Sukkah City x DC

Sukkah City x DC

September 18–October 3, 2021

The Capital Jewish Museum and National Building Museum, in collaboration with the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (DCJCC), present Sukkah City x DC, a public display of creative sukkahs designed by notable architects, on view at the National Building Museum’s west lawn and DCJCC campus from September 18–October 3, 2021. Featuring seven sukkahs, each structure will interpret the theme of “welcoming the stranger” while exploring the traditions of Sukkot.

As part of Sukkot — a week-long Jewish holiday that simultaneously celebrates the Fall harvest and recalls the Israelites’ 40-year journey through the desert — families and communities build sukkahs, temporary structures in which it is customary to share meals, entertain, sleep, and rejoice. “The Sukkot holiday will be especially meaningful this year, as we close a year focused on home, health, and equity,” said Kara Blond, Executive Director of the Capital Jewish Museum. “We celebrate the importance of community by honoring the stories of place and transformation that a sukkah can inspire.” The presentation provides a “modern spin on an ancient tradition,” noted Dava Schlub, CEO of the DCJCC, “and reflects the vibrant Jewish community in our nation’s capital.”

Featuring imaginative and expressive structures that highlight key social justice themes including housing insecurity, displacement, and a changing landscape, Sukkah City x DC asks the visitor to confront the impermanence of our lives and to experience what it would mean to live without a solid roof overhead. Aileen Fuchs, Executive Director of the National Building Museum, called on the ideas of transience and permanence as expressed in architecture, noting, “sukkahs ask 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.”

Invited architect teams were provided with creative and technical requirements for the designs. Each structure must have three sides and a partial view through the roof to the sky, be large enough to contain two standing people and a shared table, an overhead screen made only of natural materials, and technical requirements befitting construction and stability for the duration of the holiday.

Sukkah City first launched in NYC in 2010 and has been recreated in cities across the country. Sukkah City x DC, the first such presentation in Washington, DC, is a signature program for the Capital Jewish Museum, now under construction a block east of the National Building Museum and set to open to the public in Fall 2022. The project was directed by Stephany Fry, Museum Educator, Capital Jewish Museum, Caitlin Bristol, Exhibitions Developer, National Building Museum, and Dava Schub, CEO, Edlavitch DCJCC. Rabbinical consultation and ritual blessings were provided by Rabbis Aaron Potek and Nora Feinstein, both of Sixth and I Historic Synagogue.

September 18, 2021–October 3, 2021. Access to the exhibition is free and open to the public 24/7.

Participating Architects and Architecture Firms
a complete unknown
Sukkah location: National Building Museum

Escoff & Ng Architects
Sukkah location: Edlavitch DCJCC

hord | coplan | macht
Sukkah location: National Building Museum

Knu Design and Cedar Architecture
Sukkah location: National Building Museum

Shinberg.Levinas
Sukkah location: National Building Museum

SmithGroup
Sukkah location: National Building Museum

A. Robert Zweig
Sukkah location: Edlavitch DCJCC

Related Programs
Community Day
National Building Museum West Lawn

Sunday, September 19, 11 am–2 pm, In person
In celebration of Sukkot, the Capital Jewish Museum and National Building Museum invite you to Sukkah City x DC Community Day! Meet the architects and explore the public display of creative sukkahs on view outdoors at the National Building Museum’s west lawn while you learn about Sukkot and participate in an arts workshop, holiday activities, family story time, and a letter-writing campaign in support of local people experiencing homelessness. Presented in collaboration with DC Public Library, Edlavitch DCJCC, PJ Library and Project Create. Free. In person, masks suggested. Registration encouraged. More information here. 

Panel Program
Hear from the notable architects behind Sukkah City x DC, a creative public art installation that celebrates Sukkot, presented by the Capital Jewish Museum, National Building Museum, and Edlavitch DC JCC. Learn about their inspiration and design process, and how the built environment can impact and inspire a community to reconsider who is welcome. Watch a recording here. 

Related Content
The designs will be featured on all partner websites, as well as on their corresponding Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter channels using the hashtag #SukkahCityDC.

Exhibition Support
This presentation was made possible by Andrew R. Ammerman, Esther and Bert Foer, Mark and Judy Lerner and Family, Howard Morse and Laura Loeb, Tina and Albert Small, Gene Sofer and Judith Bartnoff, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and a HumanitiesDC 2021 Humanities Festivals Partnership Grant.

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania is co-organized by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and Fallingwater, a property entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The exhibition is curated by Scott W. Perkins, Sr. Director of Preservation and Collections, Fallingwater; and Jeremiah William McCarthy, Chief Curator, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

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Specials thanks to The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, The Museum of Modern Art, and Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York.

Due to their light-sensitive nature, all materials from the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library are printed reproductions. Please visit their Frank Lloyd Wright Collections site for more details about the collection and research access.

Additional support provided by The Anthony and Keiko Greenberg Foundation.

Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House Partnership

The National Building Museum and Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House have partnered to offer a reciprocal discount of $5 off admission to ticket holders at each institution. Purchase a ticket at one site and show proof of purchase at the other site for $5off admission at that site from Saturday, April 13 through December 31, 2024 (please note that Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House will open for the season on April 25). This discount is redeemable only in-person on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on availability. The discount follows a 1:1 ratio, meaning the number of tickets purchased at one site corresponds to the number of tickets eligible for the discount at the other site. To claim the discount, visitors must present a digital or physical receipt. Please check each site’s website for updates and availability before your visit.