AIA New Jersey Past President Recognized with an AIA Interfaith Design Award
The firm of AIA New Jersey Past President, Joshua Zinder, AIA, Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design, LLC, was recognized with a 2022 Faith & Form / Interfaith Design International Awards for Religious Architecture & Art in the category of Faith Community Civic Engagement / Visual Arts, Performing Arts, and Other Creative Collaborations Award for Sukkah Village 2021 in Princeton, NJ.
According to Partners for Sacred Spaces, a sukkah is a temporary, hut-like dwelling originally built by the Jews during the 40 years of travel in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt, and they are built every year for the Jewish holiday, Sukkah, a week-long autumn holiday that is a time to appreciate the shelter of our homes and bodies. Sukkahs represent the fragility of life. It is encouraged to spend as much time as possible in the sukkah, at minimum eating meals there and inviting loved ones inside. It is considered a mitzvah, or a good deed, to have guests commune with you in your sukkah. The idea for a community sukkah village was developed and executed over a period of 4 years. A design competition was held for architecture students and firms. The teams designed kosher sukkah and were provided a budget to construct them. The sukkah had to be transportable and demountable for easy storage. The design had to allow the inhabitants to connect with nature, provide shade, and draw the eye toward the sky.
10 teams partnered with 19 non-profit organizations to draw attention to social issues impacting the local communities and created modern sukkah designs for today. During the 10-day public event, the main sukkah village at the Jewish center of Princeton was home to 6 sukkahs, the corner lawn provided a green, quiet backdrop for participants, while still being on Princeton’s “main street” and close to downtown amenities. Sukkahs also popped up at prominent locations around town, such as places of worship, popular green spaces like Palmer Square, and community centers like the YWCA and the Arts Council of Princeton. In the months following the event, $20,000 in donations and auction proceeds were distributed to community agencies. In subsequent years, the auctioned sukkah will be erected by their new owners allowing the celebration to continue in a sustainable way.
Jury comments:
This is a community-based project, reaching out to engage local people with visual art and creativity. It brings the community together through the making of architecture. The project is ambitious, well-intended, and beautifully designed and executed.
As reported in Yahoo Finance, the Partners for Sacred Places announced 12 winners of the 2022 Faith & Form International Awards for Religious Architecture & Art. The awards program was founded in 1978 with the goal of honoring the best in architecture, liturgical design, and art for religious spaces. The 2022 awards recognized excellence in the creation and restoration of religious spaces and religious art, and achievement in the use of religious spaces for civic engagement.
A total of 52 entries were received for the 2022 Awards program from five countries. Winners were selected by a panel of jurors: Douglas Hanson FAIA (jury chair), Robin Whitehurst FAIA, Emily Sottile, The Rev. W. Joseph Mann, and Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft, under the guidance of Michael J. Crosbie, FAIA.
“While the 2022 Faith & Form awardees represented a wide range of project types and were geographically diverse, the investment in design excellence of each one positively influenced the community they served,” says Douglas Hanson FAIA, jury chair for the awards.
Winning projects were recognized on June 8, 2023, at the International Religious Art & Architecture Awards Program and Reception at the 2023 AIA Conference on Architecture. Additional information about the winning projects, including photos, drawings, and jury comments can be found HERE .
