Within a few years Israel’s greenest building will be located at Tel Aviv University (TAU). That’s the goal of Joseph Cory of Geotectura. He and two other architecture companies have won first prize in an architectural competition to design a 4,000 square meter green building for TAU’s Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES).

Cory’s partners in this project, which is being funded by the Porter Foundation and other organizations, are the companies NCArchitects and Axelrod-Grobman Architects. The team’s entry was selected in a competition given by PSES, which included 40 architecture companies.

Green architects focus on conserving energy – which is not only good for the environment, but also saves vast amounts of money for the consumer. Another focus of green architecture is quality of life, ensuring that buildings are made of safe, non-toxic materials and that the people in them live healthy lives.

But with the PSES project, Cory – who has won numerous awards for his green designs – is not content to simply design another green building. The goal of Cory and his team is to design a building worthy of a “platinum” rating according to the US Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system – the first building of its kind in Israel. Such a building would stand as an example to other architects and, Cory hopes, move the country forward toward implementing green architecture on a regular basis.

Putting green science on show with an Eco-Wall

Work on the new $7 million PSES building will begin in 18 months to two years, and should be completed by 2011 to 2013. Its most unique feature will be the Eco-Wall – what Cory describes as a “dynamic changing façade” to the new building. This façade of transparent glass will reveal the various labs in which selected researchers are performing their environmental studies and experiments. The Eco-Wall façade is constantly changing because over the years, different researchers with different work will take over the various labs.