Projects: Current & Past
Current Projects: Stay up to date with CCED-Student presentations via our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLexpjFCQQNNFNfAfwMNdwE-OrrhvTZ1Hl
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“Hopkins Family Park.” Gibson County Parks Board, Purdue Extension. Gibson County, Indiana. Course(s): LA 316 and CCED Staff
From our Purdue Extension staff in Gibson County Indiana, the CCED was asked to provide design support for the counties first park. The Hopkin family has a long history of farming in Gibson County and after retiring their family farm, they are donating the land to the county to be designed into a park. In the past, student engineers from the University of Evansville and from Purdue University developed two separate designs for the park. The work that these two groups of students have done has already been built as the first phase of the park. Purdue’s Landscape Architecture department is now being brought in to help vision the future phases of the park’s development. As part of a semester long projects, a group of juniors in landscape architecture spent the Fall semester of 2022 designing new and innovative solutions for the future of the park. After the students finished their designs, staff at Purdue’s CCED reviewed the student designs and combined hem into one final masterplan to share back to the community.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/PurdueCCED_HopkinsFamilyPark-MasterPlan.pdf
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“Jasper Pulaski State Fish & Wildlife Area.” Jasper County Community Economic Development Organization and Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Jasper County, Indiana. Course(s): LA 316, LA 426, and CCED Staff
Highlighting the exponential growth in demand for outdoor recreation that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indiana, the CCED was approached by the local economic development professionals to identify improvements that would enhance existing facilities at the oldest wildlife preserve in the state. Beginning as a series of Capstone (LA 42600) projects in 2020 that addressed short-term improvements, the project transitioned into a junior-level studio in 2021 (LA 31600), focusing on developing a long-term site master plan for the 8,000-acre property.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/Purdue_CCED-JasperPulaskiFishandWildlifeArea_MasterPlan-FinalReport.pdf
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“Kankakee Sands: Conservation & Access.” The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service. Newton County, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
Kankakee Sands is a nature preserve containing the Efoymson Restoration of 8,400 acres of prairies, wetlands, and oak savannahs owned and managed by the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Working in partnership with TNC and the National Park Service’s River Trails and Conservation Assistance program, three Capstone students mentored by Dr. Aaron Thompson were able to participate in this project. Their work included a community design charrette with clients, design exploration, and cost estimation to develop visitor facilities, environmental education, and interpretation for the preserve. The student work led directly to TNC contracting a landscape architecture firm to provide construction drawings and supervision, anticipated to be implemented in summer 2023.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/Purdue-NPS_TheNatureConserncy-KankakeeSands_VisitorExperienceMasterPlan.pdf
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Past Projects:
- Multi-year Initiatives: The CCED pursues a strategy of building lasting partnerships, where distinct cohorts of students engage in related service learning projects with a common group of community stakeholders over several years. The concept promotes the integration of projects across the curriculum when course learning objectives align with the phase of the local project. This approach balances the potential of one-sided benefits to ensure that communities receive appropriate support to further their initiatives while providing a learning environment for students. To achieve this balance, the CCED embraces multiple partnerships, including interdisciplinary academic collaboration, CCED staff support, and professional landscape architects’ integration to support project implementation.
“J. Long Memorial Second Street Park.” Discover Connersville, Connersville Parks Department, Rundell Ernstberger Associates, and Fayette County Extension. Connersville, Indiana. Course: LA 31600 and CCED Staff
Like many of our projects, the partnership with residents of Connersville began with a consulting request from Purdue Extension. The community, facing severe impacts from the opioid epidemic, participated in extension programming focusing on community health and the quality of public spaces that identified a need for design support in their downtown area. In the fall of 2019, students in LA 31600 traveled to the site and met with residents in a facilitated session. Downtown priorities emerged from this session, including redesigning J. Long Memorial Second Street Park. The studio project addressed three distinct study areas, but multiple student design ideas for the revitalized park quickly became a priority. Following the studio project, CCED staff continued meeting with the community to critique the design and select preferences. The NPS Fellow then engaged with the community to create a final site plan and initial cost estimate. As the community progressed, the CCED recruited professional support from Rundell Ernstberger Associates to provide design development and construction documentation funded by community partners. The CCED continued support through the process, especially related to fundraising (approximately $450,000 raised privately), and the park is currently anticipated to open in Fall 2022.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/CCED_Transforming2ndStreetPark-DesignSummaryReportforConnersvilleIndiana.pdf
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“The future of Happy Hollow Park.” West Lafayette Parks Department. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 31600, ANTH 60100, Kimley-Horn, and CCED Staff
Happy Hollow Park (HHP) is a regional attraction well known as a destination for residents seeking high-quality recreation in a natural setting. As a linear park, HHP visitors experience the park differently than many comparable community parks, as it is shaped by its topography extending from the Wabash River through a depression, or lateral ravine, up to the plateau atop the bluffs. This layout provides visitors with a park presents much of its program immediately upon entrance through a single vehicular access point, which is supported by pedestrian and bike trail access points at several additional locations. Wildly popular but suffering due to insufficient stormwater infrastructure, this space presents both challenging technical design problems and tremendous public demands on the future of this space. Therefore, in 2020, the CCED engaged with the Parks Department to develop an evaluation of existing conditions and idea generation for future programming. Stakeholder conflicts arose, which created an opportunity to partner with Purdue-Anthropology to offer a graduate course in applied public input techniques and methods to an interdisciplinary collection of graduate students in 2021. The CCED director served as a co-instructor for ANTH 60100, and undergraduate design assistants with the CCED helped facilitate a public design charette with staff from Kimley-Horn landscape architects in spring 2022. The project will continue as a Capstone (LA 42600) project in 2022-23 while continuing our partnership with Anthropology to lead data collection on community preferences.
