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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/40097/full/40097/middle-east-meets-west-coast-in-campus-landscaping/ <br /><br /> <b>Middle East meets West Coast in campus landscaping</b> <br /> Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | by michael lazarus <br /><br /><p>Jewish community centers sometimes serve as bridges between Israel and local Jewish communities. And at the newly built Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, even the plant life reflects this mission.</p> <p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 216px;"><img alt="courtyard" class="left" height="325" src="http://jweekly.com/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/l10_09_09/courtyard.jpg" title="Tiered planting areas and flora native to Israel are major components of the new campus. photo/courtesy of osher family jcc" width="216" /> <div class="caption">Tiered planting areas and flora native to Israel are major components of the new campus. photo/courtesy of osher family jcc</div> </div> The landscaping at the TKCJL is split into two levels: grade (street level) and podium (main level). All plants at grade are native to California, and at podium, native to Israel.</p> <p>The fundamental questions designers had to answer was how to transition from the streets to the campus, said Paula Shaviv, an architect for Steinberg Architects, which designed the TKCJL.</p> <p>“When you go up to the podium, all of sudden you have biblical. You really feel the difference,” Shaviv said.</p> <p>Within the playground on the main level lies a “map” of Israel, consisting of three planting areas, representing the different geographic regions and climates of Israel.</p> <p>The biblical garden includes olives, lavender, marjoram and oregano. The Negev Desert contains date palms, salt bush and mountain juniper. And the fruit garden grows lemons, apples, pomegranates, pears and more.</p> <p>The placement of the planting areas, in the Leslie Family Early Childhood Education Center, is no coincidence. “Part of the preschool program has a lot to do with planting,” Shaviv said.</p> <p>The landscaping also acts as an extra guardian for the children running around in the playground. Instead of building fences to keep the different age group and classes separated, the TKCJL used raised planter boxes, making the area much more aesthetically pleasing. “They allow you to see above them and make it feel open,” Shaviv said.</p> <p>The raised planter boxes benefit the elderly residents of the TKCJL’s Moldaw Family Residences, too. Because of the added height, seniors do not have to bend all the way over, giving them “an opportunity to do some gardening,” Shaviv said.</p>

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