By Peter JacksonThe Daily Northwestern
King Solomon would turn green with envy. The concrete-strewn lot at 303 Dodge Ave. may not be Jerusalem, but by October 2007 it should be as energy-efficient as Eden.
At Sunday’s groundbreaking for a new synagogue for the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, the crowd pulsed with excitement at the prospect of the new building.
When completed, it will be the only Jewish institution in the world to receive a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a group that promotes environmentally sound building, Rabbi Brant Rosen said.
Attaining that status requires both innovation and cash. The concrete rubble now dotting the lot will be ground up and turned into the new building’s foundation. Old mushroom houses from New York state will provide wood. The pressboard in the kitchen cabinetry will be made of grass.
And that’s just the materials.
Rooms in the new synagogue will heat and cool themselves only if people are present. Thicker walls will further reduce cooling and heating costs. And although powering the whole facility with solar panels was deemed too expensive, the congregation will symbolically embrace the technology by using it to power the building’s “ner tamid,” or eternal flame.
The final price tag: $10 million.
But members have been eager to pay extra for environmental friendliness.
“The green idea’s been an important part of the fundraising,” said Jonathan Markowitz, a member of the synagogue who has been collecting donations for the project.
Meanwhile, about 50 people casually milled around the construction site before Rosen and President Alan Saposnik spoke.
“We’re thrilled to be able to have a new home, we’ll be thrilled to move into it, and we’re thrilled to be able to do it in this way,” Rosen said.
Rosen’s Yom Kippur sermon this year centered on energy conservation as a spiritual value.
After speaking for a few minutes, he and other project proponents donned hard hats and sank gold-plated shovels several inches into the soggy soil.
“The design reflects your dedication to having a sustainable world,” architect Carol Ross Barney told the crowd. “The sanctuary will be daylit, which is extraordinarily unusual, and, we hope, extraordinarily beautiful.”
Barney, who has designed many green buildings in the past, including the new federal building in Oklahoma City, said Chicago is experiencing a boom in green buildings.
“(Mayor Richard M.) Daley’s been a huge advocate,” she said. “And I think it’s just the right time, economically speaking, to do it.”
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