Of body shops, shuls, and shiraz

Abstract

Completed in March of 2013, the new worship facility for The Congregation or Hadash in Atlanta, Georgia is an adaptive reuse of a vacant automotive paint and body repair facility constructed primarily of concrete, masonry, and metal. The synagogue, which was designed to accommodate 400 families, contains a sanctuary, social hall, chapel, offices, and classrooms along with exterior courtyards and gardens. The focal point for the synagogue is the 450-seat sanctuary which, due to the multinational nature of the congregation, had to promote a high degree of speech intelligibility. Additionally, live music plays a prominent role in typical services; therefore, the acoustics of the room needed to achieve a compromise between the often conflicting demands of these two different types of program. In addition to the architectural realities presented by the existing industrial facility, the building’s location with a high school football stadium located approximately 200’ away provided a significant challenge in the form of environmental noise, particularly on Friday nights when games (with associated marching bands and public address system usage) and services were likely to be concurrently held. However, perhaps the greatest challenge posed was due to client expectations, based on what they had been accustomed to. Sometimes venues need to age like good wine.