Park Synagogue East

This new synagogue incorporates a sanctuary, school, and library and serves as a new East Campus for the expanding congregation of the Park Synagogue. The building is a simple steel-frame box dressed in a stick and panel mosaic of copper cladding. Three large organic shapes-a Jerusalem stone sanctuary and two great copper canopies that bend towards each other in a gesture of welcome and blessing-burst forth from the structure.

The copper roof and siding were hand fabricated from 16-ounce sheet stock; the roof and horizontal battens from 20 ounce material. To minimize joints, the roofing was roll formed on site in lengths of approximately 50-feet long. Full-size mock-ups were made of the board and batten siding to ensure the quality of the final fabrication and installation.

A lengthy process, installation began in the fall and continued through the winter into summer. Weathering of the copper was rapid; proximity to Interstate-271 patinated it within weeks of installation. Whether they were installed weeks or months earlier, the panels were evenly matched by site dedication in the following fall.

The building's 18 tons of copper translate into 37,108 sq. ft. of copper, with 15,720 sq. ft. on the elevations, 9,546 sq. ft. in the canopies, and 11,841 sq. ft. on the roof. The copper was installed by Penn Perry Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA.

Architectural Categories: Standing Seam Roofs and Walls, Flat Seam Roofs and Walls, Exotic or Unusual Applications