Halteman Park

Faculty Recipients: Christopher Baas (Landscape Architecture), J.P. Hall (Architecture), and Jeremy Merrill (Landscape Architecture) 

Partner: Halteman Village Neighborhood Association, City of Muncie, Muncie Parks Department.

Built in 1959, Halteman Village was once the home of the Halteman Swim Club, which operated as a private recreational facility located in the heart of the Halteman Neighborhood in Muncie, Indiana. The club closed in 2017, and the site became vacant, blighted, and dangerous. The club eventually sold the land at a tax sale. After years of negotiations and advocacy, the site was reclaimed and designated as a city park in 2019, but the community had no specific vision or plans as to what would be done with the 5-acre lot. Professors Chris Baas, J.P. Hall, and Jeremy Merrill from the R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning saw this as an opportunity for their LA 202: Park and Open Space Design Studio students to apply their classroom knowledge to this neighborhood challenge. 

Building on previous work, the class met with the community in February 2020, hosting a large gathering at Mitchel Elementary School. This meeting included 100 community members, BSU representatives, Mayor Dan Ridenour, State Representative Sue Errington, city council members, and parks department staff. Students identified common themes through this exercise and used methods that engaged all community stakeholders – both young and old – during the proceedings. 

Unfortunately, shortly after the community meeting, the country went into lockdown due to COVID 19. Still, the students continued to engage the community through online surveys and the presentation of digital renderings and plans. "Heat maps" were developed to highlight areas and designs to which respondents were most drawn. The teams collected additional ideas from multiple field trips that investigated case studies and alternate design approaches. Finally, student teams presented their findings through a printed report and fly-through video shown to the neighborhood and city leadership via Zoom. The park fully opened in the fall of 2021.

This project was made possible through a Ball State Building Better Neighborhoods Grant. In addition, the students' work enabled the Halteman Village Neighborhood Association (HVNA) to facilitate a fundraising campaign and grant applications raising over $120,000 in private donations and leveraging over $150,000 of city funds to improve Halteman Park. In the end, this immersive learning project was transformative for the students and the community alike.