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“Abby and Libby Memorial Park.” Course(s): LA 31600, CCED Staff, Turf Science Faculty
In Fall 2018, students in LA 31600 provided design visioning for a not-for-profit memorial park in Delphi, Indiana, for two girls murdered on the community’s trail system in 2017. The process involved meetings with representatives from the involved families, coordinating project outcomes and deliverables, and generating images and design ideas for use in marketing, fundraising, and construction. CCED staff and Turf Science faculty supported the all-volunteer construction process by answering budget and technical requests, which led to the park opening in Summer 2021.
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“Wildcat – Wabash: Recreational Waterways.” Wildcat Creek Guardians. West-Central Indiana. Course(s): LA 316, LA 426, LA 501, and CCED Staff
Students created new, accurate water trail maps of the Wildcat Creek from Kokomo, Indiana, to Lafayette, Indiana. For the past three decades, the non-profit organization made a hand-drawn version created by Purdue landscape architecture before 1990 publicly available. Students engaged in multiple courses shared responsibility for developing a new base map, verifying data accuracy, and generating a final graphic communicating key features. Final revisions were handled by CCED staff members following partner evaluations of student submissions. This update that will be distributed free of charge across west-central Indiana provides users with higher accuracy and updated safety information for recreational users of this riverway.
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“Turtle Mountain Recovery Center Campus.” Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, Purdue Center for Regional Development, Purdue Extension. Belcourt, North Dakota.
Dr. Aaron Thompson, and landscape architecture students working for the CCED, created a site master plan for facilities at the proposed Turtle Mountain Recovery Center. Recruited in 2019 by the Purdue Center for Regional Development to provide advice and guidance on building placement, road layout, and support facilities at the site the tribe acquired for the new
Recovery Center. The master planning process created a site plan capable of protecting the natural landscape while providing opportunities to interact with the land for patients and their families. The initial master plan led stakeholders in early 2020 to request a more comprehensive design process focusing on adding detail to the outdoor environments proposed in the master plan. CCED staff focused on creating designs for outdoor classrooms that will serve as both therapeutic gardens and learning spaces while also developing an entry experience for the Recovery Center’s main facility that provides opportunities for reflection, solitude, and a welcoming garden. The CCED’s master plan update supports site design led by local architecture, engineering, and construction firms to integrate design ideas into site development plans and guide decision-making. Several elements of the overall master plan are already under construction, including primary roadways and patient housing at the site.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/CCED-TurtleMountainRecoveryCenter_CampusMasterPlan-WebFormat.pdf
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Center for Community & Environmental Design. (2021). “Central Indiana 4H: Changemakers Workbook.” West Lafayette, Indiana: Lo, N., Thompson, Aaron., Homan, D.
