This institute is but one example of quick response to scientific challenges enabled by philanthropic support. Sixty-four giant motor-driven mirrors – each measuring 7x8 meters – track the sun and concentrate its energy onto a 52-meter-high central receiving tower. The mirrors follow the sun’s position relative to the earth for every second of the year. Science emerging from this facility is at the basis of a number of technologies in commercial solar energy applications.
Architect Moshe Harel designed the tower jointly with Israeli sculptor and environmental artist Dani Karavan, in order to transform it from a merely functional experimental structure – the tallest on campus – into a powerful aesthetic statement.
This large facility for solar energy research was established with the support of over 400 hundred Canadian donors, and represents the largest collective gift of Institute friends, a huge community fundraising effort. The major donors, who led the drive with magnanimous gifts, are recognized at the site and on the adjacent grounds, headed by the Beck, Bronfman, Campbell, Dennis, Hendeles, James, Kay, Masters, Perkell, Posluns, Rose, Schouela, Steinberg and Tanenbaum families.
Additional support was provided by German industries.
