The fifth and final day of listening, assessing, and dreaming had come to a close. The feeling in the room was emotionally charged. The five members of the architectural review committee sat around the same table for one final day.
Each day, a new architectural firm presented its vision for the first and only Jewish pluralistic boarding high school, eventually to be called the American Hebrew Academy. Their hands were entirely untied. The founder, Chico Sabbah, made only the following requests: “Build it to last for at least one hundred years, use as many materials from Israel as possible, work with nature, and make it the most extraordinary school in the world.”
Each committee member had one vote. The architects were narrowed from twenty, to ten, to the final five. The votes were cast… four for one architectural firm, and one for Aaron Green. As things go, Green got the job, no guessing game needed to realize who cast the vote in his favor. Upon further discussion, it became clear that Green’s design was everyone’s favorite, but Green was already 81 years old, and the American Hebrew Academy project required an estimated 60 buildings and a completion date that was no less than ten years down the line.
Aaron Green was a visionary. He believed in the creation of a “perfect learning environment” as the key step to creating an “ideal learner.” Everything from the classroom tables, which would replace desks found in nearly every other classroom in the world, to student homes and classroom spaces were to be designed by Green, with this goal in mind. Every living and learning space is illuminated by natural light; every faculty apartment is 2500 square feet; every laptop has access to the wireless network; the learning happens on the lake, in the gym, at the lunch table, and in the classroom.
As the only partner of Frank Lloyd Wright, Green inherited his master’s philosophy of organic architecture. The campus is heated and cooled by the world’s largest closed loop geothermal system. The “Gardens of Israel” grow between the two academic buildings. Materials from Israel, including Jerusalem stone, are incorporated into every building on campus. Environmental conservationists were hired before any trees were removed to create a park-like environment on the campus. The 22-acre lake is teeming with wildlife. “As large an impact as we wish to create on the environment of Jewish education, the opposite is true for the environment itself,” says Glenn Drew, executive director. “Our school is transforming the lives of Jewish teenagers. The Academy is built on Jewish values including tikkun olam and klal Yisrael. This means that we must infuse our campus and our students with those values in everything we do. Sure, our campus is unique, but we are creating the future Jewish leaders of the world. We wouldn’t have it any other way!” ♦
CAT, RAVSAK’s online, highly participatory middle school program in Jewish history, will have four new schools taking part in the fall:
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