“This is what I envisioned from the beginning,” said architect Goodwin Steinberg, glancing at Congregation Beth Am’s new buildings and landscaping.
For Steinberg, the beginning was 1958 when he first began designing classrooms for the Los Altos Hills synagogue. Now 41 years later, he calls his project complete — thanks to his son, Robert, also an architect.
“It’s a very special privilege to work on something that was started by my father,” Robert said. “A real honor.”
Beth Am marked the completion of Goodwin’s vision and the work of his son at a dedication ceremony last month. The congregation’s expansion and renovation project cost $5.7 million.
“They are the aesthetic guardians of Beth Am,” Rabbi Richard Block said of the two San Jose-based architects during the ceremony. “Any good architect can design a building, but it’s important to have the same soul.”
No two architects can come as close as sharing the same soul as the Steinberg father-and-son team.
Robert, 47, grew up as a Beth Am member, learning and growing within the buildings his 74-year-old father designed.
In keeping with the tone established by his father, Robert seamlessly blended the new into the old. “I didn’t want to change the wonderful character that was here,” Robert said. “I didn’t exactly copy; building codes are different today. But I used the same vocabulary.”
Where once there was a sloping meadow, now four classrooms and a multipurpose room stand, splitting Beth Am’s campus into an upper level of existing buildings and the new lower level.
By adding this lower level of buildings, he admits to shifting the gravity of Beth Am. “But I placed the lower section much lower down than the upper, so it doesn’t compete with the main sanctuary,” Robert said.
Robert also renovated and expanded the administrative offices and updated the older classrooms as well as adding on new classrooms and a library on the upper level.
“This is the facelift,” Goodwin said. “Rob remedied many of the ills of the last 35 years by re-partitioning and modernizing the existing. Then he added on the new.”
While Robert’s designs blend with his father’s, ultimately, Robert’s buildings possess a subtle character and personality of their own.
The disparity between the two architects’ designs is particularly evident in the multipurpose room, the focal point of the lower level. Stairs guide congregants and visitors from the upper level to this new room.
At the bottom of the steps, the path gives way to a trellised patio area and surrounding landscaping before leading to the entrance of the building. The entrance is flanked on each side by classrooms.
The multipurpose room, with floor-to- ceiling windows, transitions nicely from the soft gardens and Robert’s intent is apparent — an indoor-outdoor room. It is complete with a small warming kitchen and hidden sliding partitions that can split the room in three. The room’s focal point is the stained glass section by artists David and Michelle Plachte-Zuieback.
Behind outer sliding stained-glass doors stands the ark, in front of a stained-glass window. On the outer sliding panels, the parting of the Red Sea is depicted with a stylized pillar of smoke or flame. Lightning bolts containing Hebrew letters represent the divine spark as heaven meets earth.
Images of Mount Sinai are behind the ark. The stone is shattered and flame forms the letter shin. The sky is decorated with 613 stars, one for each mitzvah.
At night, instead of fading without the sun to illuminate them, the stars twinkle back. The modern shaped ark, made of wood, is decorated with 10 reflective bars, which suggest the Ten Commandments.
“While it adds some formality to the room,” Robert said about the stained glass, “it doesn’t overpower you as a religious piece.”
Block, who worked with the artists closely, simply called it, “a beautiful reality.” The rabbi added that the entire addition and renovation of Beth Am was a “fulfillment of a dream.”
“I’m grateful to have been a part of the foundation for the next generation,” said Block, who takes over this month as executive director of ARZA/World Union in Israel.
Congregants shared Block’s enthusiasm about Robert’s work at the synagogue.
“Everybody loved Goodwin’s design,” said Ric Rudman, a Beth Am board member. “We couldn’t be more pleased with what Rob has done.”
The multipurpose room, which can be used for prayer, won high praise from members.
“Now we can have either more class space or an alternate sanctuary,” said Sheila Lewis, past president of Beth Am. “It will get lots of use.”
For his part, Robert acknowledges the work congregants did to make the project a reality. “I couldn’t have done it alone.”
While pleased with the results, for Robert the greatest satisfaction was gained from being able to carry on his father’s work, while helping the synagogue to grow.
“For youth and elderly, this was an opportunity for heritage to continue,” he said.
Said Goodwin: “This is a hub of Jewish life. I am lucky to have been able to set the background and then have my son continue the work.”