Sukkah city

On an up note, this is a project that I didn't take too seriously at first, as it appeared to be so far out as to have no connection to any actual observance of Sukkot.  But on delving further, I discovered that it's quite serious indeed, and very interesting.  And next year, it will be expanding beyond New York to many other cities all over the globe.  Rather cool.

Ostensibly the sukkah's religious function is to commemorate the temporary structures that the Israelites dwelled in during their exodus from Egypt, but it is also about universal ideas of transience and permanence as expressed in architecture. The sukkah is a means of ceremonially practicing homelessness, while at the same time remaining deeply rooted. It calls on us to acknowledge the changing of the seasons, to reconnect with an agricultural past, and to take a moment to dwell on--and dwell in--impermanence.

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'Sukkah City' is an international design competition to re-imagine this ancient phenomenon, develop new methods of material practice and parametric design, and propose radical possibilities for traditional design constraints in a contemporary urban site. Twelve finalists were selected by a panel of celebrated architects, designers, and critics to be constructed in a visionary village in Union Square Park from September 19-20, 2010.

One structure will be chosen by New Yorkers to stand and delight throughout the week-long festival of Sukkot as the People's Choice Sukkah of New York City. The process and results of the competition, along with construction documentation and critical essays, will be published in the forthcoming book "Sukkah City: Radically Temporary Architecture for the Next Three Thousand Years."

Selected entries will also be displayed in an exhibit at the Center for Architecture in New York City during September 2010.

More at the JPost, here.

Chag sameach!