DOWNLOAD THE FINAL REPORT: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/thompsonlab/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/03/CCED_ChangemakersWorbook.pdf
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Projects Archives:
- AY 2021-22
“Horticulture Park: Research-Based Design.” Andropogon Associates Ltd. and Purdue University Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Upper Eagle Creek Greenway.” Office of Land Stewardship. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Mann Park Master Plan.” Office of Land Stewardship. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Grassy Creek Corridor Framework Plan.” Office of Land Stewardship. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Dunes-Kankakee Trail.” Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service; Porter County, Cities of Valparaiso and Chesterton; and the Northwest Indiana Regional Plan Commission. Porter County, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Indiana Lakeshore Ferry Dock.” Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service. Michigan City, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“East Arm Little Calumet River Master Plan.” Indiana Dunes National Park and Shirley Heinz Land Trust. Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Reimagining Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore’s Front County.” Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, National Park Service. Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Course: LA 42600
“Open Space Redevelopment Framework.” City of Kentland, Newton County Economic Development, Newton County Park Board, and Purdue Center for Regional Development. Kentland, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“State Road 8 Beautification and Pedestrian Safety.” Mayors Office. Auburn, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Suburban Biodiversity Preserve.” Crown Castle LLC., City of McCordsville, Community Residents. McCordsville, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Carpenter Nature Preserve.” City of Zionsville, Carpenter Family, and REA & Associates. Zionsville, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Jacob’s Square Neighborhood Revitalization.” Purdue Extension, Purdue Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Hammond, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Westminster Village Community Gathering Space Redevelopment.” Westminster Village Retirement Community. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 32500
“Purdue Student Farm Visioning.” Purdue University Student Farm, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 32500
“Jovial Family Farm in Augusta Heights.” Bruce Sklare (planner) and Bobby Jellison (physician and community garden initiator). Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 32600
- AY 2020-21
“Accessing Indiana Communities: Regional trail networks as a guide for community development.” Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service. Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Beverly Shores Lituanica Park.” Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service; and Town of Beverly Shores. Beverly Shores, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Flanner Farm Urban Agriculture.” Flanner House, Purdue Extension, Purdue Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“NPS Lincoln Home.” Lincoln Home National Historic Site, National Park Service. Springfield, Illinois. Course: LA 42600
“Gary, Indiana: Gateways.” City of Gary, Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service. Gary, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Garden Redevelopment.” Purdue Extension and PATH School. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Lawrence Pedestrian Realm.” Purdue Extension and City of Lawrence. Lawrence, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Marquette Greenway Connection to Porter Beach.” Indiana Dunes National Park, National Park Service. Porter County, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Foster Community, Engagement, and Economy.” Town of Nineveh, Community Residents, and Purdue Extension. Nineveh, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Downtown Revival.” Jasper County Community Economic Development Organization. Rensselaer, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“South Shore Line: Transit-Oriented Development.” Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“The Calumet Trail.” Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Purdue Campus Agricultural Mall Visioning.” Purdue University Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 32500
- AY 2019-20
“Pleasant Run Parkway Revitalization.” City of Indianapolis Parks Department. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Across the healing bridge: Shared hospital-park spaces.” West Lafayette Parks Department. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Breathe – A landscape architect’s role in community environmental justice.” Purdue-Fort Wayne Environmental Resources Center and Friends of Blackford County. Hartford City, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Chicago River Revitalization.” National Park Service. Chicago, Illinois. Course: LA 42600
“Crossing the urban to rural transect in the Little River Watershed.” Little River Wetlands Project. Fort Wayne, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Fort Wayne Eagle Marsh: Reconnecting with Habitats and Waterways.” Little River Wetlands Project. Fort Wayne, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Lake Michigan southern shoreline erosion protection.” Indiana Dunes National Park. Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Out of Isolation: Gary’s Path to Social and Environmental Justice.” City of Gary, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Purdue Fort Wayne Campus Landscape Master Plan.” Purdue University-Fort Wayne’s Environmental Resource Center. Fort Wayne, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Safe schools: Community access.” Paramount School of Excellence. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
- AY 2018-19
“Blue Corridor plan near the Indiana Dunes.” Northwest Indiana Regional Plan Commission. Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Campus Landscape Master Plan.” Cleveland Chiropractic University. Overland Park, Kansas. Course: LA 42600
“Creek corridor study on the Cicero and Little Cicero Creeks.” Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District, City of Tipton. Hamilton County, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Fall Creek Corridor Master Plan.” City of Indianapolis Parks Department and private land developers. Indianapolis, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Greening Gary: A Vacant Land Manual.” City of Gary, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“NIPSCO Yards: Reconnecting a City to its Lakeshore.” Michigan City Planning Department. Michigan City, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Rail to Greenway Trail: Enhancing the Connectivity of Downtown Fishers.” City of Fishers, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Rethinking suburbia: Applications of autonomous vehicle design for residential neighborhoods.” City of St. John, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“The Wabash Nature Education Center.” City of West Lafayette and Wabash River Enhancement Corporation. West Lafayette, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Wabash Overlook Park.” Tippecanoe County and Wabash River Enhancement Corporation. Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Course: LA 42600
“Wildcat Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration.” NICHES Land Trust, Tippecanoe County Parks Department. Tippecanoe, Carroll, and Cass Counties, Indiana. Course: LA 42600