d|e

Sukkot is a Jewish harvest festival. The sukkah, a traditional structure in which the celebration takes place, has very strict rules for construction. The most rigid requirements concern the roof, which must be made of organic materials, shade more than it lets in the sun during the day yet be open enough to see the stars at night. The design took inspiration from the biblical edict that "a sukkah should be like the clouds", creating floating panels that hover above. The structure takes advantage of the existing courtyard of the Berkeley community center, utilizing it for reinforcement while creating a tension structure from natural rope on which to lay willow reeds approved by an Orthodox Rabbi.