Jun 22, 2023 _ news

Willkommen Wins National Recognition from the Congress for the New Urbanism

GBBN, Cincinnati Center City Development Corp (3CDC), and Model Group recently won a national award from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) for the infill portions of the mixed-income, mixed-use project, Willkommen.

The preeminent award for “excellence in urban design,” the CNU Charter Awards honor a select number of projects each year that “represent major contributions to building more equitable, sustainable, connected, healthy, and prosperous communities.” 

Willkommen won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category. The project not only represents the largest addition of affordable housing to Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in generations, but it delivers those units with a dignity, utility, and delight that affirms that value of its residents and enriches the historic fabric of the neighborhood.

“For each of these buildings, we looked at the immediate context and asked, ‘How can we make this street safer, more joyful, more functional, and more supportive of the interrelated ecosystem of the urban core?’ Each building is a response to that question,” says project designer, Mary Jo Minerich.

Noting that there were once parking lots where each of Willkommen’s infill buildings now stand, GBBN Director of Community, Commercial Development, and Workplace, Chad Burke AIA, LEED AP adds that “surface lots offer unique opportunities for reestablishing lost density and reinforcing equity in our urban communities.”

Impressed by Willkommen’s effort to foster positive attitudes towards affordable housing, CNU judges also appreciated how the project was used to influence the revision of Over-the-Rhine’s historic infill guidelines in order make affordable housing easier to build.

Read CNU’s write up about Willkommen here. Learn more about the Charter Awards here.

Willkommen’s case study can be found here.