From Manhattan to Dublin: K-State landscape architecture professor's design work shapes iconic Irish landmark

For K-State fans traveling to Ireland, the Grand Canal Square is just a short tram ride from Dublin’s city center — a perfect pre- or post-game stop. Photo credit: Martha Schwartz, Inc.

Among the many must-see sights K-Staters might experience during their travels in Ireland is Grand Canal Square, a public plaza in the city’s redeveloped Docklands district, which bears the creative imprint of a Wildcat.

Earlier in her career, Jessica Canfield, associate professor in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design’s landscape architecture and regional & community planning department, worked at Martha Schwartz, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, she played a major role in the design development of the plaza, including making physical models, conducting material studies, making design renderings and producing technical drawings.

“The goal was to make the plaza an energetic, memorable public space that connects the theater, the waterfront, and the people,” Canfield said. “It’s about creating an experience — something that feels alive day and night.”

The plaza features red paving made from recycled glass and resin. Cross-cutting the plaza, a green band of tiered planters offers seating and showcases ornamental grasses and perennials in elevated beds. Visitors can experience the stacked triangular fountains, sit along granite benches at the water’s edge, or take in views from a stainless-steel pavilion leading to the parking garage below. At night, Grand Canal Square transforms into a spectacle of color and light.

For Canfield, the Grand Canal Square project still has a significant connection to her current research and teaching at K-State.

“I am passionate about conceptual design and pushing the creative boundaries of what is possible for an urban site,” Canfield said. “I teach the design process and use examples from the Grand Canal Square project to show students how it works in professional practice.”

Canfield notes she has always been interested in materials, which are a signature feature of Grand Canal Square. At K-State, she had a multiyear fellowship to develop a landscape architecture-focused collection of materials for APDesign's MatLAB, which is an interdisciplinary materials library.

For K-State fans traveling to Ireland, the square is just a short tram ride from Dublin’s city center—a perfect pre- or post-game stop.

“You don’t have to know anything about design to enjoy it,” Canfield says. “It’s about people interacting with space, and in Dublin, that means music, theater, water, color and conversation—all flowing together.”