Cuyahoga Community College Metropolitan Campus

Cleveland, Ohio

2019 OCASLA Merit Award winner

An extensive planning study conducted by the project lead was the catalyst for a campus-wide renovation at the Cuyahoga Community College’s main campus near downtown Cleveland. Intended to update the heavy, 60s-style concrete plaza deck that sits atop a sub-level parking garage, modern structural requirements dictated that the new campus would have to be developed as a rooftop garden of sorts, lightening the loads of planting and hardscape areas alike. The need to do so presented a unique opportunity to introduce a more modern landscape as well—minimalist in form, but not lacking in texture or movement.

Boulevard Studios LLC aided in the research and design of large planting areas developed as vegetated roof systems that allow for extensive new landscaping without taxing the existing plaza structure. Meetings with grounds staff and study of the campus’s microclimates informed a plant palette that is not only amenable to the maintenance program and unique planting conditions, but will bring interest to the school’s now modern landscape.