Exterior Audio Tour: Stop 12

Stop Number 12—The Natural Environment and Thoughtful Sustainability

Location: The Bridge and gardens

The rain gardens around where you are standing include only plants native to the area. This reduces the need for excessive care, costly maintenance, and regular or organized gardening. Given the diversity of Buffalo’s weather, native plants weather seasonal changes as well as Buffalo’s hearty residents!

During a heavy rain, stormwater normally runs off surface lots and paved areas into the sewer. When the sewer gets too full, it overflows and pumps the overflow into the lake. However, rainwater is not all that is pumped into the lake—sewage is as well. Rain gardens channel excess water into the earth instead of into the sewer, helping to keep the system from overflowing. Therefore, in addition to their aesthetic value, rain gardens have a useful, and sustainable, function.

Everything on this site worked together to create an environment to calm as well as stimulate the patients’ minds. The Kirkbride Plan was revolutionary for treating patients kindly. Instead of containment, it emphasized physical and work therapy, socialization, and a balance of nature and treatment. The architecture and landscape of the site worked together to achieve those goals.

This bridge can be seen as a symbol connecting the Richardson Olmsted Campus to the wider community, both in the past and present. All who are involved with this great project encourage the community to visit the gallery on the first floor of the hotel to learn more about the site’s history.

To continue the tour, walk north along the path towards the Towers Building until you reach the fork in the road.