Architect and artist seeks to please the eye and satisfy the soul
Kenneth Treister will discuss his new book “The Fusion of Architecture & Art: The Judaic Work of Kenneth Treister” from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27 in Smathers Library (East), Room 100.
The talk will be followed by a reception, book signing and tours of the Judaica Suite from 7-8 p.m. In this rare view of six projects, the award-winning architect and artist Treister will discuss the importance of uniting architecture and art to create beautiful sacred spaces. His poetic sensibility combines with the vastness of his creative vision to produce exceptional works that will draw those interested in architecture to a new level of appreciating architectural beauty.
The impressive photographic skills of architectural photographer Laszlo Regos highlight the new book, whose foreword was by the world-renowned scholar and author Rabbi Yitz Greenberg.
Beginning with the award-winning Gumenick Chapel at Temple Israel of Greater Miami, Treister sets his mission "to design a building that not only encloses a sacred space but is a total work of art that lifts the human spirit." A stately foyer leads into the contemplative hush of the central chapel where natural light flows in through stunning Belgian-cast glass windows, protecting and guarding the sacred Torah.
Treister's determination to please not only the eye, but to satisfy our human longing for a home for our deepest emotions, can be seen in this dazzling array of his original designs. From the Gumenick Chapel to his restoration of Temple Emanu-El's domed sanctuary where, as Treister says, "a powerful silence should be sensed, a whisper that you are entering a holy space," along with the hand-carved mahogany murals at Beth David Congregation and the synagogue at Miami's Jewish Home for the Aged, to the University of Florida's Judaica Suite at the Smathers Libraries, visitors are immersed in an architecture of beauty.
For more information, please contact Barbara Hood at bhood@ufl.edu or 352-273-2505.