Ground 09 – Spring 2010 – Water

09

Landscape Architect Quarterly 10/

20/

Round Table The Next Wave Features Thunder Bay Waterfront Spring 2010 Issue 09

Publication # 40026106

Letters

03

.09

Letters to the Editor

President’s Message

Just a short note to say how impressed I am with Ground. It is so rich, well researched, and wonderfully laid out. The magazine is a real pleasure to look through and a great credit to the profession.

There is an increasing amount of interaction between the professions of landscape architecture, urban forestry, and arboriculture—each bringing something different into the mix of trees and living/working space. The design element of landscape architecture is so crucial to the use of trees in urban landscapes. Tree Canada is the home of the Canadian Urban Forest Network (www.cufn-rcfu.ca) and would very much like to see landscape architect involvement in this network either through the OALA or the CSLA. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Every April, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects celebrate World Landscape Architecture Month. The purpose is to bring national recognition and awareness to the profession, landscape architects, and works of landscape architecture in Canada. April was chosen to tie in with Earth Day (April 22) and the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted (April 27), founder of the landscape architecture profession in North America.

MICHAEL ROSEN R.P.F., PRESIDENT, TREE CANADA, WWW.TREECANADA.CA

Erratum In Ground 08, on page 23, Yvonne Battista should have been designated as a full OALA member.

Landscape architects across Canada are gearing up to celebrate their profession along with landscape architects across the world.

The CSLA has taken the lead by preparing a poster and promotion tool kit. The OALA, as a component association, is doing its part by encouraging each member to plan to do one activity to promote the profession. It’s up to members like you to post the poster in your workplace, organize a display at City Hall, encourage your city to proclaim a landscape architecture week, write an article for the local newspaper, lead an Earth Day event, or give a presentation to a group of students, a professional society, or the general public. Visit www.csla.ca to download your poster and the tool kit, and to see a list of some of the activities being planned.

One new promotion event the OALA is organizing for this April is a presentation to the Ontario Members of Provincial Parliament and their assistants at Queen’s Park. It is vitally important for our politicians and civil servants to understand that landscape architects are professionals with valuable planning and design abilities that contribute to creating healthy sustainable communities.

Come and join us as we celebrate World Landscape Architecture Month. And also plan to join your colleagues in Ottawa on June 5, 2010 for the OALA Annual General Meeting. Details available on the OALA web site at www.oala.ca.

LAWRENCE STASIUK, OALA PRESIDENT PRESIDENT@OALA.CA

Up Front

.09

04

0A

01

0A/

Boardwalk along the Loire River, France.

IMAGE/

Catalina Trujillo

0B/

Barnum House Creek naturalization.

IMAGE/

Arifa Hai and Michael Hough

Up Front: Information on the Ground

RIVERS

connecting culture

While visiting Ottawa this past fall, I met up with my former roommate and classmate from university, Veronica Porter, Landscape Architect Intern. We hadn’t seen each other in a year and a half, so we sat down with a glass of wine to rehash our time apart. The news she was most eager to share with me was about her trip to France in March and April of 2009 to participate in the construction of a large-scale environmental art project under the supervision of the prolific Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata. Her involvement with the project began when she heard about the artist via a guest lecturer while studying abroad at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2007. After enquiring about opportunities to work with Kawamata, she didn’t hear back about available positions until early 2009, when she was contacted to see if she was interested in applying to be part of a construction team for Kawamata’s new environmental art project in northeastern France. After submitting an application and a portfolio of her work, Veronica was accepted, and found herself on the project site in March.

Kawamata’s environmental art project, which consists of a boardwalk traversing a rural wetland, is part of a larger art festival in the Pays-de-la-Loire region of France, called Estuaire. Occurring in three phases in 2007, 2009, and 2011, the festival celebrates the culture of the Loire River estuary in several sites along the river, extending 60 kilometres from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire, at the Loire River delta. The first two phases of Estuaire incorporated contributions from more than a dozen different artists and is

the brainchild of Jean Blaise, the artistic director of the original Nuit Blanche in Paris in 2002.

The setting for Kawamata’s contribution to Estuaire is Lavau-sur-Loire, a small town that was once a port village on the Loire River. Due to the rerouting of the river, a grassy marshland now separates the village of Lavau from both the Loire River and its maritime roots. “What is so great about this project,” Veronica explained to me in Ottawa, “is that it really illustrates the story of a landscape.” The project, in Veronica’s opinion, is an artistic response, and she describes the unique place that separates Lavau and the Loire River as “something that was a mystery before; an inaccessible landscape that was made accessible” thanks to Kawamata. He designed and constructed a solution to the inaccessibility problem, a reconnection to the river in the form of a boardwalk through countryside that is flooded by the Atlantic tide surging up the river twice a day. The boardwalk begins at a trailhead, marked by gates in the outskirts of the village, and travels approximately 800 metres through the marsh, where it culminates in an observation tower overlooking the Loire River. The boardwalk also incorporates bridges and platforms, elements that Kawamata uses to create strategic pauses in the journey to the river.

