Howard Park: Everybody’s Party
and Everybody’s Park
From a public landfill in the
mid-1800s to a world-class public park in a Midwestern city of 100,000, South Bend, Indiana’s Howard
Park has become the city’s marquee park property. The park has undergone several iterations since its
opening in 1899, but over the decades had fallen into disrepair. The park grounds and community center
were aging and underused, and the ice rink no longer operational. That all changed in November of 2019
when the community celebrated Howard Park’s transformation.
Caption: Howard Park is a
13-acre park location in South Bend, Indiana, and has become the city’s marquee park property.
South Bend-based Alliance Architects was selected to
design the 13-acre park. Alliance Architects’ Bill Lamie, AIA, the principal leading the project, tapped
Landscape Architect Kevin Clark from The Lakota Group to collaborate on the park design.
Aaron Perri, executive director of South Bend Venues, Parks, and Arts, refers to Howard Park as “Everybody’s
party. We wanted to ensure that people would keep returning to Howard Park, that the design and park
elements would create a sense of wonder, discovery, and Instagram moments,” says Perri.
Caption: The park’s location
on the St. Joseph River informed the designers’ concept for the landscape architecture, which built on
the idea of a flowing river.
Surprise and delight are in no short supply at Howard Park. The centerpiece of
Howard Park may be the playground, ice pond, and ice trail. “The master plan called for bringing back ice skating
to the park in a new way,” says Lamie. “Instead of a large ice rink, we designed an interesting ice trail
that contains the playground area. People enter the playground under the bridge that features rotating
colored lights. The forms, colors, and landscaping that buffer the ice trail and playground become
sculptural elements that blend together.”
Caption: The centerpiece of
Howard Park may be the playground, ice pond, and ice trail.
The park’s location on the St. Joseph River informed the designers’ concept for the
landscape architecture, which built on the idea of a flowing river. “The landscape has movement with grade
changes and winding trails. The blue and green palette and stone buildings and outcroppings create an
organic feel,” says Clark. The design of the Landscape Forms lighting and site furnishings selected
reinforces the organic, sculptural characteristics of the park’s buildings, hardscape, and greenscape.
Howard Park is on track to become the area’s first LEED v4-certified public park and incorporates ecological
design and material choices throughout. “LEED certification became a major part of our program. It is a
recognizable achievement for South Bend’s first urban downtown park and sends a nice message to the
community and visitors.”
Caption: The design of the
Landscape Forms lighting and site furnishings selected reinforces the organic, sculptural
characteristics of the park’s buildings, hardscape, and greenscape.
FGP area lights and Torres area, and wall-mounted lights were chosen for their
contemporary aesthetic, which Clark describes as “timeless and interesting.” The FGP area lights are
located along the perimeter of the park, pathways, and ice trail. The family of Torres fixtures gave Clark
the ability to aesthetically connect elements from taller area lights around the ice pond to smaller scale,
wall-mounted fixtures on the Community Center and other buildings. “Lights are an important element to any
site, even in the daytime,” says Clark. “They link things together. They create a visual experience at
night, but they also unify shapes and define pathways.” Architecture and engineering firm Stantec created
the park’s electrical and lighting plan.
Caption: The family of Torres
fixtures gave Clark the ability to aesthetically connect elements from taller area lights around the ice
pond to smaller scale, wall-mounted fixtures on the Community Center and other buildings.
The plaza area features Escofet’s Twig and Lungo Mare benches, FGP benches, and Stop
bollards. “Visitors comment on the sculptural nature of Lungo Mare seating and Twig benches,” says Lamie.
"They reinforce and complement the consistency of Howard Park’s design. All of the elements work well
together, and that’s the strength of the final result.”