Jewish Community Centre in Mainz
Tucked behind an allée in Neustadt, a late-nineteenth-century neighbourhood in Mainz, is a new, shimmering, sculptural Jewish Community Centre. It was built on the site of the city’s former main synagoge, which was destroyed in the Kristalnacht (1938). Along the street, the building, recalling a meandering ribbon creased at intervals, responds to the perimeter-block fabric. At the site’s east side, the building culminates in a public forecourt, with a striking, soaring roof. The expressive silhouette is a foil to the adjoining dense building massing; it was inspired by the Hebraic word Keduscha, which means “to elevate” or “to bless”. The form of the building was literally determined by the letters, a reference to the great significance of the written word in the history of Judaism. Iridescent, dark-green ceramic elements arranged in concentric patterns around window openings give the exterior wall surfaces a 3D effect. From certain angles, although they are plumb, some parts of the facades appear to be oblique. In the mind’s eye, the colour tones vary significantly, from nearly black to silver. The architect joined up with ceramics expert Niels Dietrich and the manufacturer to develop the prototype. The extruded sections were then produced in varying lengths and bevelling angles to achieve the design’s zigzags. The elements are fastened to the supporting structure via aluminium rails that are glued to their backsides.
