Our Roots, Jerusalem, Israel 2015-2016 The Jerusalem Botanical Garden and the Botanical Garden of San Diego asked me to develop a unique communicative collaborative project. It became an intercultural catalyst in which Israelis and Palestinians worked together on the project as part of their community service. ​ The 60-meter-long sculpture, lying at the end of the discovery trail, depicts a fossil fallen tree, in symbiosis with its environment. Hundreds of stacked eucalyptus trees have been used to build up the project. Life and the decaying process follow each other. The sculpture can house up to forty people, inside the visitor experiences a mystical atmosphere. The shady sculpture provides a constant temperature approximately 10 degrees Celcius cooler. Taking the heritage from that region, we mainly worked with natural materials such as clay and wood. The sculpture is built using a stacking technique. I specifically wanted to use this very old historically documented technique. The rhythmic flow of the sculpture gives it a sense of continuity. Industrial designer Ido Bruno was very closely involved in the development of the project from the start, his technical insights were indispensable during the two-year process, together with Dr. Oren Ben-Yosef and the Jerusalem Botanical Garden technical team. Client: Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, Botanical Gardens San Diego Curator: Ido Bruno, Industrial Designer Civil Engineer: Efraim Civil Engineer: Shmulik Goldental Engineering office: Dirk Schillebeeks, Tecobe Landscape architect: Tsurnamal Turner Landscape Architecture Tel Aviv Garden team JBG Photography: Ido Bruno