Turtle River Montessori School
2GHO is responsible for the site planning and landscape design services. Turtle River Montessori School is on a 1.76 acre site located within the Maple-Wood DRI, in Jupiter, Florida. The school comprises approximately 22,122 square feet of building, instructing pupils ranging from pre-kindergarten to 8th grade in the Montessori Method. At full occupancy the school will be able to educate 250 students. One of the basic beliefs in the Montessori Method is that children learn through discovery. As such we have designed several sustainable outdoor spaces to provide the students with an understanding of conservation of our natural resources including classroom vegetable gardening areas, water gardening/water filtration demonstration and solar shade structures. The playground and open areas off the classrooms are covered with pervious artificial turf to reduce maintenance, reduce mud and assure playground fall zones are maintained as designed. The use of safe plants which are native and offer multiple sensory stimulation. This unique education facility has met several criteria for the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) designation.