Farrey Lane Chabad

Miami, Florida | design 2018

This small neighborhood Jewish spiritual and community center is designed to serve the Venetian and Sunset Island communities of Miami Beach. It will replace a single home, that had already been converted to spiritual use about a decade earlier. The expanded facility is a response to the need for a spiritual center with educational and recreational programming, located within walking distance from the residents it serves.

Sited on Belle Isle, the center occupies a tiny lot amongst a diverse mix of single-story houses, multi-story apartment and hotel buildings, and high-rise apartment towers. Urbanistically, the building will reinforce an emerging intermediate, or mid-rise scale along Island Avenue, the mainperipheral drive connecting the island.

The center will comprise two parts: a four-story head-piece and a one-story tail. The head-piece houses the public functions: education and administrative facilities, as well as amenities like a library, gym, and roof terrace. The more private, religious areas including a small sanctuary and adjacent social room, are contrastingly housed in a one-story gabled structure designed to blend with its modest neighbors.

The various facades of the new center required particular attention. The building should appear open, yet total transparency was not desired. Accordingly, veiling skins were developed for the two component parts of the project.

Awards:

2018 AIA Florida Merit Award /Unbuilt