Shavuot Is Over, Time To Think About Sukkot

The reason you might want to start planning so far in advance is because there’s an awesome contest going on with a deadline of August 1st:

‘Sukkah City: New York City’ will 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 will be selected by a panel of celebrated architects, designers, and critics to be constructed in a visionary village in Union Square Park from September 19-21, 2010.
One structure will be chosen by New Yorkers to stand and delight throughout the week-long festival of Sukkot as the Official 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.”

In the Jewish calendar, the three biggest holidays are Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Passover ended in April, Shavuot ended last week, so I guess it’s time to start thinking about Sukkot 5771, which starts the evening of September 22nd.
You should check out their website for all of the details (for instance, if you want to enter you have to register by July 1st, which is alarmingly soon).



Those “celebrated architects, designers, and critics” they mentioned? The list includes Ron Arad, Paul Goldberger, Thom Mayne, and Adam Yarinsky.

This is your chance to design a sukkah made out of solar panels and hemp, or, like, moss covered walls and banana leaves. Gentlemen (and ladies): Start your…sukkah making machines.