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. Excess runoff was then directed into another bioswale at the north end of the parking lot. Completed in 2010, the bioswales consist of a mix of ornamental and native plants, such as tufted hairgrass, dropseed, and little bluestem. Office of University Sustainability
