2018
For 50 years, Finegold Alexander Architects based in Boston has adapted all manner of buildings for all manner of uses. But until recently, the firm never had to answer the question: How do you convert a 1980’s era office park into a synagogue?
The goal in adapting the exterior of the buildings was not to contrast with the rest of the office park, but to blend in as seamlessly as possible.
Not that the firm is a stranger to synagogue design; it has been involved in it for more than 20 years. Maurice Finegold, FAIA, principal, explains that central to these designs is an exploration of what a synagogue actually is: derived from Greek, “synagogue” means “assembly,” a focus on the community coming together. Finegold also turns to the historic Temple in Jerusalem, which is built around three courtyards—an outer courtyard, a middle courtyard, and an inner courtyard. “That sequence of courtyards has played a significant role in the development of our buildings,” he explains.
It was this design approach that paired Finegold Alexander with Reform Jewish Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim (BJBE) for its adaptive reuse of an office park in Deerfield, Ill. “In their RFP, they talked about the idea of a village center, and it really resonated with us, because a village center is an expansion of the community court concept, an interior gathering space we developed as a recognition of the historic context,” Finegold recounts. This space could be used for receptions, informal gatherings, charitable relief drives, and would feature computer hook-ups and a coffee bar. As the design advanced, Finegold relates that Rabbi Karen Kedar began referring to these spaces as “pockets of holiness.”
More and less
The office park where BJBE is located is comprised of three L-shaped, interlocking pairs of six one-story buildings. BJBE bought three of the buildings. “It was clear that two of them had to be adapted and remodeled, and expanded in order to meet the principle program of worship and assembly, administration, a pre-school, as well as the village center concept,” Finegold explains. The third building, which is slightly separated from the other two, would be used as a school. “The two buildings became joined, like one big square donut around the courtyard. We had to demolish some of the low rise to create height for the worship space, but in the end we were able to revitalize these buildings and use their basic structure, and that became one of the guiding dimensional controls of the design.”
With the design ready to go, construction was slated to begin in 2008 ... and then the market crashed. Suddenly, BJBE’s financing was considerably decreased, mandating significant design changes and a phased approach to construction—another adaptation to an already adaptive project, one could say. Phase 1 would focus on the two interlocking buildings covering 50,000 square feet, and housing a chapel, sanctuary, library, and social hall. The sanctuary itself would remain a shell until Phase 2; BJBE’s members would worship in the social hall, which was temporarily named “Sacred Hall.” As of press time, contractors were in the completion stages of Phase 2, putting the finishing touches on the sanctuary.
Finegold explains that the goal in adapting the exterior of the buildings was not to contrast with the rest of the office park, but to blend in as seamlessly as possible. The sanctuary’s exterior covering is made up of variegated slate material that is rich in color, with natural tones. “It relates well to the landscaping, and to the whole tone of the office park,” he says. The synagogue’s interior also features natural tones and a lot of wood. To address sustainability, Finegold Alexander specified a number of the materials that are rapidly renewable, such as the bamboo flooring in several spaces throughout the synagogue, and dual flush toilets and automatic faucets. The 200 pendant light fixtures in the sanctuary are outfitted with LEDs.To adhere to budget restrictions, a number of BJBE’s members are donating materials, explains Steve Moeller, senior project manager at Krusinski Construction Co. in Oak Brook, Ill., the contractor on the project. One congregant, a woodworker, is constructing the door for the sanctuary’s ark from a tree on his farm. “He’s treating and curing it on his farm, but we’re doing the entire enclosure through our millwork carpenter shop, so we need to coordinate with him on the location of the hinges, and all those kinds of details to get it built correctly and accurately.” Another member is donating cloth from his drapery and window treatment business, and again, Krusinski must coordinate with him to ensure that it lays out correctly over the window that looks onto the parking lot. The same goes for a stained glass artwork that BJBE has commissioned.
While Rebecca Berry, AIA, LEED AP, senior associate at Finegold Alexander, concedes that this phased approach presented a number of challenges, she also notes that it gave BJBE’s leadership and members the opportunity to really experience the building, and thus, evolve. “Rabbi Kedar, who was always very interested in bringing a different worship style to the synagogue and to her ministry—her chance to live in the building, the congregation’s chance to live in the building, has changed their thinking about architecture,” she says. “They’ve seen what architecture can do.”
Evolution & technology
For Phase 2, this led to the incorporation of audiovisual technology for use during services—something that’s not common in Judaism—and called for Finegold Alexander to rethink the design of the sanctuary. Services will be streamed in high definition, via the Internet, and during High Holidays when the 700-seat space can’t accommodate everyone, to other rooms, such as the social hall. The wall behind the bimah is treated with Screen Goo, enabling the projection of images during services.
Finegold admits that the process leading up to the decision to apply Screen Goo was puzzling for him. “We actually weren’t going to be projecting onto the wall originally; I was told that we were going to have screens. And I said, ‘you can’t have drop-down screens.’ For me, it was a terrible conflict. How can you have movie screens in a worship space? That doesn’t fit with my view of Judaism. But we’ve evolved with this the way they have,” he says. “The worship center itself is different than we first imagined. It’s not just about the adaptive use of an office park; it’s also about the emerging sense of how worship is both contemplative and interactive.”
While his firm has been designing synagogues for a couple of decades, Finegold admits that his team has learned even more about worship spaces during this project. “We’ve learned about the developing and transformational attitudes in the reform movement, and how that will impact design,” he says. “And I think that we’re also much more sophisticated about how we can work with and integrate the need for the interactive service with the contemplative, historical nature of the Jewish service. It’s a very focused, introverted activity, but the reform movement is expanding it because of the extraordinary mixture of family structure, who knows Hebrew and who doesn’t, who even knows about Judaism and who doesn’t. They’re reaching out to be all-inclusive. And I think that we have learned to be sensitive to that.”
[Editor's note: This piece was published in Church Designer magazine in October 2014.]
