Architectural competitions prompt innovative ideals, bringing new designers out of the woodwork and finding a wide range of possibilities to match a given design brief.
While such competitions are often commercially-focused, one Canadian architecture competition is taking inspiration from Jewish traditions while seeking to provide housing for low-income Canadian families.
According to Nancy Singer, executive director of the Kehilla Residential Programme, the temporary Sukkah dwellings developed by members of the Jewish community for the festival of Sukkot perfectly encapsulated what she was trying to achieve in bringing low-income housing options to the wider community. The non-profit housing agency consists of 500 units and is constantly looking for innovative and effective ways to further the program’s endeavours.
Embryonic Canopy
“Sukkot means the importance of shelter,” Singer said. “It’s about vulnerability, people living underhoused, or living on the street – dislocation, estrangement, wandering in the desert, and the need to create a sense of home. Sukkot couldn’t be a more perfect match with what we do.”
In light of this, Singer developed the fund-raising Sukkahville, a design competition for Canadian and American architects and designers of all experience levels from across the industry, with the caveat that their Sukkah design concepts must abide by strict rules and be Rabbi certified.
Harvest Wave
This year’s competition garnered more than 140 proposals. Singer said the competition and its extensive support and interest will raise awareness for the greater public housing issue and the program as a whole.
“Being a creative agency, we’re always trying to find something that symbolizes what we do,” she said. “We work quietly, behind the scenes. But this was something that was really a vehicle to get our brand out there, and to create awareness of the need for affordable housing.”
Instead of being restrictive, the competition’s rules – some quirkier than others – allowed for a sense of fun and offered a different challenge to designers.
Hegemonikon
This year’s five finalists include the Sukkanoe designed by Gregory Marinic, Nicolas Herrer, Kevin Pham, Michelangelo Sabatino and Serge Ambrose of New York; Embryonic designed by Craig Deebank of Toronto, Harvest Wave designed by Andrew McGregor, Robert Miller, Raymond Bourraine and Teresa Cacho of New York; Hegemonikon designed by Christina Zeibak and Daphne Dow of Houston and Woven Sukkah by Ian Popian of New York.
The five finalists’ concepts will go on display at the Mel Lastman Square, with small monetary stipend awarded to go towards the development of their designs.
Woven Sukkah
The competition puts a positive and unique spin on the challenge of providing low-income housing in Toronto, with its sense of cultural heritage adding a richness and added meaning to the designs and the overall notion of providing shelter.
