Campus Landscape Features

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Campus Feature

Armory Parking Lot Pervious Pavement and Bioswales

Purdue University’s Armory building dates back to 1928, when it was rebuilt after a fire, and currently houses several clubs, fundraisers, and other events on campus (including Boiler Gold Rush). Although the asphalt parking lot is not porous, there are concrete strips at the head of two of the three main aisles and a series of bioswales to drain excess stormwater into the ground. During heavy rainfall, stormwater is diverted to the university pond through…

Campus Feature

Band Practice Field

Permeable pavement allows water to drain through it, reducing storm water runoff and pollutants. Instead of creating this area using asphalt, Purdue placed permeable pavement to aid in reducing storm water runoff.

Campus Feature

Bioswale at Bill and Sally Hanley Hall

The Bill and Sally Hanley Hall is a three-story addition to Fowler Memorial House, and houses the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. When it was built, Hanley Hall included a bioswale in front of the building on its State Street face, to collect downspout runoff and divert it from the storm sewer. The bioswale includes native plants, such as red twig dogwood and birch trees, and work was completed in 2011. Making the…

Campus Feature

Bioswales at Mann Hall, Discovery Park

The bioswales at Purdue Discovery Park were installed during the sixth phase of landscaping work, completed in 2009. Located on the west side of Mann Hall, the bioswales slow and/or eliminate excess stormwater into the sewage system, help maintain the area's hydrological profile, and clean the water off pollutants. The water is receded from the grassy mall area into the bioswale, and it then meanders slowly downhill before it goes into the drain, soaking into…

Campus Feature

Black Cultural Center Bioswales

The Black Cultural Center brings together the wonderful diversity of the Purdue community by nurturing and presenting the rich heritage of the African American experience through art, history and cultural understanding. The building’s parking lot was graded so that runoff not infiltrating the porous asphalt (or pervious paving) would collect at a bioswale in the center. The central bioswale is surrounded by impervious concrete pavement to keep debris and particulates from clogging the porous asphalt.…

Campus Feature

Black Cultural Center pervious pavement

Pervious pavement is a valuable resource for conservation and water control in urban areas. It eliminates flooding and water runoff by allowing storm water to sift through the pavement, rather than collect and eventually carry oil and other pollutants into the sewage system. The Black Cultural Center is one of several areas on the Purdue campus that uses pervious pavement.

Campus Feature

First Street Towers Native Landscaping

First Street Towers, completed in 2009, was the first residential native landscaping project on campus. The facility has native plants mixed with traditional varieties (e.g. spring bulbs), but is centered on the native varieties, such as little bluestem grass, prairie dropseed, and deschampsia. The landscaping was accomplished with the active involvement of the Tower residents and managers, who identified various issues to be addressed by the Grounds Crew. The landscape currently being installed (and which…

Campus Feature

Football Practice Field Infiltration Beds

These beds are built beneath the surface and provide temporary storage and infiltration of storm water runoff. Utilizing a clean stone media, they allow water to collect and then naturally filter through to recharge the ground water aquifer.

Campus Feature

Harrison Street Bioswales and Infiltration Planters

The Harrison Street bioswales and infiltration planters were included as part of the city’s project when the street was upgraded. The project included infiltration planters along Harrison Street, to allow excess stormwater to infiltrate into the ground, and the water is then piped away. The bioswales were completed in 2012, and used native sedge plants. Office of University Sustainability

Campus Feature

Honors College Rain Garden

Purdue’s rain gardens, shallow impressions in the ground filled with beautiful native plants, help improve water quality in the nearby Wabash River and Harrison Pond. Rain garden plants capture 30% more water than a typical lawn and act as a filter, helping to remove fertilizers, pesticides, oils, and other contaminants coming from our roofs, lawns, driveways, or parking lots. This practice mimics natural hydrology by infiltrating, evaporating and transpiring stormwater runoff. Rain gardens also serve…