“Gathering,” 1 of 12 winners from 650 entries built in Union Square, NYC. The Sukkah is an icon for relief from transience, and this project explores what a temporary structure can be in the urban environment through a generative design.  The relationship of urban transience to the generative system is in how singular bodies move towards certain points or attractions within a city. The result is a calculated yet unpredictable pattern. In the sukkah, as the sticks shift, they create a specific entry and space of occupation for the user.  The aggregation of the branches and the degree range of enclosure also allows for movement, creating a variation of porosity. The angle and flow of the sticks shades the reflecting soul during the day and at night guides the dweller’s eyes and spirit up to the stars.

The generative design process for the sukkah begins with a swarm algorithm written in Processing which incorporates many of the ancient Jewish rules defining the walls and dimensions of a kosher sukkah as restrictions for the swarm.  The generated form of the sukkah consisting of 2000 vectors or sticks was broken into constructable pieces using a script in Rhinoceros and uploaded to a 3D viewing program on the IPhone for layout and assembly stick by stick in the fabrication shop.  Eleven major pieces were then moved to Union Square and bolted together on site to create the temporary shelter.