THE DESIGN OF SALA SÃO PAULO: A PERSONAL VIEW

Sala São Paulo is an adaptive conversion of a portion of a railway terminal in São Paulo, Brasil, into a "shoebox" concert hall with approximately 1500 seats. The hall opened in July 1999 and has become a reference place for players, concertgoers, and researchers. The complex is about 26.263 m2, including the concert hall, rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms, administration, musician lounge, and ancillary areas, not counting parking and plazas. Because of its location within an existing structure close to heavily used railway tracks and its protected historical and architectural significance, the design team faced an enormous challenge in constructing the new concert hall complex. The Author is part of the hall's DNA team, participating from the very early days of the project to the construction and testing process. This article presents for the first time a series of personal insights about the design process, from the space discovery to the opening and subsequent testing and the main steps of the project and construction development. Parts of the project's "day zero" decisions are the moveable ceiling, the auditorium layout, and the vibration isolation concept. These are subjects of great interest to researchers, students, and designers.