, music education (for children) and, on the first floor, a new theater for an audience of 200 people. Between the two buildings was designed a square that organizes the whole complex and defines the main access to this new theater, as will be described below. The communication of the Rua São Bento gardens with the new plaza is guaranteed by the free first floor of the new building.
The project to enlarge the conservatory presents itself, therefore, as the valorization of the original heritage connected to two new parallel buildings, which form a square longitudinally between them. The square, in addition to connecting the two streets surrounding the land, creates a large public space that characterizes the Conservatory.

SQUARE
The new square is essential to ensure a transformative and positive urban relationship, a new reference to the city of Tatuí. Main access to the conservatory complex, the square is animated by stores and cafes, and relates directly to the new theater (200 seats). An open space of denser and more urban conformation, the square is opposed to the large front garden, in the sense of favoring the concentration of people, creating a living space, so desirable for an arts school.

PROGRAM
The complexity of the program is the guarantee of the dynamism of the whole, that besides the functions related to teaching (which will be concentrated here), includes in the final format three performance halls. The current Procópio Ferreira theater (430 seats), the Villa Lobos theater (100 seats – project in progress) and the proposed new theater with 200 seats. Together, these halls can receive an audience of more than 700 people simultaneously, without interfering with the functioning of the didactic activities.
The division of uses suggested the distinction between the two new buildings:

BLOCK A_TRANSPARENT
A more transparent building houses the uses that can take advantage of outside views, natural light, and ventilation. Here are located the administrative areas, teachers’ and coordinators’ rooms, classrooms, lounges, and study rooms. This block is surrounded by a continuous balcony that is sometimes closed with glass and sometimes open. The whole building is protected by a sunshade, which allows views both to the internal plaza of the complex and to the new garden. It is served by passenger elevators and universally accessible bathrooms. On the first floor of this building, at the level of the plaza, are located the store and café, functioning as a large welcoming terrace at the edge of the gardens.

BLOCK B_OPACO
Block B houses the rehearsal rooms and studios, spaces with double height ceilings, air-conditioned and with controlled acoustics. This building also houses some facilities such as: freight elevator, passenger elevators, security stairs, accessible toilets and musical instrument storage, these distributed throughout all floors.
In this block there are few openings, limiting the use of acoustic frames (which are expensive). The geometry of the rooms avoids parallelism of the walls and acoustic ceilings control the air volume of each room according to the predominant use. The walls are highly watertight and the slabs are double (the upper one floating on insulating material), avoiding the transmission of noise or vibration to adjacent environments.
The new 200-seat theater occupies the first floor of this block. In addition to the foyer/café, the theater itself can relate to the plaza (itself an independent access option from the rest of the set). The proposal is that the new hall explore the condition of a theater-school. Thus, it is proposed that it can relate visually and also physically to the outside, the internal square, without losing its acoustical and scenotechnical qualities. Many of the activities that precede a show (rehearsals, scenery assembly, sound and scenic lighting tests) can be followed without people being inside the room, which can be the great attraction of the internal square.
Finally, this block also houses the music education activities for children, so that the internal plaza serves as an independent access and also a natural expansion of the didactic activities.

PASSWALKS
Two walkways at different levels connect the blocks, and more than that, they were designed with adequate dimensions to become convivial spaces for teachers and students. The roofs of the walkways in turn function as terraces, with the first (lower) one shaded by the second.
This solution means that despite the necessary verticalization of the complex, the floors have large living spaces that not only transform the two blocks into a continuous floor, but also relate closely to the internal plaza, transmitting the dynamics of the school to the city.

ACCESS
Access to the complex is via a ramp at the main entrance to the plaza. This ramp leads to the balcony that concentrates the control and distribution of the main accesses: office, Villa Lobos room, new theater (200 seats), library, and elevators to the two vertical blocks. A staircase connects this space directly to the underground parking lot (useful if the parking lot is managed by a specific company). With this concentration of accesses, the complex can operate with total control over the entry and exit of users and allows the other programs, located in the plaza with direct access, to operate on independent schedules.
The access to the underground parking lot is divided in entrance and exit ramps to distinct streets, and allows trucks to enter an internal street for loading and unloading (regardless of the height of the vehicle). Next to the loading and unloading area is the access to the elevator (load), which can serve both the new theater and all the floors of the studios and rehearsal rooms block.
The main entrance of the Procópio Ferreira Theater remains as it is, that is, through the São Bento street.

EMBASSMENT
The basement accommodates, besides the distribution and control balcony, a large library. With almost 800m2, this space is naturally illuminated by a recessed garden and, since it has independent access, it can function autonomously in relation to the rest of the set. Occupying all the lower space of the square, the library is defined as a large continuous space, where the collection and reading areas are grouped together with a garden. Sheltered from the plaza, this garden provides a micro-scape for the reading room.
The dressing rooms for both the new theater and the Procópio Ferreira Theater are also located at this level, replacing the relatively precarious annex that currently exists.