Site | Parking | Landscaping | Building
Orientation | Storm
Water | Lighting
Rieth Village Site and Landscape
SITE SELECTION
Choosing the site for the collegiate facility was a long and careful process. Its current location gives the building occupants a convenient entrance from a county road and easy access to a prime outdoor classroom—the Kesling wetlands. Locating the building on the perimeter of Merry Lea’s 1,150 acres near land that is already developed allows the nature center’s more remote areas to remain undisturbed. Slope, elevation and southern exposure were also important factors.
A surveyor
began the layout of the Rieth Village site from a key benchmark location
on April 21, 2005.
Accurate site design takes into account all of the micro-watersheds, which eliminates storm water leaving the property, and establishes the best opportunities for solar gain in the buildings.
Bill Construction fencing was put in place to protect vegetative areas from construction impact. May 2, 2005
A record of all the trees and brush that were removed was kept as a part of the plan for recycling construction waste.
THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE
When the site above was purchased in 1969, it was badly eroded farmland that had lost its upper layer of topsoil. By the start of construction, invasive, non-native species such as autumn olive and multiflora rose still dominated this area. Ten years from now, when the landscaping surrounding the collegiate facility is well established, we expect this patch of earth to be a healthier, more biologically diverse ecosystem than it was when it was an empty field. After site development, the landscape was planted with a variety of plants including prairie dropseed, big blue stem, coneflowers, compass plants, blue phlox and many other plants which provide a home for native species and preserve the character and uniqueness of northern Indiana.
