GROUND HERE: COLLABORATIVE WORKS OF KEN MCCOWN

Ken McCown, Jonathon Anderson, Nasar (Tony) Saghafi and Phil Zawarus worked on this competition to design a sukkah as part of the Sukkah City design competition.  The sukkah is a temporary structure for the Jewish festival of Suklot.  The sukkah needs to be a gathering place made of natural materials and providing a sense of enclosure while still allowing connection to natural light.

Our response was to weave sixteenth inch wood veneer to make a stable structure.  The thinness of the material lets light pass through it and gaps in the weave create patterns of light.  The center of the structure is open to the sky; and the circular form facilitates a sense of community.

The weave of the structure would allow it to be rolled up like a carpet, and then unfurled and locked together in a circular form to establish a platform for stability.  The wood veneer, designed and cut through digital fabrication, would allow and extremely low cost means of making a shelter.  

Our design was a finalist for this competition, and we experienced heavy winds and rain, which led to a serendipitous formal response of our Sukkah.  More photos of the installation and design can be seen here.