Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

The religious school, which was built in the 1960s, needed redesigning to provide a multi-use space that could serve as an assembly hall for the school and double as a lecture or concert hall for the evenings. It also had to have the potential to grow in order to receive crowds that attend High Holiday services. A well-conceived but under-used courtyard was enclosed and connected to two adjoining inerior spaces. It is a vital, compelling focal point for the whole school and is visible from every level and all adjacent corridors. Its lofty ceiling is made of Kalwall - a fiberglass sandwich that casts a soft light on the warm maple walls and gray-maroun carpeting. As often as possible the walls of Maltz Court are translucent or transparent - glass blocks, sandblasted and clearglass offer glimpses into and out of this space. 

Operable walls separate the central hall from the two smaller adjoining rooms - one of which is intimate and functions mostly as a sanctuary and a study hall. An Ark for the Torah Scrolls is built into its eastern wall. While most synagogues are built with an east-west orientation, the existing structure of this space, and the need to incorporate the two smaller halls and to plan for sight lines dictated a 90-degree switch. The vault is crowned with a north-south slice of clear glass. At the right time of day, but only for a shrot while, light shines down the center of the hall, across the lectern, and onto the open Torah Scroll.