The reason behind making the landscape more accessible is apparent in images taken during construction, and of the completed project: the boardwalk facilitates a fuller, deeper connection with nature, and provides a medium for experiencing a sense of place.

Up Front

Evidence of Kawamata’s experiential design intent is manifested in the planning and materials of the pathway, as well as the component physical structures. Wood is the primary construction material, reflecting the pure, minimalist character of the surrounding landscape. The elevation of the boardwalk is 40 centimetres above grade. The absence of handrails is intentional, to draw participators in (because the overall design intent of this environmental art piece is to be interactive with nature, I refer to the users of this trail as “participators”) and accommodate a more complete connection with nature. At the bridges, wooden screening walls were constructed on the opposite side of the boardwalk to mask views of the town and built environment and direct attention towards the natural landscape. There are also two platforms at different locations along the boardwalk, large enough to function as gathering spaces, and with both permanent and moveable benches and tables.

A party for the townspeople was held on the larger platform during the third week of construction, and again in June, 2009, at the official opening of the boardwalk, illustrating one of the many uses for the space. The boardwalk terminates at a six-metre-high observation tower that overlooks the Loire River, built as part of the first installment of the project in 2007, and completes the connection between the village and the river.

It is clear that the experience of being a part of a project such as this was profound for Veronica, and taught her that the definition of landscape architecture is broader than we tend to give it credit for in North America.

“This was a project that, for me, was landscape architecture, but for Tadashi, it was clearly art,” Veronica explained when I asked her what she took away from her experience. She was inspired by the fact that it was a multi-disciplinary effort, that artists, painters, engineers, architects, and photographers were each working on the same project but had their own individual attachments to it and saw it as an extension of their respective professions. “We need to broaden what our contributions [to landscape architecture] can be.”

TEXT BY ALEXANDRA HOSSFELD, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT INTERN, WHO LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON, ONTARIO.

05

.09

0B

02

NATURALIZATION

restoring a stream

The Barnum House Creek is one of many coldwater streams in Southern Ontario that have been modified in different ways. This stream lies within the Lower Trent Region’s “Burnam House Subwatershed.” Originating in the Oak Ridges Moraine, it is joined by a number of tributaries prior to crossing Highway 401, flows through the village of Grafton, and empties into Lake Ontario.

Throughout its entire length this creek is connected to stormwater drainage systems; parts of it have been straightened to reduce flooding on adjacent lands. It has also been dammed to control its water flow. In 1925, a dam was built to create a swimming pond for the villagers of Grafton. For a number of years the pond served the villagers’ recreational purposes. However, over the 81 years of sedimentation process, the former pond became completely filled up. The water from upstream cut a meandering channel through the accumulated soil deposition. This created an elevated stream behind the 2.5-metre-high dam structure. In 2006, dam discharge was occurring partly through the spillway opening and largely through the many structural cracks. This potential hazard required immediate attention.

We were engaged to work on a solution, and we started our consultation by analyzing the issues and understanding the place.

The area covering the limit of work lies with-

in private properties that include a number of two-storey buildings and mown lawns.

The boundaries of the private properties are marked by major roads on three sides. The buildings include a village inn, bed and breakfast, an abandoned church, several houses, and the township office. The stream flows right through these developments.

The buildings have their backs to the stream, except for the bed and breakfast and the inn. The boundaries of these commercial properties include approximately 500 metres of the stream as well as the dam structure. The business owner was our client for this project. The houses do not have any noticeable backyards and show obvious indifference to the stream. Our client, on the other hand, values the natural characteristics of the stream corridor and its evolving plant communities.

One fascinating aspect of this place is the sound of water that expresses the presence of the stream before one can see it. The stream and floodplains are completely covered with tree canopy, understorey, and meadows. The diverse and dense vegetation strengthens both physical and ecological aspects of the stream corridor.

The first identified issue and the major challenge of this project was the need to remove existing vegetation in order to create new stream valleys. The second issue was the heritage aspect. The dam has a history that is closely connected to the place and its people. Local field stones were used

Up Front

to build the dam structure. The abandoned church and small cemetery make the historic connection even stronger. The third issue was the need to improve the overall quality of this place through stronger connections with the commercial establishments and the surrounding environment.

The fourth issue was that any inconvenience to businesses that might occur during the construction had to be avoided.

Since rebuilding the dam was not a viable option, we considered alternatives.

Naturalization was our preferred option over repairing the deteriorated structure.

We based our naturalization approach on the following rationales: • realignment of the stream; • design of riffle sequences; • enhancements of fish habitats; • restoration of the native vegetation.

In designing the new stream, we took an approach of mimicking the natural materials and geometry of the stream and its floodplains. For this part of the work, we relied on stream hydrologist Professor Robert Newbury’s manual and his advice. In June 2007, the construction of the project began.

Over the next several weeks, new floodplains and valleys were created, pools and riffles were constructed along the profile of the new stream, and plantings were undertaken in the disturbed area.

