A team of University of Michigan Architecture faculty recently won a national competition to design a New Jersey synagogue, school and social hall.

Assistant Professor of Practice Craig Scott and Assistant Professor Robert Levit, with Assistant Professor of Practice Lisa Iwamoto from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at UM were announced as first-prize winners in the Flemington Jewish Community Center (FJCC) Design Competition.

Brian Carter, professor and chair of the Architecture Program at the University of Michigan, noted, “Students and faculty here are inspired by the news of this successful competition design submission. This is an important national competition that was open to architects across America and it is splendid that the winning design for the FJCC—selected by such a distinguished jury—was prepared by a group of young architecture faculty from Michigan. It is an outstanding achievement that builds on the traditions of our College and convincingly connects the education of architects and practice of architecture.”

The FJCC Competition
The competition drew 194 registrants from the U.S. and abroad submitting 82 different entries. All entrants were required to be licensed U.S. architects, or architect teams working with a licensed architect. In addition to sharing a $10,000 first prize award for their winning submission, the Taubman College team will be able to see their design become reality. Although construction of the approximately 23,000 square foot facility has not officially begun, Ralph Lerner, FAIA, the competition’s professional advisor, stated that the FJCC is interested in moving quickly.

Submissions were received and judged by a distinguished jury including Preston Scott Cohen, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Laurie Hawkinson, Smith-Miller+Hawkinson, Architects; Rabbi Evan Jaffe, Flemington Jewish Community Center; Suzanne Kalafer, Flemington Jewish Community Center; Enrique Norten, TEN Arquitectos; and Guy Nordenson, Guy Nordenson and Associates (substituting for Stanley Tigerman, FAIA, Tigerman McCurry Architects).

The competition was jointly sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts New Public Works Program, a program which funds national design competitions in order to encourage development of the highest quality of design in the public realm.

FJCC Background
Founded in 1926, the FJCC serves a 260 family congregation through religious services, educational programs, and the enhancement of Jewish life in the Flemington area, and also offers a range of inter-denominational outreach programs serving the greater Hunterdon County community. The FJCC is currently the largest synagogue in the county.

The challenge of the design competition was to create an innovative and affordable design that sought to address the current and future needs of the FJCC congregation. It had to be perceived as a community asset as well as reflect the goals and activities appropriate both to the spiritual and social life of the FJCC congregation.

A Winning Design for FJCC
The team’s submission addressed the needs of the FJCC community by trying to understand the relationships present in this type of multiple-use facility while being sensitive to the needs of the site. The team explained their rationale in the following extract from their submission document.

“. . . the question has come to be: what does a building allow to happen, rather than what does it represent. For us, such issues are not so easily divided. . . .We saw the building as a constellation of relationships both broad and narrow, inward and outward, and of spheres of activity—related but diverse.”

The team’s innovative design incorporated three distinct features, a synagogue, social hall, and school into one cohesive plan as well as accommodating the center’s modest budget and needs for future growth.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]