The Seed Sukkah
Aaron Benjamin
CONCEPT
Sukkot is a permanent celebration of impermanence. The sukkah is temporary, yet the commandment to build it is as ancient as Judaism. It provides shelter, yet stars are visible through its roof. The harvest it celebrates continues season after season, yet always begins anew.
OBJECTIVE
The Seed Sukkah will engage visitors with these contradictory concepts: How permanent our shelter can feel and how impermanent it can be. How the harvest continues for centuries but is only possible because we plant and tend it. This sukkah, as an active rather than passive experience, will allow people to encounter these ideas afresh.
DESIGN
The Seed Sukkah’s shape is based on ancient geometry related to Sukkot, but is accomplished through digital modeling. The frame will be wood (typical of sukkahs, but also many of our homes). The walls will be made of seed packets of a variety of fruits and vegetables, as many as the construction stipend can provide. Visitors to the sukkah are encouraged to take and plant these seeds, creating their own harvests. The frame and integrated bench with provide stable support for the enjoyment of visitors, but the walls of packets will flutter with each passing breeze. As packets are removed the sukkah will change, having no single form but be continually created by the community. In the end, the wood frame can be repurposed and the seed packets will be planted, allowing this sukkah to not only celebrate this year’s harvest, but create the harvests yet to come.
Sukkot is a permanent celebration of impermanence. The sukkah is temporary, yet the commandment to build it is as ancient as Judaism. It provides shelter, yet stars are visible through its roof. The harvest it celebrates continues season after season, yet always begins anew.
OBJECTIVE
The Seed Sukkah will engage visitors with these contradictory concepts: How permanent our shelter can feel and how impermanent it can be. How the harvest continues for centuries but is only possible because we plant and tend it. This sukkah, as an active rather than passive experience, will allow people to encounter these ideas afresh.
DESIGN
The Seed Sukkah’s shape is based on ancient geometry related to Sukkot, but is accomplished through digital modeling. The frame will be wood (typical of sukkahs, but also many of our homes). The walls will be made of seed packets of a variety of fruits and vegetables, as many as the construction stipend can provide. Visitors to the sukkah are encouraged to take and plant these seeds, creating their own harvests. The frame and integrated bench with provide stable support for the enjoyment of visitors, but the walls of packets will flutter with each passing breeze. As packets are removed the sukkah will change, having no single form but be continually created by the community. In the end, the wood frame can be repurposed and the seed packets will be planted, allowing this sukkah to not only celebrate this year’s harvest, but create the harvests yet to come.