ARCHITECTURE EHLINGER & ASSOCIATES FIRST QUARTER 2016

before the latest re- Ya’acov Salomon upon recom- building and the mendation of , commissioned destruction that pre- Louis I. Kahn, Architect and Professor ceded this latest re- at the Pennsylvania School of building. It was dubbed Architecture to design the replacement Hurva in the late 18th Hurva . Kahn’s schemes century because of the between 1968 and 1973 included a ruins that occupied the memorial garden incorporating the site at that time. This original Hurva ruins, a new synagogue synagogue was founded on an adjacent lot, and a promenade on property that had “Route of the Prophets” leading to the always been the site of a of the . synagogue and When the then Mayor of , in the very early 18th , learned of the full import century by followers of of Kahn’s vision, he opposed it stating: Judah he-Hasid, but it “Should we in the Jewish Quarter have a was destroyed only a few building of major importance which years later in 1721 by competes with the Mosque (al Aqsa) and Muslims. It lay in ruins the Holy Sepulcher and should we have for over 140 years and it any building which would compete in was during this period importance with the Western Wall of the that it acquired its name Temple?” Boston Architect Moshe as Hurva (ruin). Then the Safdie supported Kahn also, but it was rebuilt it in rejected. 1864, and although they also named it the Beis Yaakov Synagogue, it still informally retained The Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish the name Hurva. It was Jerusalem’s main Quarter of the of Jerusalem is Ashkenazic synagogue until the Arab emblematic of itself, as well as the Legion and Jordanian forces de- Old City. This synagogue has a long and liberately destroyed it after the Israeli colorful history, though this specific forces withdrawal in 1948. Upon the building doesn’t since it is practically recapture of in the 1967 brand new, having been re-built from war, plans were sought for a new design scratch only four years ago. What was re- amid much dithering and indecision. built faithfully reproduces the original 18th When no decisions could be Finally, the plan to rebuild the /19th century Byzantine design edifice reached, a commemorative arch that synagogue in its original 19th Century that was destroyed in the 1948 war by the mimicked one of the four main Byzantine style was approved by the and Jordanian forces when monumental dome support arches, 52 Israeli government in 2000. Jerusalem the Israeli forces refused to feet high, was built. It stood for years Architect Nahum Meltzer had proposed vacate it. This building is emblematic with a few plaques and the remains of adhering to the original Ottoman building because of the timelessness, endurance the building as a stark reminder of what and was given the commission. The and rebirth that it has exhibited over was. Israeli government paid about half the millennia. This issue’s limited edition print The argument raged for years cost and the rest was donated by private of a sketch by Ladd P. Ehlinger is from the about what to do to replace the Hurva. individuals, the largest contributor of open square in front, another benefit of An English Architect, Sir Denys Lasdun which was Ukrainian businessman and the 1967 war, since there are so few open was commissioned to design a philanthropist Vadim Rabinovitch. The spaces in the Old City. replacement building that closely keystone of the dome was placed on 8 “Hurva” means “ruin” in Hebrew. The followed the original, and even drew up April 2008, and the facility was dedicated building came to be called that even construction plans for this building. on 15 March 2010.

