Miami University Western Campus Site Improvements

Miami University expanded its Western Campus to include three new residence halls, a dining hall, geothermal plant, and pond. The University hired the landscape architect to create a naturalistic landscape to immerse students into nature, expand the University Horticulture Walk, provide for a central large gathering space, smaller passive gathering spaces, pedestrian connections across campus, stream restoration, and the construction of a new 150’ long cobblestone pedestrian bridge.

The landscape architects created the landscape and hardscape spaces to ‘weave together’ such that colorful naturalistic plantings danced into plaza areas whilst these plaza areas disintegrated into beautiful swathes of planting colors and textures.  The extensive plant list includes native trees, ornamental grasses, and perennials that provide seasonal bloom and sweeping, dramatic and naturalistic views. 

The stream restoration creates dramatic views from the new and historic bridges by creating pools of water in-between stream riffles.  The naturalistic plantings along the stream contribute to the overall low maintenance field of native prairie grasses with bursts of color.

The central gathering space consists of a sunken lawn oval with amphitheater seating that diminishes into the ground and marries the landscape and the architecture through rings of blue/black seeded aggregate that radiate out from the oval and continue out into separate passive outdoor patio spaces.