It's not just an auditorium. The Brightman Hall by MZM arquitectos

Project description by MZM

The new Concert Hall for Northlands School is located at the intersection of Borges and Tucumán streets, in one of the two blocks that the School has in Olivos. It has a covered area of approximately 1700 square meters and a capacity for more than 500 people.

Primary Concepts
The Maletti Zanel Maletti Architects studio won First Prize in the competition with the idea of “theater + amphitheater” which was particularly valued by the jury. One of the greatest values of the block, where the new building was to be located, is its Interior Garden. A green lung is defined by the old buildings, with trees and a gazebo that make this site one of the most valuable in the complex. The new building is presented as an extension of this central space of the block since on its roofs it generates a recreational walk that culminates in an outdoor amphitheater.
 
This exterior walk, which was called the “green helicoid” in the conceptual stage, is an ascending path that begins in the lungs of the block and surrounds the main room. With a gentle slope, due to its almost 120 meters in length, it culminates in one of the most important spaces of the proposal, the amphitheater. All of the roofs of the new building are usable, increasing the green areas of the block by almost 40%.


The Brightman Hall by MZM arquitectos. Photograph by Gustavo Sosa Pinilla.

Geometry and Image
The structure is the expression of architecture and it is resolved with the minimum number of elements to define and support both the room and the ascending walk. There is no partition that does not fulfill a strictly supporting function. 100% of the elements in the composition have a structural function.

The geometry of the project is articulated between the position and rotation of the room within the orthogonality of the void. It takes a centralized position to give rise to the maximum possible development of the ascending promenade that surrounds it with the aim of attenuating the slopes. It also adopts a 23° turn to generate spatial tensions with the walk and allow circulation beneath the inclined planes of the Hall slab. Added to these geometric aspects are those of the inclined planes that will give rise to both the floor of the room and its roof, which must also be inclined to generate the amphitheater. In this way the only orthogonal planes of the proposal are those that recompose the urban fabric.

Urban Insertion
Although the express request of the client was to have an architectural piece that stands out within the complex, there are two great gestures that ensure a correct urban insertion. The first is the decision to put practically the entire program underground. In this way, the impact that the significant volume of the Hall could have on the neighborhood is significantly reduced. The other big decision has to do with withdrawals on the municipal line. The project has two withdrawals. The first, three meters above both streets, is mandatory and is where the green walk rests, generating a kind of low-rise ascending basement that takes on the scale of the neighborhood. The project voluntarily takes the maximum height allowed in a second retreat with variable distances towards the street, providing an interesting effect of volumetric staggers.


The Brightman Hall by MZM arquitectos. Photograph by Gustavo Sosa Pinilla.

Program and Access
The commission was a Violin Concert Hall for no less than 500 people, a Foyer with cloakrooms and toilets for the public, a Rehearsal Room and a Backstage with dressing rooms and toilets for actors with differentiated access. All the support functions of the Hall take place below the promenade that revolves around it.

Institutional public access is on Tucumán Street on the ground floor to a reception that overlooks the Foyer in the basement, which can be reached by a wide staircase and an elevator. Once in the Foyer, the public enters the Hall at the same level and can then ascend to the rows through their own slope. For their part, the actors and services have their own access on Borges Street where a small hall leads them to the lower floor to access the Backstage and the Rehearsal Room, both at the same level as the stage. Another important access is that of the students, which is directly in the basement through a large staircase that connects with the central space of the block. The foyer also has two connections with the existing Art & Sciences building, both on the ground floor and underground.

Room
It is a multifunction auditorium with a capacity for 512 people and was designed for concerts, contemporary music, choirs and prose (spoken theater) among other things. Its geometry, volume, the characteristics of its inner epidermis and its slope were carefully studied to obtain the desired acoustics and isoptics. Its curved rows were designed, parallel to the geometry of the proscenium, to optimize the number and position of spectators. At the top there is a sector for audio and video consoles integrated into the room. It also has an exit at the top that links to the top of the exterior amphitheater.


The Brightman Hall by MZM arquitectos. Photograph by Gustavo Sosa Pinilla.

The Rehearsal Room
This room is acoustically conditioned and has the same surface area as the stage of the main room, making it possible to rehearse the complete works. This Room has a main access from the Foyer and another from the Backstage. On event days it can be integrated into the backstage, increasing its surface area significantly.

The Foyer
This space is the great articulator of the project and due to its dimensions and geometry, one of the most important spaces in the complex. It takes place in the basement and on the ground floor. It connects the Hall with the street and the school gardens and has visual contact with the walk that leads to the amphitheater. Despite being in a basement, it has abundant natural light injected through the vertical skylights that overlook Tucumán Street and the green promenade. The inclined plane, which is the floor of the Room, has a perforated wood covering that gives warmth and acoustically conditions this space.



The Brightman Hall by MZM arquitectos. Photograph by Gustavo Sosa Pinilla.

The Technical Project
Possibly the technical resolution of the project has been for the MZM studio the greatest intellectual effort of the process with the objective of maintaining the formal synthesis. The coordination between architecture and engineering was carried out and verified through a three-dimensional model with BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodology. Due to the complex geometry of the project, building a digital model allowed us to arrive at the site with verified documentation, especially for the structure and thermomechanics. The thermal needs have been covered by the installation of a central air conditioning system of the VRV (Variable Refrigerant Volume) type hot/cold by Heat Pump, integrated with Central Air Treatment Units for the Auditorium-Stage and Foyer, and with individual Evaporator Units in the Test Room and Changing Rooms.

The injection of air into the Auditorium was carried out by means of high step induction Diffusers, installed under each Seat, entering the treated air at very low speed from a buried plenum, completely eliminating possible noise from the system and at the same time providing the levels of necessary comfort.

All the concepts described had, throughout the design process, the final objective always present: to encourage encounters and exchanges between people and stimulate creativity.