Church, Synagogue, and Religious Facility Architects

Why is Shinberg.Levinas the right choice as your church architect, synagogue architect, religious school architect, or other religious facility architect?

We have extensive experience designing synagogues, churches, and other religious facilities, from renovations to additions to new, ground-up buildings. Our principal, Salo Levinas, has particularly useful insights into the planning of religious institutions, as he has significant experience in the process as an architectural professional and as a congregant. He understands well the time demanded to personally ensure that our projects move smoothly and efficiently.

View examples of our past religious facility design work.

Here is how Shinberg.Levinas helps you create a distinctive, enduring building that is as inspirational as it is functional within your budget:

Communication

Our experience in working with religious institutions has taught us much about the process and about the components that must come together to result in a project that meets the client’s expectations. We have learned that communication is key, from first learning about the congregation’s hopes and needs to producing a complete set of construction documents and working with the owner and contractor during the construction process. We are involved until after the owner occupies the new building and are available to address any questions or concerns that may arise.

Shinberg.Levinas will strive to understand the character and ambitions of your organization by listening to your ideas, needs, and challenges. We will meet with the building committee, focusing the discussion to find working solutions, and translate what we learn into the building design.

Aesthetics

Beauty does not need to be expensive. We incorporate aesthetics and long-term planning into the shape and function of the design. We accomplish this through sensitivity to maintenance costs and through the use of materials that are both attractive and cost-conscious.

Flexibility

Programmatic needs vary and often require spaces to be flexible in order to accommodate the community they serve. Learning about the congregation’s needs allows us to design spaces that can flex as needed: rooms that can easily expand into larger spaces, meeting rooms that can serve as community rooms, or a building layout that allows for future growth.

Functionality and Technical Expertise

The congregation’s new home must function well, invisibly, and seamlessly. Building systems must operate quietly to avoid interference with silent prayer; spaces must be comfortable; lighting must properly serve multiple functions. Shinberg.Levinas pays careful attention to all elements and details of the building.

While design is important in capturing the spirit of the congregation’s new home, the building must perform well over time. We compose buildings that reflect our extensive technical expertise, from site analysis through construction. We stress the importance of working closely with the consultants to compose a set of clear and coordinated construction documents. This allows us to effectively analyze and consider costs, oversee permit documents, and guide all the phases of construction.

Cost Control

Our firm represents excellence in design and practicality in construction. We understand how critical cost control is, and we have a proven track record of finding the juncture of quality and economy in numerous projects. An efficient project strategy, by its nature, saves construction dollars and produces a functional result. We meet frequently with contractors to obtain the best value and results. We supply the building committee with cost estimates so decisions can be evaluated through the design and construction process. By providing assistance during the bidding process, we help the project stay on budget. We believe that a close working relationship with the client on this critical issue helps manage expectations and ensures a smoother design and construction process.

Design Concepts

One of our goals is to create spaces that physically embody what is important to your congregation. Here are a few examples of how we were able to work with congregations to capture the spirit of ideas in our building designs:

Meaningful Spaces

“The Tabernacle beneath the tent”

“Reaching out to the Community”

“Make a fence around the Torah” – Mishnah [Pirkei Avot]

Lighting

Natural Light / Day Lighting

Sunlight is an essential element of design. We believe the relationship of the building to the sun to be primordial. Natural light must provide for and compliment the architecture. Our projects strive to utilize natural resources in order to maximize visual comfort and reduce energy use. Natural lighting can in many areas eliminate the need for artificial. The savings in this area become available to support other program goals.

The use of various types of exterior glazing: curtain wall, windows, clerestory, skylights, light shelves, light tubes, to name a few, can be used to create different lighting effect on the building interior, responding to the needs of varying program types.

At the Chabad Seven Locks, the building is oriented and distorted to catch North light.

Artificial lighting is essential in the design process in that it has an aesthetic and practical component. A successful lighting design can enhance the architecture, and set the mood within a space. However, the lighting must provide appropriate levels of light for a specific space to function well. It can work in conjunction with daylighting, where electric lights will automatically dim or turn off in response to the presence of daylight.

Complementing natural lighting with artificial is desirable to enhance special conditions and illuminate the building at night.

Task lighting and accent lighting, when designed in conjunction with ambient light for a particular space, all must be carefully selected and designed to work with the architecture.

Artificial Light

At Kol Shalom, artificial interior lighting is used to accentuate and emphasize the form of the main entrance arch.

Organizing an overall site involves a complex array of factors:

zoning
topography
utilities
orientation to the sun
pedestrian circulation
vehicular circulation [cars, buses, service]
sensitivity to neighbors
existing landscape
climatic conditions
miscellaneous existing conditions

The process can be broken down into a manageable series of steps. Once the site is chosen, we need to gather all available data as it pertains to the factors listed above. This information then can be mapped on a series of plan of the site, and used to select the most favorable location for the proposed structure. The factors acting on the site will help shape not only the location, but the building form as well.

The process is not linear, but involves some back and forth between siting and form. Our job is to find one solution that can addresses all of these factors, promoting the more significant items on the agenda, while working had to preserve those further down the list.

Site and Context

Flexible space can be developed from combinations of other rooms, as well as the more typical multi-purpose space. Saving space intelligently will have great benefits for cost, for function, and for keeping the physical plan compact.

The various configurations must succeed without circulation conflicts, either in terms of practicality or fire safety. The heating, cooling, and lighting design has to be able to support all the possible layouts.

Using movable partitions, we can create the possibility of extra classrooms in a space that is more typically used as a multi-purpose room. The whole area can also function as one larger classroom.

Another example is a layout proposing three programmatic functions around a central space. This central space works as an entrance lobby, as well as a flexible space that can be used as an expandable space for any of adjoining rooms.

Seating types allow for further flexibility in the way a space is used. By not installing fixed seating in a room like the sanctuary or an auditorium, there are more options available for how the space may be used.

The areas that allow for flexibility within the plan for this program type are