06

.09

In the spring of 2008, more plantings were done at the top of the valley. Construction of other design elements such as a pedestrian bridge, boardwalk, pathways, and additional plantings are now in progress. The church building has been renovated and will soon be open to the public as a heritage museum. Due to the fact that natural materials and forms were used for the stream, some level of instability was anticipated. However, after two years of spring floods, we observed in the summer of 2009 that the new stream, valleys, and floodplains have been stabilized. The meadow habitats, once confined mostly to the floodplains, have now colonized the valleys as well as a large part of the previous mown lawns. Prior to naturalization, no fish were found. However, the naturalized step channel would allow trout to swim up the stream.

This was an important design consideration since Barnum House Creek is classified as a cold-water trout stream.

The dam has not been demolished after all.

With the removal of the built-up sediments, the possibility of any hazardous situation has been eliminated. Considering the heritage aspect of the dam, we have left the structure as it was. The naturalized stream has been flowing for more than two years, and the inscription on the top of the dam structure still reads its year of original construction, 1925.

TEXT BY ARIFA HAI, WHO TEACHES IN TORONTO AND PRACTISES WITH MICHAEL HOUGH, AND MICHAEL HOUGH, OALA, WHO IS CURRENTLY PRACTISING INDEPENDENTLY.

0D

03

PUBLICATIONS

pioneering historical research

Publication, in August 2009, of Shaping the American Landscape: New Profiles from the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project (University of Virginia Press) is cause for celebration. The book, edited by Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, and Stephanie S. Foell, has been nearly ten years in the making. Even longer in the tooth is the project from which it grew in 1989. That is when Birnbaum and two landscape-historian friends decided, over coffee in New York City, to launch the coordinated effort to document the lives and careers of movers and shapers of the American landscape.

The historians called it the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project.

The study of landscape-design history was then only a few decades old in the United States and even younger in Canada.

Norman Newton’s sweeping Design on the Land: The Development of Landscape Architecture, published in 1971, remained the standard text on the long history of the profession. Thus, when American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places, edited by William Tischler, joined the Preservation Press’s Building Watchers

0C

0C/

Meanders and riffles of the naturalized stream, spring 2008.

IMAGE/

Arifa Hai

0D/

Landscape architect William E. Harries, 1940s.

IMAGE/

Alice Harries Fletcher

Up Front

Series in 1989, it broke new ground by publishing essays on 21 of the U.S.’s best-researched designers.

For the most part, however, research on the lives of individuals and the significance of their work was still being done on an asneeded basis. To make a deputation, write a paper, prepare a cultural landscape report, or provide restoration guidelines—to name a few typical assignments—landscape historians and landscape architects had to undertake original research. Internet browsers were primitive, so finding information meant going in person to disparate archives, corporate headquarters, and other repositories. Exciting and rewarding as examining primary documents can be, the process, then as now, is time-consuming, expensive and, quite often, disappointing.

Birnbaum and his colleagues recognized in 1989 that the small but expanding field of landscape history merited a unified and continuing effort. The next steps, taken from the US National Park Service’s Historic Landscape Initiative, which Birnbaum headed, were to devise a submission form; start an electronic database of names; involve as many scholars as possible; and begin to generate for each pioneer a carefully researched essay. Long-established compendiums such as Britain’s Dictionary of National Biography showed the way.

As the number of fully fleshed-out pioneer essays grew, the logical next step was to start publishing them. Appearing in 1993 and 1995 respectively, Pioneers of American

07

.09

Landscape Design, with 61 black-and-whiteillustrated entries co-edited by Birnbaum and Lisa E. Crowder, and Pioneers of American Landscape Design II, with 52 similar entries co-edited by Birnbaum and Julie K. Fix, are sturdy paperbacks from the US Government Printing Office that sit on my bookshelf to this day.

Next came the handsome hardcover Pioneers of American Landscape Design co-edited by Birnbaum and Robin Karson.

Published in 2000 by McGraw-Hill, its 500 pages contain 160 biographical entries (including most from the two earlier works) plus 450 plans and photographs (100 in full colour). An appendix listing “Sites Accessible to the Public” heightens readers’ awareness of the living legacy of the myriad of designers and horticulturists active from the 18th through the 20th centuries. At long last, the field of landscape history could have a visible, tangible presence in libraries, bookstores, offices, and living rooms.

By early 2003, with more than 4,000 copies of this hardcover sold, Birnbaum was contacting potential contributors about a follow-up volume. When he asked me to write 1000-word entries on H.A. Engelhardt (designer and first superintendent of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto) and on the Toronto and Buffalo firm of Harries, Hall & Kruse, I readily agreed. I had first presented a paper on Engelhardt to the GermanCanadian Heritage Society in 1984, and another on Harries, Hall & Kruse to the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in

0F

1998. I looked forward to augmenting and then distilling that earlier research.

Shaping the American Landscape, with 149 essays, is the long-awaited result and an important addition to the series. For the first time, living practitioners such as Canada’s own Cornelia Hahn Oberlander (through an essay by Noel D. Vernon) join earlier subjects. Brief mentions of work in Canada appear in the entries on Jacques Gréber, M. Paul Friedberg, Ian McHarg, Butler Stevens Sturtevant, and Leon Henry Zach. Others whose work is regionally well known in this country (H.B. Dunington-Grubb, Rickson Outhet, and Frederick Todd come to mind) are not included.

