OCT. 12, 2011 -- Ten cutting-edge sukkahs by architects and designers from around the nation will be on display Oct. 18-22 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

The projects are winners of Sukkah City STL, an ambitious contemporary design competition that challenged participants to re-imagine the traditional Jewish sukkah — a small, temporary structure erected each fall during the weeklong festival of Sukkot — through the lens of contemporary art and architecture.

"The holiday of Sukkot in Jewish tradition is a way of ceremonially dwelling on, and dwelling in, impermanence," says Rabbi Andrew Kastner of St. Louis Hillel, which co-sponsored Sukkah City STL with the university's Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts and the Museum of ImaJewnation. This year, Sukkot begins at sundown on Oct. 12.

"Each of the proposals, in their own way have re-imagined the ancient sukkah, using it as a canvas to explore the role boundaries play in defining what it means to be human," continues Kastner, who organized the competition with Brian Newman, adjunct lecturer of architecture in the Sam Fox School.

"The finalists have addressed this creative challenge through expressions of both the particular and the universal," Kastner says. "We are certain that the installation will provoke deep and meaningful conversation."

Families can see the winning sukkahs beginning Oct. 18, near the Ann W. Olin Women's Building, near the intersection of Throop Drive and Forest Park Parkway. The projects will all be installed outdoors, and they will be best viewed during daylight.

"We didn't quite know what to expect when we sent this project out into the world, but the response has been amazing," Newman says. "The work, as a whole, is so thoughtful, so architecturally exciting, and the participants have all proved to be endlessly enthusiastic.

"We really can't wait to see how these incredible conceptual structures come to life as built work."

For more information, visit the contest website.

Pictured: A rendering of Bronwyn Charlton and Linda Levin's winning sukkah, "Heliotrope." Photo courtesy of Washington University.

Add Comment