Benton Harbor, Michigan
Arts District
Spring 2008
(This studio project and its publication are supported by Champion Enterprises, Inc.’s gift to the Center for Building Communities.)
The Cornerstone Alliance, an investor-driven organization seeking economic growth and civic development in southwestern Michigan, has requested assistance in designing Benton Harbor’s embryonic Arts District and adjacent downtown neighborhoods. Anticipating professional realities, Notre Dame architecture and graphic design students will collaborate throughout the semester. They will briefly live with, listen to, and learn from their “clients”—citizens of Benton Harbor.
Drawing on regional design traditions from roughly 1850 to 1950, students will determine overall neighborhood and building design strategies to accommodate 21st-century growth in ways that are beautiful, sustainable, and affordable. Within this context and emphasizing modular building systems, students will design two types of market-rate and affordable housing: wood-frame low-rise residences and steel-frame mid-rise mixed-used buildings.
As emerging professional designers, students will present their overall vision and specific designs to their Benton Harbor clients, as well as to academic critics at Notre Dame.
