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Gwathmey Siegel’s light-filled Interfaith Center opens at Bryant University
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects has designed a new Interfaith Center at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. As its name suggests, it is dedicated to all faiths and is intended to serve as a place of worship, reflection and gathering for the institution and its visitors.
The 10,000-square-foot-center houses a circular, 250-seat main hall with retractable walls as well as a smaller circular sanctuary that seats 40 and is used for daily services, personal reflection and smaller gatherings and as a multipurpose room. Visitors enter through a portico adjacent to a reflecting pool and arrive in the main lobby. The interior spaces are combine natural elements of stone, wood, water and light, creating a reverential space.
The building’s exterior is clad mostly in limestone with the center’s walls clad in brick to articulate the spaces. Throughout the facility there is a contrast of curvilinear, rectangular and square forms.
The $10 million center was dedicated in October 2009.
Sharon McHugh
US Correspondent
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