Potsdam, Germany

Enlisted by Brandenburg’s State Agency for Real Estate and Construction (Brandenburgischer Landesbetrieb für Liegenschaften und Bauen), SSP Rüthnick Architekten have transformed the North Gate Building and the Orangery, designed originally by Carl von Gontard, in the Sanssouci Palace Park into a Central Europe’s first academic education center for rabbis and cantors and Potsdam’s first synagogue.

European Center of Jewish Scholarship has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The art in the synagogue gave the space special attention and required additional integrative design work. The author of the artwork is the master student of Georg Baselitz, the artist SEO.

The design of the sacred space is in a listed building, a former stable.

A special lighting design gives the synagogue a unique look, a Torah with a 7-arms menorah in light lines engraved.

And a Bimah with lighted fiber concrete as the eternal light, ner Tamid.

The Abraham Geiger College and Zacharias Frankel College are located in the North Gate Building, and the School of Jewish Theology is located in the former Orangery – together they form the new European Center for Jewish Scholarship.

The former Orangery (with a length of 30 meters) was structurally changed several times, such as the conversion to a gym during the GDR era. The original use should be recognizable again by getting back the character of an Orangery. This was done associatively and with contemporary means.

 The current south facade was completely dismantled and renewed as a glass facade. A modern, elongated structure made of exposed concrete fits into the existing structure as a house within a house. In the “buffer zone,” between the new south façade and the house within the house, lounge areas and self-study areas were created for the students.

A pleasant microclimate was created, where ventilation is mechanical, with an external sunshade that adapts to the position of the sun.

The light effects from the multicolored printed glass façade – the result of the art-in-architecture- competition – further enhances the quality of the space.

The winner of this competition, entitled “This is not a Thurnbush” is the artist Eva Leitolf.

In addition to the new architecture, the focus is on the listed ensemble – the New Palace – and thus the historical development of the buildings.

The North Gate Building was erected in 1768-69 as a lodge for the court gardener. Today, it houses offices and seminar rooms that meet all the requirements of contemporary learning and working.

At the same time, monument protection was preserved by retaining the ground plan structure from the building period.

The main factor is the preservation and reuse of the materials and using the techniques of the time of construction.

The valuable, 250-year-old historic fabric of the buildings in the Sanssouci Park, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin,” was preserved as far as possible and carefully restored in a manner appropriate to the monument.

At the same time, a balance was struck between the historic substance and the new architecture.

The result is a high-quality new building within the existing structure, a place where history is readable on the building and the novel becomes visible.

Providing for students, lecturers, and staff from all over the world a vibrant synagogue and seminar room above and lecture halls accessible without barriers; a spacious lounge area in the Orangery for exchange between students and lecturers; self-study areas and high-quality outdoor lounge; seminar and office rooms with a view of the Park and spaces which fulfill contemporary learning and working.

It’s a lighthouse project with international impact, to provide a space for study, prayer, and exchange. The first academic education center for rabbis and cantors in Central Europe.

Project: European Center of Jewish Scholarship
Architects: SSP Rüthnick Architekten GmbH
Original Architect: Carl von Gontard (1731-1791)
General Contractor: Baugesellschaft Halbe
Client: Brandenburgischer Landesbetrieb für Liegenschaften und Bauen (BLB)
Photographers: Dimitri Bohl, Dr. Bauers, and Robert Grah