Temple Beth Shmuel includes a Montessori School (directly adjacent to the cool facade) and the Cuban Hebrew Congregation in the synagogue. It was built in 1981 by Jewish Cuban architect Oscar Sklar. (enough facts).
I didn't get to go inside; it was dark, locked, and the tinted glass blocked my attempts to peer inside through the front doors. The thing is, I didn't know if I really wanted to go inside anyway, because it seemed really dark in there, and anticlimactic. When I was in Italy, there were some churches that were incredible on the outside but dark and almost boring on the inside. It was as if the outside was meant to awe/impress/draw you in but once inside, the walls don't try to compete with the activity and purpose of the space (praying, gathering, etc). I like to think it's like that; I'm not missing anything (architecturally) by remaining outdoors. Maybe I'm wrong...but I don't think it's Corb's Ronchamp, magic on the inside and outside (from what I've read and seen in pictures).
The temple's front windows are blobby; they are like lined up amebas or normal-shaped windows that decided to melt in place. Each one has dark stained glass. There are two front doors, I assume one to enter and the other to exit. These doors have overly rounded corners making them a cross between regular rectangle and an archway. These holes/apertures into the stucco facade remind me of Gaudi's stuff, but I don't see how anybody familiar with architecture wouldn't think this, at least for a second.
I really like it; there is something homey about it that I can't quite put my finger on. The building, from what I could see, is pretty standard except for this entrance. It has a front where it acknowledges the street which is the only part I cared to examine. This facade catches my eye at street level and commanded my attention...even more so than the oversized Frank Gehry building being constructed a couple blocks down or the Hertzog and de Meuron parking garage along Lincoln. I didn't even realize the garage was the famous duo's building, and I didn't realize the huge one under construction was by FG until I ran into it on a blog online. This synagogue pulled me in without online critiques and words.
Another thing I couldn't help but find intriguing and amusing about it was the fact that it was a Cuban Hebrew Temple. There are a lot of Jewish people in Miami Beach I observed very quickly after moving here. And there are a lot of Cubans, something I already knew. But I didn't really think that those two categories overlapped a whole lot. For some reason I didn't think about it. I guess I simply associate Spanish speaking countries with Catholicism so strongly. I should try not to assume things, because if I had given it any thought whatsoever, I would have maybe realized this assumption was wrong, especially with Cubans, who are such a uniquely defined and separate culture and people. Plus, I remember there was a giant temple I passed all the time in Mexico City and I had found that unusual. I shouldn't assume.
This temple is Miami Beach.
...it kind of seems like the triangular retaining walls were added later. The one on the left actually does retain dirt, that is sort of piled up against the church and held in on both sides by triangles, but the one on the right doesn't retain anything. It doesn't seem structural, so I wonder if it is there for symmetry or to help frame/guide you in. (?).
No comments:
Post a Comment