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Simon Moon Park

Location: Westfield, IN

At Synthesis, we believe in the power of design to transform landscapes and strengthen communities through architecture. That vision is coming to life in the Simon Moon Park expansion, where we're helping shape its evolution from a modest 5.85-acre park into a thriving 25-acre destination in collaboration with the City of Westfield Parks and Recreation Department and V3 Companies.

This once-utilitarian site, formerly home to a wastewater facility, is being reimagined as a dynamic, immersive natural retreat that reconnects people with the land and with one another.

Inspired by the whimsical follies of 18th-century Stourhead Gardens, V3 Companies developed the initial park plan by working closely with the parks department to realize their original vision. The resulting design blends architecture and nature to spark curiosity and engagement. In Phase 1 of the project, V3 reshaped the iconic sledding hill, expanded the entry and parking, and reopened the Midland Trace Trail, seamlessly integrating it with the park’s new stormwater-fed ponds.

Synthesis joined the team in Phase 1 as the architectural designer and a key aesthetic collaborator, working closely with Westfield Parks and Recreation to realize a vision of environmental remediation and reconnection with nature through the architecture planned for Phase 2. Building on the “follies in the landscape” concept, Synthesis designed two new structures for the park.

At the heart of the park is an outdoor classroom pavilion featuring a tiered butterfly roof that collects rainwater, which is channeled to the ground via rain chains. The structure sits on a concrete and paver plaza with grate-covered trenches that connect the rain chains to adjacent plant beds, helping to filter runoff. This pavilion becomes both a sculptural focal point and a tool for environmental storytelling. It supports educational programming and provides interpretive cues for staff to share the story of site remediation and ecological restoration.

Synthesis also proposed the Winter Pavilion, an all-season shelter that supports the adjacent sledding hill and offers a place to warm up during winter use. In the summer, large-scale doors with mosaic wood cladding, which serve as artwork during the colder months, open to transform the structure into an open-sided shelter. Additional contributions by Synthesis to the park design include expanding the picnic and playground areas with a new pre-fabricated picnic shelter, as well as collaborating on constructed site elements to tie them together with the architecture.