WHY THE NAME TRUE TURTLE?
Sustainable Building at it's Core
The design of a turtle is a direct response to the challenges of its environment. In fact, a turtle's anatomical adaptations embody the core principals of green building and represent our company's sustainability goals.
The following demonstrate what it means to be a True Turtle:
Energy
Air Quality
Size
A turtle's shells and flippers are sculpted to efficiently convert energy into swimming speed, power and thrust. Analogously, buildings can be designed to respond efficiently to their environment. Sensitive site orientation and careful window placement allow a building to convert the sun's energy into heat in winter and to minimize heat gain (and therefore cooling load) in the summer.
When turtles surface, they can exchange up to 100 percent of air in one breath. Buildings can dramatically increase access to fresh, oxygen-rich air with passive ventilation strategies such as operable windows and active mechanical ventilation for a healthier, more comfortable indoor environment.
Turtles are compact within their shell, space efficient, and expandable. Green building strategies embrace well- designed, small spaces and encourage "expansion" by capturing under-utilized spaces on roofs, above garages, in basements and other unused spaces where creative design strategies can smartly increase density.
Materials
Turtles are made of all-natural, all-local materials that are beautiful in their varied textures, colors and patterns. A unique and marketable beauty can be achieved through the use of natural and local materials in buildings.
Waste
Turtles produce minimal waste. Building construction waste can be minimized by reusing existing infrastructure, applying deconstruction techniques, and recycling and donating materials. Operational waste can be minimized by providing recycling for ongoing building operations.