Congregation Beit Simchat Torah

Location
New York, New York

Owner
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST)

Team
Acoustics and A/V - Threshold
Architect - Architectural Research Office
Structural Engineers - Silman
MEP Engineers - Altieri Sebor Weber
Lighting - Tillotson Design Associates

Size
21,000 square feet

Schedule
Completed 2016

New York’s LGBTQ congregation embraces all who enter, and does so with song, sincerity, and a reverence for the traditions of the Jewish faith and culture. The design of their sanctuary is a study in how to envelop the exuberance of the service in a 16’ tall volume without putting a lid on the musical expression.

A sloping, deeply textured, massive concrete wall, delicately lit by a skylight into the alley behind the building, provides support of the deepest notes of the Steinway while distorting what would otherwise be a rigid rectangular geometry. The mechanical equipment and noise of the alley are kept out by a deep airspace in the skylight construction.