Alabama Meadows Research Plots by David Hill and Emily Knox

Alabama Meadows is a field-based research project that seeks to re-build knowledge about the largely eradicated southeastern meadow landscape typology. The project uses grounded theory to guide the installation and maintenance of five meadow test plots at the Mary Olive Thomas Demonstration Forest in Auburn, Alabama.

Though historically misunderstood and under-valued, the re-introduction of meadows and grasslands to the southern landscape has the potential to provide incredible ecological and cultural value to the region. Through hours of field work, labor, and careful observation, the initiative attempts to build on-the-ground experience in recreating long-lost habitat, increasing biodiversity.

Our advocacy for and interest in the southeastern meadow typology is not purely ecological – it also lies in a fascination with meadows as a cultural artifact. Amidst the typical sprawling condition of suburbanization, patches of wildflowers and tall grasses offer an alternative to the static, controlled turf grass that permeates the south. Meadows provide richness in light and texture rarely witnessed in the region. In a landscape otherwise dominated by regimented commercial forestry and agriculture, grasslands provide immersion and otherness that have the capacity to captivate the imagination.

Each 150’ test plot was located to amplify a particular solar orientation, soil condition, hydrological flow, and wind exposure. Calibrated zones of species mixes and disturbance regimes are layered to provide a complex collection of observable intensities.

One primary goal of this initiative is to expand the audience interested in Alabama meadows, making the re-introduction of meadow and grassland typologies back into landscapes more approachable for designers and clients throughout this region.

• Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of the landscape:
HILLWORKS

• Other credits:
Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture
Paulina Arango, Graduate Research Assistant
Juan Aristizabal, Graduate Research Assistant
Maggie Brand, Graduate Research Assistant
Lily Dendy, Graduate Research Assistant
Hannah Keltner, Graduate Research Assistant
Pilar Zuluaga, Graduate Research Assistant