Fortunately, the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project is ongoing and errors and omissions can be addressed continually. The Cultural Landscape Foundation website (http://tclf.org/pioneer) includes the names and, when available, the images and profiles of pioneers not yet memorialized in print. It also posts research queries and provides links to one of the foundation’s new initiatives: oral histories of living practitioners. Much research remains to be done, but today’s tools are far better than those in 1989 when the project got underway.

TEXT BY PLEASANCE CRAWFORD, WHO IS A RETIRED LANDSCAPE HISTORIAN IN TORONTO AND AN HONORARY MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AND THE ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS.

0E/

Plan of Kapuskasing, Ontario, by the firm Harries, Hall & Kruse, 1921.

IMAGE/

Archives of Ontario

0F/

Shaping the American Landscape is an important addition to the expanding field of landscape history.

IMAGE/

University of Virginia Press

0E

Up Front

.09

08

0G

04

RAVINES

constraints & opportunities

Urbanization has had significant detrimental effects on ravine habitats in cities. Some of the greatest impacts include degraded quality and decreased quantity of water, increased erosion and siltation, and the loss of native habitat through development and the spread of invasive species.

0H

0G/

Glen Edyth Roycroft wetland, Toronto, in 1999, one year after construction.

IMAGE/

Steve Smith

0H/

Glen Edyth Roycroft wetland, eight years after construction.

IMAGE/

Steve Smith

By nature of their topography, ravines should be wet in the bottomlands. That moisture comes from tableland infiltration, groundwater recharge, and surface precipitation. “Water in ravines is important. The more the better,” says Steve Smith, arborist and principal of Urban Forest Associates Inc., a Toronto company whose work focuses on ecological restoration and urban forestry. However, Smith explains, in urban environments, “many ravines are drier than they should be due to infill and dewatering of the aquifers. We should not be piping all the stormwater away from the tablelands. Instead, we

should be letting it soak into the ground so it can emerge on the slopes.”

Many urban ravines have suffered serious degradation due to development. Where streams have been entirely buried, new habitats exist that are quite different from the original conditions. “Where creeks have been piped, [wetlands] have been totally eliminated,” Smith says. Using the Don Valley in Toronto as an example, Smith points out that the floodplain was once one big marsh from one side to the other.

Degraded ravines also contribute to stormwater pollution because they lack sufficient understorey vegetation to slow runoff, which causes erosion problems.

Large sections of urban ravines are often overrun by invasive species, which outcompete natives and result in less diverse communities.

Up Front

09

.09

Opportunities Toronto’s Wet Weather Flow Master Plan provides guidelines for the management of water at the watershed level, but it’s useful to highlight a few approaches that can be applied on a project-by-project basis. Here Smith simply suggests, “Let’s make as many wetlands and swamps in the ravines as we can. Toronto’s ravines were marshy before infill occurred. It’s important to restore this type of habitat because it is more diverse than dry forests.” Not only do wetlands include a higher diversity of plant species, but they also provide habitat to a range of wildlife.

In 1998, Smith was involved in building a wetland in Nordheimer Ravine in the Don Valley, on top of a buried creek.

“Since those areas were wet to begin with, they were an ideal location for restoring natural conditions. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) also built another one farther up the ravine.“ These “new” wetlands provide a lot of functions that the marshes would have carried out originally.

According to Smith, “wetlands are fairly easy to establish, they are self-sustaining, and they establish pretty quickly. In one year or less, you can go from a dry, degraded habitat to a diverse wetland with many species in it.” Chester Springs Marsh in Toronto, for example, was restored in an area that was previously a marsh but had been covered by two to three metres of ash and cinders from the Don Incinerator that used to stand nearby.

“When they dug down two to three metres, that brought it close to the existing water level, which is probably close to the pre-development grade.”

Marshy areas also keep more water on site, which contributes to healthy growing conditions. “If there are more wet areas, it makes the ravine system more resilient because people tend to stay out of those areas,” Smith points out. “Instead, people concentrate in areas where they have the least impact—in dry areas.”

Tablelands also play an important role in the water dynamics of ravines. Of primary

0I

concern is increasing infiltration so water can slowly percolate into the ravines. “We are trying to restore natural habitat by bringing it back to a moist condition,” says Smith. He recommends planting natives on adjacent tablelands, “so the rain of seeds blowing into the ravine is native.”

Landscape architects are well suited to the task of wetland creation. “It is primarily a design exercise,” says Smith, “and landscape architects are good project managers. They integrate scientific information with human and cultural aspects like politics, public engagement, client relations, and integration into the surrounding area.”

What else can landscape architects do?