2200 Houma Blvd., Metairie, LA 70001-1399 (504) 455-8911 • 3109 Ivy Ave. SW, Huntsville, AL 35805-4698 (256) 534-1900 © 2016 Ehlinger & Associates, P.C. Architects, A Professional Corporation Water, Water, Everywhere... needs and the size of your household, a 1,000 By R. Perrin Ehlinger - 2,000 gallon tank would likely be enough to handle large demand loads, as well as pro- The average American uses between 80- vide a couple of days of stored water in the 100 gallons of water per day; mostly it's for event the equipment needs servicing. flushing the toilet, then showers/baths, If it's to become your primary water then cleaning (dishes & laundry), and then, source,then how healthy is drinking distilled least of all, for cooking & drinking. For most, water on a long-term basis? There are con- it's not a large concern - water is supplied cerns about demineralization and acidification municipally at minimal expense. In other ar- from long-term use. In Nature, water is miner- eas there are drought concerns, quality alized as it soaks through the ground to the concerns, and health concerns. Many water table and then back up through springs, people are concerned enough to add filters or during its trip down the sides of mountains to their water supply. before collecting in larger rivers. A possible One of the problems with filter systems solution will present itself..... is that they are targeted to specific issues; Water needs pressure to be of use. Appli- one type will remove chlorine, another sul- ances run on 20-30 psi, while a shower is fur, another heavy metals, etc. If your water about 50 psi. The simplest solution is to el- supply has multiple quality issues, filtering evate a storage tank high enough to provide and treating it can become an expensive the pressure desired. A minimum height of 60 proposition on the individual level. feet is required to provide 20-30 psi house- What if there were equipment to ensure hold demand, and greater pressure needs a safe water supply, competitive with cur- could be solved with flow constriction or as- rent filter systems, and cleaner than mu- sist-pressure pumps. nicipal sources? One inventor, Dean Kamen So long as we're building a tower for our (best known for the Segway), believes he distilled water tank, we can use the support has created a machine capable of just that, tower itself to solve the mineral water ques- and it is currently in field testing. Called tion with an entirely new design element, the "Slingshot", it is a vapor compressor which I'll call a water chimney. Similar to the distillation system, and is capable of distill- filtering/mineralization process that water ing 250 gallons of water/day from any wa- takes on its long journey through the ground, ter source with any level of contamination. we fill up our tank’s tower with a variety of Unfortunately, it's not available to the gen- rocks and sands, and let the drinking water eral public, but the target price is $2000 trickle down through it from the tank to the when it is. Using about a kilowatt of power, kitchen. Along the way, it will naturally ab- it cleans water at 1.16 cents/gallon. Still 10 sorb a variety of trace minerals similar to the times more expensive than a municipal wa- natural process. Since the source water is al- ter supply, at 0.15 cents/gallon, compared ready distilled and sterile, this "filter" will to bottled water or the cost of replacing never need to be changed or cleaned. filters, it's very competitive. As a quick com- The rest of the house can be supplied di- parison, most commercially available water rectly with distilled water from the tank, and distillers of a similar size can only produce any surplus water produced can be used for about 10 gallons/day at 15.0 cents/gallon. irrigation (or sold). As a bonus, there’s a plen- What if you have no source of water? tiful supply of water and pressure to add a What if there's a drought, your well has run sprinkler system. dry, or your source has been contaminated? A further advantage of is that this equip- Well, there's improved technology along ment can also be used to treat waste water, the way to solve this issue as well: dehu- and allow disconnecting from a sewage sys- midifiers. A common and widespread tech- tem, or avoid installing a costly septic sys- nology, it's rarely used as a water source tem. because of cost, quality, and ambient con- Once these devices are available to the ditions. Most dehumidifiers won't work in general public, there is the possibility that wa- colder temperatures (<40 F), and don't work ter sourcing and treatment slowly moves from in dry conditions (<30% relative humidity). the municipal level to the individual level out Even under optimal conditions, they will of preference for individual security and con- only produce a couple of gallons/day. One trol of the water, similar to the adaptation of company, SunToWater, may have solved solar power. Like solar, converting your house these issues. They have a refrigerator sized would be a big investment. Similar to the so- machine that can produce up to 100 gal- lar power prices; it would be somewhere in lons/day, works in subzero temperatures, the $20,000 range. and in humidity levels as low as 14%. In Unfortunately, and unlike solar power, there addition, their target price is in the $2000 isn’t a good 'break-even' on such a water sys- range, and uses about as much power as a tem; it’s in the 50-75 year range. What it will refrigerator, producing at about 0.15 cents/ buy, however, is peace of mind on water qual- gallon - the same as municipal costs, plus, ity, and water security against droughts or in it will work nearly anywhere. areas with water scarcity, and against poten- While having a plentiful source of water tial disaster scenarios (contamination, long- is nice; you may need to use more water term power outages, etc.) For a growing por- than can be made available at once from tion of the population faced with water inse- these new appliances. So a storage tank curity from current municipal sources - this would be in order. Depending on your may very well be worth the cost.

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