Completing the Dream:Beth El Temple Center Sanctuary Renovation

Here is the most recent plan.

Here is a cut through the middle of the sanctuary

The Oversight Renovation Committee met today to look at the new model done by the architects. This model represents the most recent ideas on the design for the Sanctuary. As you can see from the first image – wood is important to framing the new multi-height bima. Other elements that are important to the design are:

Wood Ceiling

A wood ceiling floats above both the flexible seating area and the new bima – tying the space together and helping to create a feeling of a room within a room. Pendant lights will float above the flexible from this ceiling and help re-shape the room.

 Screening

One the important features in the design is layering of elements to make the room feel different. The original sanctuary has walls that angle in towards the bema. This makes the bema feel more like a stage. By using a wooden screen that wraps around the bema and around the ark this helps to re-shape the room.

If you click on the image above you will see a larger image.

Click on thumbnails to see larger images.

Here is the powerpoint presentation that Robert Luchetti Associates presented to the Board of Trustees in May 2006.

For those who are curious I thought I would post the process that has gotten us to where we are.

In 2003, Beth El Temple President Jonathan Jacoby asked Karen Pike to lead a committee of diverse congregants to study a renovation of the sanctuary. The original committee was comprised of congregants from a wide range of experiences, from elders, to new members, from parents to single people – the idea was to get a wide range of experience. The original committee was comprised of:

Rabbi Jonathan Kraus-Cantor Geoffrey Fine-Ruth Cohen-Arlene Feinberg-Leslie Copes Fink-Eleora Fisher-Chuck Geller-Donald Goldman-Norman Goldstein-Liz Karp-Stuart Lesser-Karen Pike-Bea Ponn-Jonathan Miller-Harriet Torgerson-Mike Wolfson

The committee basically started with following up with our mission statement that says:
“To engage in joyful, participatory, musical, and spiritually meaningful worship.”

We then engaged in the following process:

• Study
• Congregational Workshops
  • - Brainstorming
  • - Transition to Meaning
  • - Small group discussions
• Visiting other congregations – (9) in total

The end result was to produce an RFP (request for proposals) to hire an architect to do a feasibility study.

The RFP called for:

Scope of Renovations:
Flexibility in the size and configuration of the worship space.
Worship sizes range from 10 congregants at morning Minyan Services up to approximately 900 people at High Holiday Services (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), when we open the wall separating the Sanctuary and Social Hall. Our renovated worship space must enhance the religious experience at small participatory services, very large “formal” services, and many varying sizes and types of services in-between. As part of the study of the existing Sanctuary, the architect must also consider the Social Hall and auxiliary spaces such as storage closets, area behind the Bima, and choir loft for the study

Seating.
The 400 existing fixed Sanctuary seats, are uncomfortable. The seating requirements include: comfort, flexibility to accommodate different size groups and services, accessibility and safety for our members, book and pamphlet storage, and appropriateness to the Temple and the Sanctuary environment.
Diverse Ages and Physical Conditions.
The Sanctuary must accommodate all ages, from toddlers to the elderly, of our Temple family. Access for all to the bima is essential. Accessibility, acoustics, lighting, finishes, comfort, safety are important considerations.
“Feel” of the Sanctuary.
The familiar feel of our worship space should be preserved
Chapel
The concept of a chapel separate from the main Sanctuary has been discussed as a way to accommodate small groups in an intimate setting. The chapel potentially could be located either within the existing Temple footprint or as an addition to the existing building.
Study Objectives -
The major goal of this study is to explore each of the options above to achieve a more responsive and flexible worship space, either as a single renovation project or as a multi-phased project.

After many interviews we hired the architecture firm of Robert Luchetti & Associates.

Welcome to the Beth El Temple Center Sanctuary Renovation Blog!

The Renovation Oversight committee will be using this blog as a vehicle to inform the members of the Beth El Community about the design and progress of the renovation. As we begin construction we will post updates and post progress photos.

This blog will also be a place for you to post your questions or comments. We will try to update it regularly with images and answers to questions so please check back often.

Mike