The design of Mercy Health’s new West Hospital (Cincinnati) features a large horizontal footprint—and an enormous roof. Since a driving principle in the design was connecting the facility with the surrounding landscape (using such elements as expansive windows, ample daylighting, and complementary color palettes), the design team also decided to think about how the roof could play a part in creating that setting. (For more, see “Making Of An Exterior At Mercy Health West.”)

That brainstorming led to the development of a 2.5-acre green roof—one of the largest living roofs in the state of Ohio.

Designed by Close Landscape Architecture (Minneapolis) with Meisner + Associates/Land Vision (Cincinnati), the roof features a mixture of 65,000 native plants, and every patient room has a view to the feature.

Mercy West’s diagnostic and treatment base is planted with nearly 65,000 drought-tolerant native plants to create a 2.5-acre green roof, including:

  • A mixture of 50,000 sedum plants
  • Berms for native grasses and perennials reminiscent of the area’s rolling hills
  • 1,300 Little Bluestem and Prairie Dropseed prairie grasses
  • 12,500 perennials, including Allium, Milkweed, Pinks, Rudbeckia, Monarda, Liatris, and Obedient Plant.

“These perennials provide seasonal bloom from spring to early fall and display a range of color,” says Gary Meisner, partner of Meisner + Associates/Land Vision, the projects’ landscape architect.

For more on the project, read “Mercy Health Goes Bold And Beautiful.”