Synagogue and Community Center NBI / Nicolas Loi

Cristobal Rojas

7 years ago

Architects: Nicolas Loi
Location: Vitacura, Región Metropolitana, Chile
Calculation: Pedro Bartolomé
Calculation Reviewer: IEC Ingeniería
Proyectos Sanitario, Eléctrico Y De Clima: Dinammo Ingeniería, Intexa Ingeniería
Area: 3800.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photography: Marcos Mendizabal

Lighting Project: Paulina Sir
Acoustic Project: Milton Gonzalez
Garbage Planning: Christian Seeger
Landscaping And Automatic Irrigation: Pedro Pereda, Paula Gonzalez
Manufacturing Lattices: NOT – Not Ordinary Things
Management: Ignacio Stern, Pablo Valenzuela, Isaac Kuperman, Naddia Arias, BAU Ingeniería.
Technical Inspection: Intexa Ingeniería
Excavations: Constructora Proyekta
Construction Work: Constructora Pitagora

Text description provided by the architects. The Project is a Synagogue and Community Center for the NBI Community, and it includes a Synagogue, Offices and Meeting Rooms for religious and cultural activities. It houses all the activities of the Community, generally meetings and gatherings of about 300-400 people.

The design concept behind the building is to create a synagogue where its construction materializes through a unique design concept that answers the functional, symbolic and environmental requirements. In that sense, the synagogue is designed with 3 elements: a steel structure with diagonal elements that supports the building, a glass façade that gives transparency, luminosity and lightness, and a set of wooden louvers that brings solar control to the interior of the space. This 3 elements generate a three dimensional stained glass, giving natural light to the space and creating a symbolic relationship with the triangular shapes of the David´s Star. This stained glass gets lighted at twilight, when the jewish celebration of Shabbath starts and ends.

The building is at the same time a religious and an institutional one; it houses in a single design solution all the functional necessities such as offices and meeting rooms, and at the same time the more religious activities.

The materials used are concrete in all the walls of the ground floor, for a more abstract and rustic appearance, and over this area two steel structures: one with metal louvers that houses the second floor offices and the other one with wooden louvers that houses the synagogue.