Reimagining the Sukkah to Create Interactive, Immersive Spaces

Sukkah

By Amy Karagiannakis

In the heart of Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, a unique event unfolds each year, drawing on ancient traditions to foster contemporary community engagement. The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, now entering its third edition, has become a vibrant celebration of art, architecture, and cultural exchange, rooted in the Jewish tradition of building sukkahs during the holiday of Sukkot. 

A sukkah is a temporary hut constructed to commemorate the fall harvest and the Jewish story of liberation from slavery in Egypt. Traditionally, it is a three-sided outdoor room built in backyards. This practice symbolizes the temporary dwellings used by the Israelites during their 40-year journey through the desert out of Egypt. The festival of Sukkot, which means “huts” in Hebrew, typically takes place in late– September or early– October, aligning with the lunar calendar. 

Joseph Altshuler, a Jewish architectural designer and assistant professor in the Illinois School of Architecture, has found a personal and professional intersection in the sukkah tradition. 

idea for festival

The idea for the festival was inspired by similar events in other cities, such as Sukkah City in New York. However, Altshuler and his practice Could Be Design aimed to go beyond a one-off art exhibition, focusing instead on deep-rooted community involvement and relationships. The Chicago West Side neighborhood of North Lawndale, once a hub for Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, serves as the festival’s setting, tapping into the neighborhood’s rich cultural memory and heritage.  

The festival pairs architectural designers with local community organizations, challenging them to reinterpret the sukkah in ways that serve the specific needs of the community. These collaborations are more than artistic exercises – they are participatory design workshops that culminate in a public celebration. After the festival, the sukkahs are relocated from the festival grounds and permanently installed at the community organizations’ facilities, providing ongoing program spaces and aesthetic markers of long-term engagement. 

The festival has seen enthusiastic participation from both the broader Chicago Jewish community and residents of North Lawndale. Altshuler notes the teeming attendance at the opening celebration and the festival’s role in amplifying intergenerational, interracial, and cross-cultural dialogue and solidarity. The festival also seeks to counteract negative media narratives about Chicago’s West Side by showcasing the area’s vibrant community activities. 

One of the festival’s key partners is the Stone Temple Baptist Church, originally a synagogue, which underscores the historical ties and ongoing cultural exchange between Jewish and Black communities in North Lawndale. Another vital partner is the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot, a community museum housed in a shipping container, which reimagines curatorial models by empowering local residents with exhibition selection. 

part deux

The 2023 Sukkah Design Festival was selected as a special contributor and “City Site” for the Chicago Architecture Biennial’s fifth edition, bringing new audiences to North Lawndale via the biennial’s international platform. While Altshuler serves as the artistic director for the festival and guides its overall organizational framework, the festival’s inclusion in Chicago Architecture Biennial also afforded an opportunity for Could Be Design to contribute a sukkah to their own exhibition. Each sukkah created during the festival is a unique blend of traditional elements and contemporary needs. Could Be Design’s collaboration with the Chicago Tool Library in 2023 exemplified this. They co-created a sukkah that doubles as a tool demonstration kiosk and an instructional video backdrop. This sukkah now serves as a permanent feature at the library’s West Side headquarters, supporting various community programs. 

The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival thrives on robust collaborations with the University of Illinois faculty and students. Nekita Thomas, an assistant professor in the School of Art and Design, collaborates closely with Altshuler in crafting the exhibition identity and landscape design of the festival grounds, as well as the interpretive graphics and signage. Additionally, Akima Brackeen, an assistant professor in the School of Architecture, brings invaluable insights into the design process, enriching the festival’s architectural dialogue. The 2024 edition of the Sukkah Design Festival featured the work of students and alumni of the Illinois School of Architecture. Airyanna Eason (BS Architectural Studies ’24), Asia Zanders (BS Architectural Studies ’24), and Mikaela Ewing (currently a senior in the School of Architecture) are worked with Cocina Compartida de Trabajadores Cooperativistas (Shared Kitchen of Cooperative Workers) to co-create a sukkah that will be installed after the festival to serve as a community hub for street vendors on 16th Street, a commercial thoroughfare in the heart of North Lawndale.  

“The festival’s relationship with the college is something that I hope can continue to grow. One of the things about the festival that brings me a lot of joy is how it has become a platform for other FAA faculty to plug into in different ways – from Nekita’s leadership on the exhibition design to Akima’s role as a design contributor and now a festival organizer,” shared Altshuler.  

Altshuler is currently working on a design research project called Supergraphic Landscapes with Nekita Thomas. Altshuler explains, “The term Supergraphic Landscapes is a practice around the intersection of architecture, graphic design, and landscape architecture. More specifically, it’s about how networked patterns of urban-scaled graphics in the built environment play important roles in building community and amplifying identity, belonging, and access to public spaces.” The Sukkah Festival and its grounds have been a natural platform to prototype and enact some of the ideas that have come out of their Supergraphic Landscapes research.  

Altshuler’s architectural practice Could Be Design, cofounded with Zack Morrison, is dedicated to creating spaces that are “seriously playful” and foster companionship and solidarity among multiple communities. Their work spans conventional architectural projects, exhibition design, and public art installations. They strive to challenge traditional distinctions between art and architecture, creating interactive, immersive spaces that invite community participation. 

part tres

A notable example of their work is the “Carousel for Companionship” in Columbus, Indiana. This kinetic public plaza features a manually operated rotating platform, functioning as a play structure, stage, and viewing machine. The design references the city’s midcentury modern architectural heritage, creating a dynamic social infrastructure that engages community members in new and meaningful ways. 

The 2024 edition of the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival took place October 6–26. This year, the sukkah teams specifically focused on a broader effort to reimagine 16th Street which has historically served as the main street in North Lawndale. Most of the 2024 Sukkah teams worked with partners that have spaces along 16th Street to improve community development along that corridor. Altshuler shared his thoughts for the future of the festival, “I hope we can continue to connect the creative activities of the sukkah co-design teams with broader community development and urban design efforts already afoot in North Lawndale.” 

The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival exemplifies how cultural traditions can inspire contemporary community engagement and cultural dialogue. By reimagining the sukkah as a platform for art, design, and social interaction, the festival not only honors Jewish heritage but also builds bridges across diverse communities in North Lawndale and beyond. James Stone Freedom Square, the outdoor venue for the festival, was established in 2023 as a new public plaza that can now be enjoyed by community members year-round. As the festival continues to evolve, it stands as a testament to the power of architecture and design in fostering inclusive, participatory, and vibrant urban spaces. The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival was recently named the winner of the 2024 Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award. The AIA Chicago bestows this honor award to one project annually, celebrating the commitment of designers who work on behalf of the public good.