Kehilla Residential Programme (KRP) has invited architects, students, artists, builders and allied design professionals to submit design proposals for the second annual Sukkahville Design Competition. The aim of this open competition is to design a temporary, free-standing Sukkah to be built in Mel Lastman Square in Toronto on the eve of the holiday of Sukkot. We encouraged participants to re-imagine the traditional notion of Sukkah, with a contemporary design language and approach. Five winning designs will be chosen by a select high profile jury to be constructed in a visionary village. An awards ceremony and event will be held on Sunday September 30th from noon to 4pm. The sukkahs will remain on display until the end of day Monday October 1st.
As of the registration deadline of June 1st 2012, KRP has received 146 registration requests from both local and international participants. Submission deadline for participants is August 1st and the winners will be notified by August 15th.
The funds raised through Sukkahville will be used to supplement KRP’s new rental assistance program. A rental assistance program bridges the gap between market rental rates and what the poor in our Jewish community can afford to pay. The positive social implications of this program are truly significant. Donation will allow those in need to live more affordably within the Jewish community with access to support and services. All stakeholders in these project- donors, clients, agencies and the Jewish community at large will benefit from the positive impact of a rental assistance program. Thanks to the generosity of a donor who provided the seed money we have been able to launch a rental assistance program that will help seven Jewish households afford to live within the Jewish Community. Our goal is $100,000; double what we raised last year!
Reinventing the Sukkah
A Sukkah is a temporary structure constructed for use annually during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is described in Leviticus as a symbolic wilderness shelter, 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.
Kehilla Residential Programme
Kehilla Residential Programme is a non-profit housing agency whose mandate is to identify and champion housing initiatives responsive to the needs of the Jewish community 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.