“They can learn about natural habitats and try to mimic their species mix and structure—not just in ravines, but in other urban areas too.” Smith recommends working with qualified ecologists, arborists, engineers and other professionals, as they can have a “profound impact on the quality of the end product. The closer to the ravine or natural area, the more vital it is to make [the landscape] compatible and not in stark contrast with its surroundings.”

TEXT BY JOCELYN HIRTES, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT INTERN, WHO WORKS AT SCOTT TORRANCE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT INC. AND IS A MEMBER OF THE GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD. SHE WORKED FOR URBAN FOREST ASSOCIATES INC. FROM 2006-2010.

0J 0I/

Chester Springs Marsh, Toronto, prior to construction in 1995.

IMAGE/

Steve Smith

0J/

Todmorden Mills Park Central Swamp, Toronto, with regrowth.

IMAGE/

Steve Smith

Round Table

10

.09

Water management and design in urban settings

MODERATED BY NANCY CHATER, OALA MARY-ANN BURNS, MCIP, RPP, PLANNER II - POLICY, WORKS FOR THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AT THE TORONTO AND REGION CONSERVATION AUTHORITY (TRCA). MARY-ANN HAS BEEN WITH TRCA SINCE 2001 AND HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE REVIEW OF A FULL SPECTRUM OF DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS UNDER BOTH THE PLANNING ACT AND CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES ACT FOR TRCA. SHE IS CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN POLICY DEVELOPMENT FOR TRCA INTERESTS, INCLUDING WATER MANAGEMENT.

CHRIS JONES, MCIP, RPP, IS A SENIOR PLANNER WITHIN THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AT THE TORONTO AND REGION CONSERVATION AUTHORITY (TRCA). CHRIS HAS BEEN WITH TRCA SINCE 2005 AND HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE REVIEW OF A FULL SPECTRUM OF DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS UNDER BOTH THE PLANNING ACT AND CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES ACT FOR TRCA. AT TRCA CHRIS INTEGRATES BOTH WATER MANAGEMENT AND LAND USE POLICIES CONSISTENT WITH PROVINCIAL, MUNICIPAL, AND CONSERVATION AUTHORITY POLICY DIRECTION.

NANCY CHATER, OALA, IS CO-CHAIR OF THE GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD AND AUTHOR OF THE TECHNICAL CORNER COLUMN. SHE IS A SENIOR DESIGNER WITH MHLA INC., IN TORONTO.

JANA JOYCE, OALA, ASLA, HAS MORE THAN 15 YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELDS OF ENGINEERING, URBAN DESIGN, PLANNING, AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE IN BOTH CANADA AND THE U.S. JANA HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN A NUMBER OF WATERFRONT REVITALIZATION PROJECTS FOR BOTH RIVER AND LAKEFRONTS AND IS CURRENTLY THE PROJECT MANAGER FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL WORKS FOR THE PRINCE ARTHUR’S LANDING WATERFRONT PARK IMPROVEMENTS IN THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO.

KATHERINE DUGMORE, MCIP, RPP, IS THE WATERFRONT PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE CITY OF THUNDER BAY. PRIOR TO HOLDING THAT POSITION SHE WAS THE MANAGER OF THE PLANNING DIVISION AT THE CITY. SHE HAS WORKED AS BOTH A PLANNER AND A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AND HAS 24 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN LAND DEVELOPMENT, URBAN DESIGN, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS. JOHN HILLIER, OALA, FCSLA, IS A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT WITH INTEREST AND EXPERIENCE IN URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING. HE JOINED DTAH IN 1977 AND JOINED THE PARTNERSHIP IN 1985. HE IS CURRENTLY LEADING DTAH’S WATERFRONT PUBLIC REALM DESIGN FOR TORONTO'S CENTRAL WATERFRONT IN JOINT VENTURE WITH WEST 8 OF ROTTERDAM, AND HAS COMPLETED THE GARDINER EAST EXPRESSWAY DISMANTLING IN THE ADJACENT TORONTO PORT LANDS. HIS CONSIDERABLE URBAN DESIGN WORK INCLUDES THE LANDSCAPE HERITAGE PLAN FOR THE GOODERHAM AND WORTS DISTILLERY IN TORONTO, THE RECONSTRUCTION CONCEPT FOR THE NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL AT CONFEDERATION SQUARE IN OTTAWA, AND URBAN DESIGN FOR THE OTTAWA LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT. HE IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE ADAPTIVE REUSE OF THE FORMER BRICK WORKS IN TORONTO’S DON VALLEY AND IS CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF THE MISSISSAUGA URBAN DESIGN REVIEW PANEL. THE DISTINGUISHED CAREER OF MICHAEL HOUGH, OALA, HAS PROGRESSED THROUGH MANY PROFESSIONAL AVENUES INCLUDING PRIVATE CONSULTING PRACTITIONER, ACADEMIC TEACHER, RESPECTED AUTHOR, AND COMMUNITY ACTIVIST. HE WAS THE FOUNDING PARTNER OF HOUGH, STANSBURY & ASSOCIATES IN 1963 AND HAS CONTINUED WITH THE FIRM AS IT HAS EVOLVED TODAY INTO ENVISION - THE HOUGH GROUP. HE WAS ALSO A FOUNDER OF THE SCHOOL OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AND MORE RECENTLY HAS TAUGHT AS PROFESSOR IN THE FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AT YORK UNIVERSITY, AS WELL AS HARVARD. HE HAS LED SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS IN CANADA AND ABROAD IN ARTICULATING AN ECOLOGICAL VIEW OF PLANNING AND DESIGN THAT ENCOMPASSES A CONSIDERATION OF NATURE AND SOCIETY AS A FUNCTIONING WHOLE. HIS BOOKS ARE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED IN THE WORLD AND INCLUDE CITIES AND NATURAL PROCESS; OUT OF PLACE: RESTORING IDENTITY TO THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE; AND PEOPLE AND CITY LANDSCAPES. IN ADDITION TO HIS WRITINGS AND AWARD-WINNING RESEARCH, MICHAEL HAS LEFT A LEGACY OF LANDMARK DESIGN PROJECTS THAT FORM ANCHORS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AT SCARBOROUGH COLLEGE, ONTARIO PLACE, MAJOR HILL'S PARK - CEREMONIAL ROUTE (OTTAWA), AND MANY OTHERS IN CANADA AND ABROAD.

