Green Building Accreditation

The Visitors Pavilion, which was dedicated in 2008, was the first building in Israel to receive ‘green building’ accreditation from the Standards Institution of Israel and the American organization, LEED.

The system-level approach to planning, constructing and operating the building aims to create a healthy, comfortable environment inside the building while taking steps to avoid impacting the environment and natural resources as much as possible.

Green building principles were applied to the Visitors Pavilion from the planning stage to its use; they are expressed through the use of environmentally friendly materials, recycled materials and planning that enables maximum savings of energy and water.

The building is covered by a green hill topped with soil and vegetation, thus it integrates into the existing landscape and maintains a natural continuity between the Nature Park and the Memorial Gardens.

Covering the roof with soil creates thermal insulation, helps to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the building and contributes to saving energy. The trees and shrubs planted on the roof contribute to reducing air pollution and to the integration of the building into its surroundings.

The building is crossed by a glass strip – a skylight through which daylight penetrates into the building and lights up its long corridors with ‘soft’ light, enabling savings on energy consumption for lighting.

A geothermal air conditioning system has been installed in the building, also contributing to saving energy.