Four trees, milled into dozens of thin strips, arrived at the 16 Cubits Sukkot Festival site as stacks of raw potential. Arranged in a square formation, these planks would be transformed through careful assembly into a self-supporting canopy - separate elements finding collective strength through precise structural choreography.

The concept explores transformation through making: strategically position each wooden strip so it reaches outward to interlock with strips from neighboring corners, creating a structure that holds itself in tension. What begins as four discrete piles of lumber blooms into a unified pavilion through the deliberate act of assembly - not imposing form onto material, but revealing the graceful geometry that emerges when wood bends, reaches, and connects.

Working with Charlie Firestone and NJIT students, we developed a tensioning system where threaded rods pull the planks into position, each fan of strips bending outward to meet its counterparts. The structure reveals itself gradually during installation - first appearing as four vertical bundles, then unfurling as the fans extend and interlock across the void, finally achieving a delicate equilibrium where each element supports the whole.

Raised above ground, the platform's perimeter offers seating while its center remains open, inviting visitors to gather beneath geometric latticework that evokes the growth rings of the trees themselves. Dynamic shadows shift across the deck throughout the day as light filters through the canopy. In winter snow, the pavilion becomes a golden beacon against white landscape - proof that wood, even when sectioned into thin strips, retains its warmth and presence.

Built for 16 Cubits' exploration of temporary sacred space, Timber Timbre demonstrates how technological understanding can enhance natural materials, finding unity through the careful arrangement of many small parts into a balanced whole.