Grand Junction Park and Plaza

• Create a distinctive community green space that serves as a recreational, cultural, and social destination for both the community and visitors.
• Enhance biodiversity by introducing native plants in riparian areas and meadows based on native habitats.
• Incentivize economic development in the proximate neighborhoods and the wider downtown context.
• Develop a public core for Westfield that promotes walkable access from adjacent neighborhoods, linking existing and future services and amenities.
• Serve as a convergence point for five trail systems to enhance regional connectivity and promote pedestrian and cyclist transit.
• Provide flexible civic and recreational spaces that support a range of event scales, seasonal activities, and daily engagement.
• Cultivate an inclusive nature-based experience for all ages and abilities.
• Use distinctive architectural elements, such as the park’s pavilions, to create a landmark destination that reflects the heritage and vision of Westfield.
• Restore Cool Creek’s natural profile, implement sustainable stormwater management solutions, and create resilient landscapes to manage flooding.

• The natural profile of the Grassy Branch of Cool Creek was re-established through extensive landscape grading to improve water flow, reduce erosion, and enhance ecological function.
• The use of cross vanes and J-hooks composed of stone boulders located throughout the stream work to dissipate water flow energy and provide grade control.
• An engineered weir system constructed of limestone blocks functions as both an interactive feature and a stormwater management tool that is designed to slow and control water flow during heavy rain events.
• A perennial seed and plug mix of 6 native riparian wetland plant species provide streambank stabilization along a wetland amphitheater. The planting mix consists mainly of sedges, rushes, and irises, including yellow fox sedge (Carex annectens), green bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens), and Virginia iris (Iris virginica)
• A meadow on the southeast side of the park features plantings that provide wildlife habitat and encourage pollinators with native species such as common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium).
• Two newly constructed pedestrian bridges cross the riparian corridor, allowing users to visually engage with the restored stream corridor and become immersed in the native plantings.
• A wetland amphitheater symbolically represents the cascade of water over tiers and can withstand inundation from flood events. An elevated walk separated by riparian planting serves as an extending stage for small performances, gatherings, and passive seating.
• As part of the redevelopment, a 500-ft section of Park Street that previously ran through the middle of the site was removed, while Mill Street was extended to the south end. This allowed for a smoother connection of the Midland Trace Trail across the west and east ends of the park, linking the surrounding community along a 6-mile stretch.
• The park serves as the convergence point of 5 trails: Grand Junction Trail, Natalie Wheeler Trail, Grassy Branch Trail, Midland Trace Trail, and Asa Bales & Monon Trail.
• The park includes two dozen species of trees and thousands of individual plants all along the creek, which offer year-round visual variety, restore the floodplain ecology, and support local habitat. These species are mostly native plants, which include American yellowwood (Cladrastris kentuckea), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), and common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana).
• Two flexible lawns provide recreational and event space across multiple scales and programmatic opportunities.
• Scattered throughout the park, custom benches and seat walls provide direct views of the restored riparian corridor and open lawns.
• The pixelated blocks of limestone in the café’s architecture celebrate the history and application of limestone from the region. The pavilions incorporate sustainable materials and energy-efficient features to reduce environmental impact.

As in many parts of the United States, the landscape around Cool Creek was drained under the Swamp Act of 1850, a federal law that promoted wetland drainage and reclamation for agricultural use, settlement, and development. Federal water policies have disrupted ecological systems in many areas, often leaving drained lands more susceptible to flooding. At Cool Creek, these interventions confined the waterway to a narrow channel, disrupted surrounding wetland ecosystems, and heightened the site’s vulnerability to flood events. In 2013, a 500-year storm hit the channelized bank and water spilled over the neighborhood, causing significant damage to hundreds of properties.

With this design, vulnerable sections of tributaries were reinforced and reconfigured to mimic natural stream flow patterns, allowing the stream to flow more evenly and resiliently through its landscape. Cool Creek’s narrow, V-shaped channel was transformed into a wider, naturalized bank, providing it with the necessary floodplain space to safely accommodate high water levels during storms.

• The success of Grand Junction Park and Plaza stemmed from an intensive and multidisciplinary collaboration involving city leaders, landscape architects, architects, engineers, strategic design studios, ecologists, and community members. The designers and engineers are from both in- and out-of-state, which required consistent dedication from all parties involved. A series of public workshops, design charrettes, and technical coordination meetings were hosted through the design phase to make sure different priorities in ecological restoration, civic and recreational needs, and economic developments were aligned. This collective effort ensured multifaceted benefits.
• The park’s focus around the riparian corridor offers multiple opportunities to physically access and visually engage with the stream; however, due to the improved water quality observed anecdotally and recorded officially by Indiana Department of Natural Resources, stream engagement and associated educational activities are even greater than originally anticipated.
• Grand Junction Park and Plaza has not only become a central gathering place that fosters community connection and pride, but also a visual and cultural symbol for the city of Westfield. The icon and logo system originally developed for park-related events, such as concerts and the farmers market, has since been adopted for a wide range of city events including the Westfield International Festival, Green Day, Nature Walk, Winter Market, Westfield in Lights, Trick or Treating, and more, reinforcing the park’s role in shaping the city’s identity.
• Several design revisions were made during and after the initial concept phase to better reflect the community’s enthusiasm and improve overall project quality. For example, the original design included a pedestrian walkway through the playground connecting Union Street to the park’s interior, but this was later replaced with a continuous seat wall to enhance child safety by limiting access to street traffic.
• Some design decisions were affected by changes in project scope. For example, the original grading and materiality of the plaza where the ice rink is located were designed to support the refrigerant requirements of the ice rink. When the integrated refrigeration was removed from the project scope, alternate paving material could have been selected as concrete was no longer necessary.

Asphalt Pavers: Hanover Architectural Products
Decomposed Granite: Kafka Granite
Custom Amphitheater: Landscape Forms (Studio 431)
Custom Bench Seating: Landscape Forms (Studio 431)
Litter & Recycling Receptacle: mmcité 
Bike Racks: mmcité 
Charging Stations: mmcité 
Lounge Seating: mmcité 
Bollards: Forms + Surfaces
Light Poles: Valmont, Technilum
Luminaires: Hess, BK, Bega, Lumenpulse

Project Team

Design Lead/Landscape Architect: Land Collective
Hydrological Study: Flatland Resources
Civil Engineering: VS Engineering
Design Architect: HWKN
Architect of Record: RATIO Architects
Signage: Bruce Mau Design
Lighting Design: Linnaea Tillett Lighting Design Associates
Fountain and Ice Rink Designer: Stantec
Maintenance and Operations: ETM Associates
Structural and Facade Engineering: Laufs Engineering Design
Structure and Site Engineering: Fink Roberts & Petrie
MEP and Acoustical Engineering: IMEG
Irrigation Consultant: Lynch & Associates
Code Consultant: RTM Consultants
Theatre Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
Facade Consultant: UAP North America
Specification Consultant: Wilson Consulting

Role of the Landscape Architect

The landscape architect was the Design Lead for this project, facilitating coordination between 15+ consultants as well as presentation to and engagement with the client and local community. Services spanned from early site investigation and preliminary concepts through Construction Documents and Construction Administration and ultimately, post-occupancy evaluation. The landscape architecture team collaborated closely with the broader team to create high-performing public infrastructure in a uniquely sensitive riparian corridor.