A PRAIRIE WITH NINE ROOMS
A PRAIRIE WITH NINE ROOMS
Less pavement. More prairie.
A Prairie with Nine Rooms—currently under construction on Ohio State’s main campus—pilots low-cost, low-maintenance ways of turning asphalt sites into species-rich spaces for human and more-than-human communities.
Aerial detail, first growing season, July 2025.
Over forty species of prairie plants make up the community of species on site. The bosques contain a curation of high-canopy and low-canopy drought tolerant trees, including Imperial honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos 'Impcole'), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), and White bud (Cercis canadensis 'Alba').
Fall planting, November 2024.
Asphalt removal begins, October 2024.
More than two-thirds of the original asphalt is excavated while the remaining hardscape becomes site circulation. Prairie plants improve the architecture of the uncovered soil, turning the site into a stormwater sponge.
Mid-construction, first growing season, July 2025.
Four eighteen-foot wide swathes of prairie plants carve an unloved half-acre asphalt site into nine rooms: four gravel bosques, three corner rooms with charred wood seating and sculpture, and two spaces holding experimental planters filled with excavated asphalt, soil, and ruderal plant species.
