Sukkah Project Photos

These are the photographs that summarize the entire project.

The original iPad

Accidental Sundial (Reads: 11:45 am)

Pavilion 5.0 Project

final presentation

The inspiration for my project was three things: The Nachal Arugos (Braided River), which is a waterfall located in Israel; the second is the Ari-Zal’s Mikvah in Tzfas, Israel; and the Temple of Israel.

The purpose of a Mikvah or a ‘Ritualarium’ is so the user- male or female- can achieve spiritual and physical cleanliness. For over two thousand years, or as far as I’m aware, the Mikvah was a place of privacy and holiness. Yet, it always seemed like a place for a person to think in-depth on things while immersing one’s self into the pool.

On the flip side, the Nachal Arugos is this open space, surrounded by nature, visited by tourists and seen for its beauty like most waterfalls.

For my project, I wanted to meld those two forms together to create a private, yet open space for a person to immerse themself while also allowing full access from top to bottom for a person to really enjoy and utilize the spaces.

In Kabbalah, the soul is represented by air or a breath which the symbol for is a spiral. Much like a tornado or even a slight autumn breeze that picks up the leaves and spins them around, it’s obvious that the symbol is correct, so I wanted to take that symbol and embed it into the spiritual form in the way of a staircase that not only is the symbol for Life, but also encases the pool and allows for access to the roof.

For the final form of the roof- and really the greatest source of inspiration for this project, because it really brought all the ideas together- the Temple of Israel stood grand and monumental in the center of Jerusalem. There people came for everything, it was the center of all life in the country. That exact monumentality of its structure is what I wanted to situate in the center of the pavilion.
 The water flow is very simple, “In one way, out the other.” However, there’s actually two entrances for the water. One from the back, and one from on top. The waterfall on top has the ability to be a shower or just a show to fill the pool, and to ensure that there is no over flow along the sides of the pavilion, an aqueduct was added as an exit.
This outflow creates a wonderful interest for the person approaching the pavilion, bringing them closer to figure out where the water is coming from. This natural curiosity leads them up the spiraling stairs as they stare into the pool and find themselves listening to the water and just being overcome with a sense of awe at this spiritual space.

Front view

View of water

View from front corner

View from back corner