ADAM NICKLIN, OALA, LEED® AP, IS A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AND URBAN DESIGNER WITH TEN YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE U.K., THE U.S., AND CANADA. HE IS CURRENTLY THE PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE TORONTO CENTRAL WATERFRONT PROJECT, AND IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RECENTLY COMPLETED UNIVERSITY OF ONTARIO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IN OSHAWA, AND THE REDEVELOPMENT OF THE BANFF CENTRE FOR ARTS IN BANFF. HIS STUDY OF MAJOR CITY SQUARES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE WAS RECOGNIZED FOR AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE AT THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY BRITISH LANDSCAPE INSTITUTE AWARDS. AS FOUNDING PRINCIPAL OF SCHOLLEN & COMPANY INTERNATIONAL INC., MARK SCHOLLEN, OALA, POSSESSES EXTENSIVE AND WIDELY REGARDED EXPERIENCE GAINED THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF A 25-YEAR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING CAREER. HIS WORK TRANSCENDS THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, ECOLOGY, LANDSCAPE PLANNING, AND ENGINEERING. THE FOCUS OF MARK’S WORK IS SOUNDLY BASED ON ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES AND HE CONTINUES TO DEVELOP PROGRESSIVE AND PRECEDENT-SETTING SOLUTIONS THAT MELD THE URBAN LANDSCAPE WITH THE ECOLOGY OF NATURAL SYSTEMS. MARK WAS A CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR OF THE MINISTRY OF THE OF ENVIRONMENT'S STAGE ONE AND STAGE TWO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND DESIGN MANUALS AS WELL AS THE SOON-TO-BE-RELEASED CVC/TRCA LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES. MARK AUTHORED THE GROUNDBREAKING AND MULTI-AWARD WINNING TOWN OF MARKHAM SMALL STREAMS STUDY AND HAS DEVELOPED DESIGNS FOR A NUMBER OF WETLAND SYSTEMS FOCUSSED ON ADDRESSING ACUTE WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS IN CHINA. MARK IS A SESIONAL LECTURER IN THE MASTERS PROGRAM AT THE FACULTY OR ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE AND DESIGN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. DAVID STONEHOUSE, MSCPL, MCIP, IS DIRECTOR, SITE DEVELOPMENT, EVERGREEN BRICK WORKS. HE WAS THE COORDINATOR OF THE CITY OF TORONTO’S TASK FORCE TO BRING BACK THE DON BETWEEN 1991 AND 1998. AN URBAN PLANNER, DAVID HANDLED POLICY FILES RELATED TO PARKS, OPEN SPACE, HERITAGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT WHILE WITH THE POLICY AND RESEARCH UNIT OF THE TORONTO CITY PLANNING DIVISION (1999 TO 2002). DAVID IS A PAST MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION’S SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, A CANADA-U.S. ORGANIZATION THAT MONITORS SCIENTIFIC ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE GREAT LAKES.

Round Table

Nancy Chater (NC): Water is clearly a broad topic in landscape architecture and urban planning. We want to focus our discussion on current directions in water management policies such as protecting water sources, managing stormwater runoff, and conserving water, and then talk about the challenges and opportunities of implementing best practices in design projects at a number of scales.

you design a pond”; the 1990s were “here’s how to select the best management practices in terms of the treatment chain, infiltration, exfiltration, attenuation.” But now the focus is on the underlying goal of attaining a pre- to post-development water balance that emphasizes infiltration of water back into the ground, contributing to baseflow to nourish headwater streams and enhancing groundwater recharge rates.

You have all been engaged in various ways and for many years with the relationship between water systems and urban form, and how we can create a more sustainable relationship between the two. By its nature, water exceeds political boundaries so it brings coordination issues to the foreground as we have to consider the watershed scale, the regional scale, municipal scale, and site scale.

