Re-Imagining the Sukkah

Kehilla Residential Programme invites architects, students, artists, builders and allied design professionals to submit design proposals for the fourth annual Sukkahville Design Competition. The aim of this open competition is to design a temporary, free standing Sukkah to be built on Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto’s City Hall for the holiday of Sukkot, with a contemporary design language and approach.

Challenge

A Sukkah is a temporary structure constructed for use annually during the week long Jewish festival of Sukkot. The original source for this tradition is Leviticus 23:42-43, where it is described as a reminder of the booths that the children of Israel dwelt in after God brought them out of their slavery in Egypt.  Many later interpreters have understood the Sukkah as symbolizing the frailty and transience of life.

While building a Sukkah is a particular Jewish ritual observance, it represents many conceptual themes surrounding the essential nature of dwelling, which are universal in nature. Proposing an innovative Sukkah design which delicately balances the inherent dichotomies of new/old, open/closed, temporary/permanent is the challenge inherent in this competition.

Background

Kehilla Residential Programme is a non-profit housing agency whose mandate is to identify and champion housing initiatives responsive to the needs to the Jewish community and its neighbours in the greater Toronto area. Established in 1982, Kehilla is an affiliate agency of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. Under its mandate, Kehilla has been both a leader in the development of many affordable housing initiatives, as well as in offering property management services for community housing projects. With the goal of raising awareness to support Kehilla and its initiatives, the Sukkahville competition has been instituted to bring focus to the many significant affordable housing issues that are prevalent in our own community. Feel free to send us any questions or concerns you may have by email or by phone.

Submission

To successfully submit your design for Sukkahville, please follow the instructions below:

1) Register by May 23 2014, please send an email to: [email protected] with your contact details and submission title. A registration number will be assigned to you.

2) Pay the Competition Fee ($36 CAD) by May 23 2014. You can do this in one of the following ways:

a) Call or email in a credit card number to 416 932 1212 or
[email protected] and we will process through our Square account
c) Mailing in a cheque or money order to our address provided below
d) Pay with cash at our office at 262 Ridley Boulevard in Toronto. Please call 416 932 1212 to make an appointment to see us in person.
All donations from Sukkahville are utilized by Kehilla to promote the cause of establishing new affordable housing for the local Jewish community.

3) Digitally submit your Competition Panel through sendspace.com by June 20 2014 to[email protected].

One high resolution, Tabloid size (11”x17”), .pdf will be accepted per entry.  The file size is to not exceed 10mb. Please include a smaller, 1mb version of your submission as well. The presentation layout is at the discretion of the entrant. Presentation boards should be completely anonymous and only include the registration number provided. Please name your digital file “Sukkah Title – Registration Number.pdf”

For more information,please visit website

> via sukkahville.com