SUKKAH CITY

Our Sukkah celebrates the ecology of New York City and informs visitors about the natural world of their own urban habitat. Each leaf is a 14 inch diameter acrylic disk whose shape is abstracted from the foliage of a common New York City street tree. The individual leaves combine to form a sheltering canopy, through which celebrants can enjoy the cool shade by day and view the stars by night. Once slotted and bolted together, these leaves join to become a rigid space frame. Over this framework, garlands of schach, composed from the actual leaves of these trees, are draped - reflecting the ambiguity, found the parks all over the city, between a real and a constructed nature.

Each year, as the Sukkah is rebuilt by the community, the pavilion’s shape adapts to site specific spatial conditions and to the changing needs of its dwellers. While the components of the Sukkah remain the same, its form evolves, embracing the holiday’s themes of temporality and continuity.