Cement and wood redefine the atmosphere of an exotic synagogue

The renovation of the religious building was commissioned to the studio Equipo de Architectura by the Hebraic Union of Paraguay.

The South American firm Equipo de Architectura, after winning an initial competition, carries out the renovation of a synagogue for the Hebraic Union of Paraguay.
Preserving the perimeter walls and the roof, the project is volumetrically composed by two parallelepipeds intersected with each other, which create a large room surrounded by a filter space, that is the entrance to the synagogue.

The building is therefore conceived as a transition path between exterior and interior, through a sequence of layers. The concrete of the walls is used to protect and hide the original structure, and the perimeter space is  where silence begins, created to protect the religious gathering area from noise.

UHP Synagogue by Equipo de Architectura. Foto Federico Cairoli

In the prayer room, in addition, the light never comes directly, but only through the skylights, shaped like truncated cones, and the external interspace, where the sun is refracted by a wooden brise soleil.

The materials have been used exploiting their nature to characterize the atmospheres of the different places. The concrete left exposed, which we find outside, represents the protective shell of the temple. Rusty metal was used as a metaphor for the resilience of the Jewish people, while wood, employed to cover both the walls and the ceiling of the ceremonial hall, gives warmth and comfort to the atmosphere.

Project:
UHP Synagogue
Location:
Asunción, Paraguay
Architects:
Equipo de Arquitectura (Horacio Cherniavsky + Viviana Pozzoli)
Collaborators:
Jonathan Sosky, Diego Soto
Construction:
SIAR
Year of project:
2017
Year of construction:
2019
Total surface:
375 smq

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