Cetra to design new HQ for city's Chinese Mission.Cetra/Ruddy has been awarded the commission to design a new world headquarters and church for the Oversea Chinese Mission located in New York's Chinatown district. The firm was selected as architect and interior designer to provide a creative re-adaptation of an existing mixed-use 12-story building at 154 Hester Street. Construction of the Oversea Chinese Mission is scheduled to begin Summer 2007 with an estimated completion date of Summer 2008. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. John Cetra, founding principal of Cetra/Ruddy, "One of the unique challenges of the project is to honor the Mission's rich heritage while developing an innovative design that will take them into the future." Cetra/Ruddy's design approach is based on creating one-of-a-kind solutions that form an architectural memory for their clients. The Oversea Chinese Mission's early 20th century commercial loft building will be redesigned to better serve the needs of the community. The re-configured headquarters will include classrooms, community and pastoral office spaces and a new 2-story sanctuary. The sanctuary, which is the heart of the new facility, will seat 750 worshippers and will include state-of-the-art acoustics and audio-visual capabilities for multi-media religious worship in Mandarin, Cantonese and English languages. According to Cetra, "Having the chance to consider and explore the design parameters of a contemporary religious institution ministering to both the spiritual and social concerns of the congregation is very exciting. We believe we were chosen as we expressed a passion for sharing the journey to define the organization's mission with exciting architectural expression." The firm, simultaneously designing a new ground-up synagogue on the Upper West Side, is becoming an expert at "sacred spaces." Jeff Rosenberg, the Cetra/Ruddy principal heading the design team stated, "We are creating an inspirational architectural space in which the congregation can find spiritual enrichment. What attracted us to this project was a sense of history and how it reflects the multigenerational mul·ti·gen·er·a·tion·al adj. Of or relating to several generations: multigenerational family traditions. fabric of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of ." Principals John Cetra, Nancy Ruddy rud·dy adj. rud·di·er, rud·di·est 1. a. Having a healthy, reddish color. b. Reddish; rosy. 2. , and Jeffrey Rosenberg Jeffrey Rosenberg is a guitarist/vocalist/drummer who has been in a number of bands in Los Angeles, CA, Brooklyn, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Providence, RI. These bands have ranged from soft anthemic folk (Lavender Diamond) to other less touchy-feely creatures: noisy, bombastic have a history of working with institutional and not-for-profit organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo Bronx Zoo formally New York Zoological Park Zoo in New York City. It opened in 1899 on 265 acres (107 hectares) in the northwestern area of the Bronx. In 1941 it added the 4-acre (1. , Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall Concert hall in New York, N.Y., U.S. It was endowed by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie at the insistence of the conductor Walter Damrosch (1862–1950). , the Edwin Gould Foundation and Columbia University Columbia University, mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions. . |
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