In 2000, the Porter Foundation, then headed by (then Dame) Shirley Porter, founded the Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at Tel Aviv University as a multi-disciplinary school of environmental studies. Porter was personally involved in the design and construction of the school's new building on the Tel Aviv University campus. The LEED Platinum-graded building was scheduled to open in May 2014. It has been built according to international standards of energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive design, making it the University's first "green building" and one of the first of its kind in Israel. The building's capsule design and energy-saving features was designed to make it a "living laboratory" for teaching and research on green architecture, both within the University and outside academia.