Open Sukkah
WXY Architecture
The Sukkah is designed to be OPEN to debate and discussion. In order to inspire the condition of Sukkah the project seeks to be a “bundle of contradictions”. In the instance of structure, the steel lath is bent for strength and engineered to eliminate the need for a structural frame. Yet the Sukkah as a whole is still a spatial frame. The program forces an interpretation of how to create closure. In the OPEN Sukkah, the required “third wall” is made of the organic material required overhead. In this way wall and roof are not separate concerns. Instead, the design creates the proposition that the vertical walls and the horizontal overhead plane may not be so different from one another. The materials themselves can be interpreted as both structure and decoration even though one is steel and the other hemp. Both are twisted but not bundled; visually but not literally tied together. It is this proposition of OPEN debate that we hope will bring this structure to Union Square.
