University of Notre Dame architecture students met with neighbors and stakeholders to propose design guidelines for regenerating the high-vacancy Near Northwest Neighborhood (NNN). Back to Better: An Urban Conservation and Regeneration Plan for South Bend's Near Northwest Neighborhood would fill “missing teeth” in the urban fabric while preserving the place's architecture and culture.

On five key sites, Back to Better tested the strategic regeneration of this diverse area and proposed a series of interventions along important corridors. The NNN ranges from urban core at the north end of downtown to late 19th Century suburban fabric a mile away—with main street and general urban blocks in between. The plan builds on a previous CNU professional award winner on one of the sites. The design team carefully considered historical precedents in the city, which impressed the jury and those involved in the project. The first task involved research, mapping, survey, and analysis of NNN’s nearly 1,500 properties, the team explains.

“This work reflects on the unique architectural and communal characteristics of this neighborhood and ruminates on potential future developments and opportunities for re-imagination in tasteful and thoughtful ways,” notes Adam Toering, Historic Preservation Administrator, City of South Bend, Indiana.

The students explain: “By using established neighborhood DNA as a catalytic source of regenerative development, the Plan promotes evolutionary growth without compromising the integrity of the NNN’s multilayered identity, offering the understanding that the present is a product of the past and a modifier of the future.”

The plan envisions up to 1,850 missing middle and multifamily housing units, including cottages and single houses, duplexes, townhouses, accessory units, and small apartment buildings. One proposal, on the Lincoln Way West corridor, builds on Torti Gallas + Partner's plan for West Side Main Streets, recognized by the CNU jury in 2015. Back to Better proposes a square around a civic building, the Colfax Cultural Center—surrounding the public space with new mixed-use buildings.

Another proposal straddles the key corridor Portage Avenue, filling empty lots with a range of housing tuned to the NNN's typologies and architectural character. These interventions shape voids into usable public spaces. Similar strategies were applied to two other sites near the Coal Line Trail, an urban multi-use trail on a former rail line at the far end of the neighborhood.

The final proposal is for the downtown quarter of the NNN, centered on two nearly empty city blocks. According to the design team, this proposal regenerates the historic urban-residential and commercial character of South Bend to bridge the chasm between the current downtown edge and Memorial Hospital.

Note: The Charter Awards will be presented in a ceremony on May 16 at CNU 32 in Cincinnati.

Back to Better, An Urban Conservation and Regeneration Plan for South Bend's Near Northwest Neighborhood, South Bend, Indiana: 

• Sean Gaouette, Elena Marie Ezzo, Guillermo Alfaro Wahn, Joel Estevez Gonzalez, and Sandro Kenkadze, University of Notre Dame, planning and design studio members
• Nicholas Rolinski, University of Notre Dame, faculty advisor
• Michael Watkins, Michael Watkins Architect, advisor
• Adam Toering, City of South Bend, advisor
• Kathy Schuth, Executive Director Near Northwest Neighborhood Inc., advisor

2023 CNU Charter Awards Jury

• Matthew Bell (chair), Professor, University of Maryland School of Architecture, Principal, Perkins Eastman in Washington, DC
• Diane Jones Allen, Professor, College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington
• David Baker, Principal, David Baker Architects in San Francisco, CA
• Anne Fairfax, Principal, Fairfax & Sammons in New York, NY, and Palm Beach, FL
• C.J. Howard, Principal, C.J. Howard Architecture in Washington, DC
• Neal Payton, Principal, Torti Gallas + Partners in Los Angeles, CA
• Rico Quirindongo, Director, City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development