Extension Synagogue and Community Hall of the Jewish Educational and Cultural Centre Chabad Lubavitch Berlin

In 2007, the neo-classical transformer station in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, built in 1922 by Otto Hanke, was coverted into a Jewish educational and cultural centre on behalf of the Chabad Lubavitch Berlin association. The former transformer hall in the centre of the building now houses a synagogue, a mikvah in the rooms of the basement, and seminar rooms and a library. A room for children‘s services and a café have also been created. The festival hall with its attached kosher kitchen is used for various religious and cultural events for members of the Jewish community and their visitors from all over the world. The growing number of the members and guests of the community now made a replanning of the building unavoidable. This includes an extension of both the community centre and the synagogue. While preserving as much of the existing building fabric as possible, the synagogue space will be almost doubled in size. The room is to retain its previous, now internationally known character as well as its language of form and material, but will be rotated by 90° for the enlargement. To achieve this, the rear, three-storey part of the existing building will be partially cut out and the existing gable roof of the main building extended to the rear. The materiality and colouring of the newly planned components are based on the existing building. However, the plaster surfaces of the new cubatures in a light pastel colouring have a fluted, vertical profiling. The interiors of the synagogue and community hall as well as the community room will have horizontally structured walnut wood panelling. In the centre of the staggered hall ceiling, an oval skylight allows daylight to enter. The synagogue offers space for up to 488 people, 180 seats in the gallery, 280 in the lower main room and 28 in a divisible „Small Synagogue“. The community hall will also be enlarged and will be housed in a new two-storey extension with a terrace in front, which opens the hall into the garden area. The connecting element with the existing building is the base of rust-red brickwork on which the extension rests. The roof of the hall will also be designed as a terrace. This will be accessible from the first floor. Above the hall, another community room for smaller events will be built, staggered back on three sides. Both the lower synagogue room and the community hall will be accessible without barriers. This is ensured by an outside lifting platform at the side entrance. The roof terrace on the first floor is also accessible via a new lift in the hall.