Sukkah City at the Center for Architecture

Sukkah City (http://www.sukkahcity.com) is an international design competition that re-imagines an ancient form. The winning schemes and many of the entries develop new methods of material practice and propose radical possibilities for traditional design constraints in contemporary urban life. Out of 624 submissions from 43 countries, twelve finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished architects, designers, and critics. They were constructed as a cohesive village in Union Square. One of the winning schemes, Shim Sukkah, by tinder.tinker (David Getty, Matthew Jacobs, Stephanie Gunawan) will be reconstructed in the Center for Architecture's galleries. Biblical in origin, the Sukkah is an ephemeral structure erected for one week each fall, in which it is customary to share meals, entertain, sleep, and rejoice. The Sukkah's religious function is ostensibly to commemorate the temporary structures used during the exodus from Egypt. It is also about universal ideas of transience and permanence as expressed in architecture. The Sukkah is a means of ceremonially understanding 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. Wednesday, September 22, 5:30 - 8:00pm Exhibition Opening and Presentation Free