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The Or Torah High School is located at 5 Kissufim Street, Ramot Alef, Jerusalem, Israel; http://ortorab.go.cet.ac.il/go/index.asp. For additional project information, contact Arie Kutz, Architect, of Studio Landscape Architecture and Nir – Kutz Architects, 28 Nahalat Yitzhak St., Tel Aviv 67448; Tel. +972-3-6090827; nirkotz@zahav.net.il; http://nirkotz.com/eng/. Visit the ZinCo contractor Rov Noy here: http://www.rov-noy.co.il/ and learn about ZinCo in The Greenroof Directory here.

Or (Ohr) Torah is a Yeshiva high school offering intensive Jewish studies emphasizing the relevance of Torah to modern life as well as a high level of secular studies, including technology, communications and the arts to grades 7 – 12. A pilot project by the Jerusalem Municipality the Or Torah Ramot Banim High School, located in the Ramot Alon neighborhood, is the first public building in Jerusalem to apply a green roof.

“The design process was done with the students and our final plans were directly inspired from sketches done by them,” says Arie Kutz of both Studio Landscape Architecture and Nir – Kutz Architects. The final design is by M. Paul Friedberg, establishing partner and the Chief Designer of Studio Landscape Architecture in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The execution was a collaboration between a professional contractor (Rov Noy, using ZinCo systems) and the students with their teachers. All timber work ? wooden deck, benched, etc, was done by the “Carpentry Class” of the school. They also participated in the planting process.

About half of the area is intensive (on Perlite) and the other half extensive (on natural soil) with a variety of local vegetation planted within about 12″ of substrate. Referring to the initial planting period, Arie explains, “As we enter a hot and dry summer, most of transplanting of natural material to the “extensive” part will be done in the rainy season to come.” The central oval is mostly alotted for vegetables and herbs, to be cultivated by the students. The follow up and care is in the hands of the students and the “Science Class.” After two years, the Or Torah High School green roof is thriving.

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