House of the Book, Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Brandeis, California

Sidney Eisenshtat

1973

External facade of building with cylindrical and open curved walls.
The minimalist aesthetic of the House of the Book, a chapel and conference hall, matches other buildings designed by Eisenshtat, a leading American synagogue architect. While he often favored horizontal orientations for the synagogues he designed, this brutalist, futuristic cylindrical building is vertical, like a fortress with towers.

Credits

Image courtesy of American Jewish University.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 10.

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Creator Bio

Sidney Eisenshtat

1914–2005

One of America’s leading synagogue architects, Sidney Eisenshtat played a key role in reinventing synagogue design in the mid-twentieth century. His first notable commissions were in Los Angeles, where he was based for his entire career at Temple Emanuel (1951) and Sinai Temple (1960). He was known for his use of thin shell concrete, natural light, and soaring forms. The House of the Book, a chapel and conference hall on the Brandeis-Bardin campus of the American Jewish University, is an example of his modernist sensibilities. Considered futuristic when it was built, it has been used more than once as the set of science fiction movies.

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