SUKKAH CITY

Much like the traditional Sukkah the project takes its departure from the appropriation of generic materials of the everyday, transforming them into a frugal structure for temporary enjoyment and celebration. The generic urban construction material used is the ubiquitous sheet of 8'x4' plywood. Assembled into two parallel walls, the structure is connected by two roof panels, and structurally supported by two cross-shaped columns that meet the minimum requirements to act as additional walls. The panels are perforated by cut-outs with a 3” to 16” diameter, the left-over pieces of which are being re-assembled to form the roof of the Sukkah. The generating and guiding concept is expressed in the project title as minus --> plus, i.e. an iteration of subtraction and re-adding in order to arrive at a structure that is not wasteful in its material economy, with an added value in its expression.

A curtain serves as a second layer to afford privacy and to emphasize an ephemeral festive materiality.

The distance of the solid space between the holes of the front and back panels of the roof are kept at less than 4 hand-breadths, interpreting the width of the construction element as the width of the solid material. The interior niches of the cross-shaped columns hold 48 cushions that can be spread out to cover the central area (8'x6') for night time use. A curtain serves as a second layer to afford privacy and to emphasize an ephemeral festive materiality.