Conservatoire de Musique, Draveil

Draveil, the first garden city linked to the Impressionists, preserves a lasting architectural and landscape heritage. The intercommunal conservatory builds on this legacy by restoring the Maison Brandt within a lush, landscaped setting. The creation of a semi‑subterranean extension of this performing arts architecture responds to the contemporary and future needs of musicians and the public while preserving panoramic views of the park.

Listed in the Inventory of Cultural Heritage, the nineteenth‑century Maison Brandt serves as the principal entrance to the conservatory. The strategy of the cultural architect focuses on restoring the façade’s authenticity and bourgeois character through reinstated stone details — pediments, cornices, pilasters and basins — revealed in the main foyer’s renewed dialogue between heritage and use. Le vestibule, accueil principal du conservatoire de musique, révèle les ornements en pierre de taille (fronton, corniches, pilastres, vasques…).

The interior refurbishment of this performing arts architecture aims to maintain the spirit of the historic house — its spatial proportions, material palette and decorative language — while introducing contemporary functionality suited to the conservatory’s educational program. The ground floor brings together reception, social and meeting areas around the preserved central staircase, linking to upper-level teaching and rehearsal rooms. South-facing spaces open to the landscaped park, while a northern corridor buffers street noise.

The contemporary extension forms one of the project’s key architectural gestures. Partially embedded in the terrain, the new performing arts architecture takes a discreet form that prioritizes the landscape and visual continuity. The extension, which houses the rehearsal and performance hall forms a unified complex by joining it to the Maison Brandt through a stairwell and lift core housed within the historic oriel window.

The expansive curtain wall of this performing arts architecture fills the interior with natural light while vertical louvers modulate solar gain. It frames views of a green amphitheatre with terraced lawns for open‑air performances, uniting landscape, architecture and sound in a living dialogue.