Brown RISD Hillel Chapel

a collective space for spiritual gathering and expression

location

Providence, RI

status

In progress

client

Brown RISD Hillel

team

Annie Barrett
Adriel Mesznik
Anastasia Yee
Caitlin Watson
Chi Chi Wakabayashi
Deo Deiparine
Matthew Ragazzo
Rand Abu-al-sha'r

Structural

Hatfield

MEP/FP

Altieri

Lighting

Lumen Architecture

Acoustics

Threshold

Fabricator

Situ

The Brown RISD Hillel Chapel will support a flexible spectrum of spiritual activities, from prayer to performance art and everything in between.

A digital architectural rendering of a room with a high, multi-faceted wood ceiling, featuring several skylights. The room has light-colored wood paneling on the walls and a blue floor. People are seated in a circular arrangement in the center of the room.

A new ceiling redefines the space, transforming the existing cruciform room into an open gathering space organized by a six-point star above.

Moving diagram showing cruciform roof overlaid with six-point star and floor overlaid with different seating arrangements. Text reads "ceiling: defines space" and "floor: defines program"

Six skylights, situated at the points of the star, draw the gaze upward and tune the experience of the room to changes in time, weather, and season.

A grid of six renderings of skylights set at oblique angles in a complex wooden ceiling.

We studied many formal approaches to the ceiling’s geometry before arriving at the six-point star...

Moving diagram showing the cruciform shape of the room in pink overlaid with a other shapes in a blue outline. The shapes are diamond, square, circle, oval, clover, triangle, six-point star, rotated six-point star.

...and carefully developed the geometry, detailing, and material expression in response to daylighting conditions and acoustic needs.

Moving diagram showing the ceiling geometry overlaid with a six-point star, cardinal directions, areas of acoustic absorption and reflection, and a wood plank pattern.

Using our daylighting model and a heliodon, we tested how the feeling of the space would change throughout the day and year...

Close-up photograph of a light-colored wooden architectural model. The model's roof is a complex geometric design with triangular and diamond shapes. Material samples and printed design plans are scattered around the model.

Three people looking at an architectural model on a heliodon.

...to become a beautifully dynamic reflection of Brown RISD Hillel’s diverse Jewish communities and practices.

A time lapse video of a room with a high, multi-faceted wood ceiling, featuring several skylights. The room has light-colored wood paneling on the walls and a blue floor. One of the skylights has dichroic glass and casts light that changes color throughout the video.

An out-of-print text on the lost wooden synagogues of Eastern Europe became a central point of reference for the Chapel’s design.

A book sitting on a blue table. The book is called "Wooden Synagogues" by Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka.

We were struck by the relevance to our project, which bridges between an existing structure and contemporary artistic expressions of Jewish identity.

Photographs and section drawings of three historic wooden synagogues. The sections show that the shape of each structure's roof is entirely independent from the shape of the interior ceiling.

They inspired our approach to structure and section, negotiating between a contextual exterior silhouette and an exquisite, unexpected, spiritual interior space.

A cross section diagram of Gwozdziec Synogogue, a historic wooden synagogue in Ukraine. The space between the roof and ceiling is shaded white. Arrows point up from the roof and down from the ceiling.

A cross section diagram of the chapel. The space between the roof and ceiling is shaded white. Arrows point up from the roof and down from the ceiling.

In collaboration with Situ Fabrication, we developed an innovative framing system drawing on the lessons we learned from the Eastern European wooden synagogues.