John Hillier (JH): Our firm has done a lot of urban work over the years. In a sense, we’ve dealt with policies as they come down to the project level. Water has become a very interesting design influence in even the hardest of urban environments.

Water has become a key determinant of the design of a community or a campus or a building. Water is front and centre.

Let’s start with the larger context of policy directions and then come down to the project scale. What are the current policies being set by conservation authorities, municipalities, and so forth, and have they changed within the past five years with the growing focus on sustainability, the recognition of climate change, and of water as an increasingly precious resource?

Mark Schollen (MS): The big shift has been away from quantity control and quality control and towards water balance. We are now focussing more on the relationship between surface water and ground water and actually designing systems that are aimed at attenuating stormwater and putting it back into the ground. Policy is also shifting towards protecting headwater streams, for example, as opposed to downstream erosion control, and towards maintaining the integrity of tributaries. The evolution represents a progressive shift away from the Ministry of Environment’s original Stormwater Management Planning Design Manual, which was a prescriptive cookbook on how you select and design stormwater ponds, towards a more target-based approach that is focussed on achieving balance criteria. The 1980s were “here is how

11

.09

NC: There is an emphasis now at the site scale on not increasing stormwater runoff post-development, which is a very challenging policy directive to achieve, requiring a whole re-think about where water is going when you develop a site.

Katherine Dugmore (KD): I think the greatest shift with respect to addressing water balance is the need to think about water on a regional basis, which then drives across-jurisdictional policy development.

I think Mark [Schollen]’s work on the Rouge River, for example, showed how many different parties had to become involved in a coordinated effort. For concentrated urban areas there is necessarily a reliance on the larger region in terms of achieving some of the water-balance targets. And that’s really important in terms of the overall sustainability of systems.

David Stonehouse (DS): Can I throw a curveball? I actually want to try to argue that we have great policy. Over the past twenty years, it has evolved. A lot of people in this room have been involved with that development. What we lack now is the will and resources to implement the policy.

NC: When you say we have great policy, do you mean Toronto, the GTA? Who’s the “we”?

DS: Ontario. Every municipality, every conservation authority, they’ve all got it figured out. What they don’t have is the money and/or the political will to get the job done.

One of the key issues with water is around pricing. For years water has been underpriced, so we’ve been delivering water and stormwater management and sewer services for less than they cost. It’s not very hard to make everyone install a water meter and then it’s not very hard to force people to pay the real cost of water provision, of stormwater management, and so on. For some reason, we just never get to it.

MS: It’s getting better. You will not get a plan approved by the conservation authority without innovative stormwater management design. I think Toronto’s Wet Weather Flow Management Master Plan was a critical piece of work in terms of acknowledging the real cost of doing effective stormwater management and dealing with combined sewer systems and aging infrastructure. And that’s manifested itself in the changes in policy and how the city targets infrastructure and stormwater management improvements.

I think that what is falling behind are programs like LEED. LEED has always been short-changing the water side. It speaks to water quality and quantity targets that we surpassed years ago; and yet it professes to be “state of the art.” LEED doesn’t look at design in an integrated way. The program promotes water conservation through the installation of low-flow plumbing fixtures, rain water recycling, for example, but when you are designing, if you don’t think about the whole package and how all these things integrate with each other and the landscape, you’re missing opportunities to do really good work.

Adam Nicklin (AN): LEED is a very arbitrary system. And it has to be because it is applied to a huge variety of different projects. Could it improve? Yes.

Round Table

Mark, you were describing policy as being behind practice. I have found that when we’re actually building projects, it is the maintenance of the systems and the people who are actually going to use the systems that play a key role. We can have some of the best of intentions in our designs, but when you actually get into a design review stage with people who are going to maintain the facilities, it’s a different story.

KD: We’ve got excellent policies in Ontario.

Working in the north now for the past four years, however, the policies aren’t always a good fit with what’s happening. You can have water quality and quantity control and all kinds of measures, with bioremediation or other practices, but when you’re in a community the size of ours [Thunder Bay], in a region as large as ours, and a watershed as large as ours, which is virtually undeveloped, those policies are less meaningful; and in particular the wetland policies. You apply them in the north and it’s almost laughable because it’s basically a rock and a Class 1 wetland, followed by another rock and a Class 1 wetland. So there’s a bit of a one size fits all approach. The policies are created in a framework that’s very different in the north.

Policy is a direction. It needs to be implemented, and political will has a lot to do with that. The better we get at showing the value and cost benefit of water systems that work in terms of maintenance costs, the easier it is to convince politicians of the direction to pursue.

JH: Regarding the work we’ve been doing on the Toronto Waterfront, I have found that actually there is a lot of political will to do the right thing. Where we’ve encountered difficulty is in getting the thing implemented.

There’s a whole municipal structure of standards and best practices that have been done over the past twenty years and they don’t happen to match these new aspirations. It just takes forever to get something that’s different done. It’s often tied up in engineering liability. You’ve got multi-agencies and one not agreeing with another so

12

.09

you go round and round in circles before you actually get anything in the ground. But from the political side, we’ve had nothing but tremendous support.

