The "Untraditional" Traditional Structure commemorates the holiday of nomadic architecture. The Jewish holiday of Sukkot commands the faithful to build temporary shelters to honor the Hebrews wandering through the desert -- a group of Harvard Design School students have seized on the fundamentally architectural nature of the holiday to build their own Sukkah. Using their budding education as designers and builders, a combination of graduate students in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design will inaugurate their project on the occasion of the holiday, on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010.

It will remain standing for one week on the lawn behind the school; because it will stand at a pedestrian intersection, it is called "Sukkah at the Crossroads". MATERIALS: CONTRAST WITH TRADITION Contemporary Sukkah pavilions are typically constructed of a kit of metal and canvas parts, and ignore the rabbinical injunctions to use as much once-live material as possible. This project uses thin wood members, recycled, otherwise-invasive phragmites, and minimal nails to remind celebrants that the desert wanderers needed to cling to all forms of life when in the Sinai Peninsula. The project uses the form of a cube to contrast it with its surroundings, and contains openings that draw the community in and raise questions about Rabbinic injunctions. THE GOAL The holiday is a biblical call to rejoice in the outdoors. The Graduate School of Design students hope to welcome prayer groups, community meetings, and recreational revelers into the Sukkah, making it a temporary platform for strengthening the Harvard community and its cultural ties.