Few religions have as much history and symbolism as Judaism. As the world's oldest monotheistic religion, it dates back nearly 4,000 years. In Judaism, architecture and houses of worship serve as places not only for liturgical services but also for assembly and study. Today, architects are rethinking the design of synagogues and community gathering spaces to celebrate Judaism, reflection and community.
There is no single synagogue type, and not all synagogues are architecturally distinct. Every synagogue, however, must have a few essential features. These should include the bimah, the platform where the leader of the service stands and from which the Torah is read, as well as the ark, the cabinet which holds the Torah scrolls. Together, they hold a physical relationship to one another and respective roles in Jewish service. Modern synagogues carry on the same basic functions associated with ancient synagogues, but also have come to include social, recreational, and philanthropic programs. Exploring contemporary Judaism through synagogue design, the following projects respect tradition while establishing new forms for gathering, study and prayer.
Synagogue and Community Center C.I.S. / JBA + Gabriel Bendersky + Richard von Moltke
The Santiago Jewish Community which operated for mostly fifty years at the Great Synagogue on Serrano Street in south downtown, decides to move its seat to the eastern part of the city, thus, housing larger community, social and cultural activities, beyond the religious ones. The assignment not only consisted in combining a wide and hybrid program differing in type and size, category and use, but also required to provide a high quota of symbolism to the promenade and spatial experience overall.
SoHo Synagogue / Dror
The SoHo Synagogue is the community’s first ever synagogue and represents a fresh vision that translates the inspiration of Judaism to a new generation. With a forward thinking approach, Rabbi Dovi Scheiner along with his wife Esty, founders of SoHo Synagogue,built a religious platform that invites the community to fully integrate their religion within their modern lifestyle. Mindful of the open mindset of lower Manhattan's Jewish population, The SoHo Synagogue seeks to reinvent the synagogue as a comfortable and enjoyable setting for personal growth and communal connection.
New Synagogue Dresden / Wandel Hoefer Lorch + Hirsch
Dresden is characterised by two destructions: Gottfried Semper´s synagogue in the "Reichskristallnacht" on 9th of november 1938 and the entire historical city on 13th and 14th february 1945 by allied bombings. The destructions are historically linked. Yet the architectural consequences couldn`t be more different. On the one hand Dresden reproduces the historical monuments, establishing a false continuity and a problematic pretension of architectural stability. On the other hand the new synagogue represents an attempt which investigates the conflict between stability and fragility.
Temple Sinai / Mark Horton Architecture + Michael Harris Architecture
emple Sinai, the oldest and largest East Bay Jewish synagogue, has grown around their 1918 landmarked sanctuary with new buildings in a way that has disassociated all of their different activities. The Temple’s new building program included a new chapel, classrooms, a preschool, administrative offices, and a library, but most importantly the temple wanted a new design to organize these disparate elements into a place where their congregants could feel a greater sense of community where people could meet each other in casual spaces for spontaneous conversation.
Babyn Yar Synagogue / Manuel Herz Architects
Babyn Yar is a wooded area with a deep ravine located in the west of Kyiv, Ukraine, that used to mark the edge of the city. It is the site of one of the worst massacres of the Nazi regime, when on September 29th and 30th, 1941 approximately 35’000 Jews were shot and killed by German troops. The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Foundation has started a process of implementing a series of smaller and larger interventions over the coming years to commemorate the history of the site in all its complexity. The Babyn Yar Synagogue represents the first building within this initiative.
Jewish Research Center of Mexico / Ezra Cherem Behar & Alan Cherem Hamui
While not a synagogue in a traditional sense, this project comes from the necessity of the whole of the Jewish Community in Mexico to keep and preserve its history in a safe and public place. Built on a small area beside the existing 1930´s Rodfe Sedek Synagogue in the resurgent Colonia Roma in Mexico City, the new building serves as the pathway to enter the old, which gains a new purpose functioning as a museum and a library of documents that show relevant information about the Jewish culture, especially in Mexico.
