walnut and maple dining table is suspended from the roof structure on one side and rests on a wall panel on the other—so that it appears to be cantilevered in the space, ready to fall at any moment. The users move in and out during the daily ritual celebration. The food is delivered, passed over the table, eaten and removed. The entire structure comes apart in sections small and light enough for two people to work with. The floor is made of two panels, vertical posts peg into the floor to support a series of wall panels that, in turn, support the roof. Connections are all formed either with simple pegs or with bolts making the Sukkah like a giant tinker toy.And like a tinker toy, anyone can assemble or dismantle it. In only a couple of hours, the entire structure can be taken apart and moved elsewhere so that it disappears without a trace.
that it appears to be suspended above the earth, allowing it to hover on the edge between the present and the past, between stillness and motion. The entire structure comes apart in sections small and light enough for two people to work with. The floor is made of two panels, vertical posts peg into the floor to support a series of wall panels that, in turn, support the roof. The table is suspended from the roof structure on one side and rests on a wall panel on the other. In only a couple of hours, the entire structure can be dismantled, and moved elsewhere. Because one of the meanings of the word Sukkah is ‘to weave,’ we decided to devise a construction technique that would literally use weaving and interweaving to form enclosure. We milled the lumber to 1/8” thickness so that it would be pliable. The strips vary in width from 3/4” to 1 1/2”. We used pneumatic tools to fabricate the Sukkah. Because pneumatic tools shoot many small nails at regular intervals, they operate almost like sewing machines and allow a more plastic construction than traditional hand tools. We nailed wooden strips on the inside and outside of a larger frame which is itself plastic. This construction technique creates the illusion of a woven surface.The weaving technique also gives the illusion of movement across the static façade structure since pieces move forward and backward in space. We worked on the notion of embodied movement in every aspect of the design.The Sukkah is raised off the ground on two large wooden beams so that it appears to be suspended above the earth, allowing it to hover on the edge between stillness and motion. The walls are plastic, fluid entities that push and pull the interior space emphasizing the ebb and flow of natural forces. Perhaps the wind blew part of the façade in—or perhaps a passerby bent it? Because it can be assembled into small, light weight parts, the entire structure can be moved from place to place. The ten foot long
Deborah Ascher Barnstone and Robert Barnstone teach at Washington State University and Delft University of Technology, and live in eastern Washington State.
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