AN: With our Waterfront Toronto work in the East Bayfront district, we managed to build up some political momentum by integrating the stormwater system into the public realm.

So there was a sense that the City was getting more bang for the buck. The prescriptive approach Mark described earlier would have seen us doing something simple and pushing the stormwater system underground, but because we’re in an urban area, we don’t have any room for a retention pond. Instead, it was the integration of that into the public realm by putting the storage system under a boardwalk that made a difference. The money spent was not only handling stormwater but creating more public realm.

Mary-Ann Burns (MAB): In the last five years, we’ve been getting away from endof-pipe solutions and moving towards a treatment train approach. We are updating our policies to reflect this approach, which we have had success with already.

Some of the challenges we face include where to put the infiltration facilities. For example, who maintains them, whose property they’re going on, not having enough land, etc. Then there are a number of interests we have to weigh, such as natural heritage.

Chris Jones (CJ): There is a technical guideline coming out soon from the TRCA called the Low Impact Development Guidelines.

I expect that we will be getting into climate change mitigation. There are going to be a lot of infrastructure improvements needed to deal with that. If we want to accommodate larger storms, we’ll need to have bridges that span larger areas. What will we do with these old dams when their life spans run out? Would we like to take them down and restore natural systems? We’ll probably end up having those sorts of conversations more now than we’ve been having in the past

thirty years, when there hasn’t been the capital expenditure to build large dams, where the approach was simply to manage with policies and regulations the urban areas that will be subject to flooding.

NC: If past policies were based on either holding back the water, or holding back the development near the water, what is the current approach of the TRCA? CJ: If you’re dealing with greenfield development, the current approach is to not build on the floodplain. With continuing urbanization, the problem becomes worse downstream. Even with stormwater controls, you’re still changing the hydrology of the watershed and directing more water from hard surfaces into the watershed. Even with detention ponds, which we’ve been using for the past 25 years, we’re still adding greater volumes of water into the watercourse than would otherwise happen in a rural setting where the water would either evaporate or be absorbed into the ground.

All of our downstream communities are subject to greater flood risk, even outside of the climate change paradigm.

In a greenfield site, we’re getting better at diverting stormwater from going into the creeks. But with our new growth management policies, we are going to be intensifying the urban areas downstream that are already subject to flood risks.

JH: For brownfield sites, it’s a totally different ball game. The whole idea of infiltrating becomes problematic because of contamination in the soil. This really came to light in the Brick Works project [a Toronto park being developed by Evergreen]. We went there with the intention of infiltrating stormwater and all of a sudden with a ground full of chemicals which we can’t push out into the water system, what can we do?

NC: What did you do?

JH: Some of it still continues downstream, but we’re trying to be as clean as we can.

Round Table

We minimize runoff to the extent possible by using green roofs, greenways, cisterns, re-use—all those kinds of things. What does run off goes as cleanly as possible back into the system.

DS: We’re actually exceeding Wet Water Flow Plan Guidelines around the quantity of water that is being discharged into those storm sewer systems.

POLICY AND PROJECTS NC: Let’s talk about the Thunder Bay Project, a very large, $100-million, multi-faceted revitalization on the shores of Lake Superior, creating a multi-use village with mixed use residential, recreational, and business that will bring the city to its waterfront. What kinds of approaches are you taking with respect to managing water?

Jana Joyce (JJ): Marina Park is a park setting with portions that are quite urban.

We don’t have a lot of physical room to create infiltration depressions or bio-swales.

A sediment pond was designed to capture stormwater from pipes discharging from higher points in the city that were emptying directly into Lake Superior. The sediment pond was not possible in the end due to the lack of horizontal space. We had to look at underground systems to treat the water, for example stormceptors. Much of our water management is literally underground, which challenges opportunities to share awareness of how water is being handled on the site.

The other challenge is that a number of locations are contaminated, so we have to be careful about infiltrating water. We are also dealing with the perceptions of the community. In terms of visible stormwater treatment systems, there’s a real disconnect between what the community wants to see, what they understand about these systems versus what the system’s actually doing.

We’ve had many discussions where the community says, “I don’t want a settlement pond in my park because it smells, it’s nasty, and our children are going to fall in.” We

13

.09

need to educate the public so they become aware that well-designed systems that flow properly and have a balanced ecology can become a beautiful landscape feature rather than just a functional element in the landscape.

AN: Going back to what Chris was saying regarding increasing urbanization and the impact on stormwater management, I see the problem being the traditional kind of development that happens in Ontario. The area of impermeable surface is completely unsustainable. I like to think that the increasing urbanization of areas can actually be part of the solution, if it’s done right, if we develop and live in a more compact way and retain natural areas.

CJ: Our approach to growth and development historically has been a growth imperative in a horizontal form. However, I think things have changed in the past five years from a planning point of view. The province has a new policy where, after 2014, 40 percent of all new units have to be within existing communities. I would still ask, what about the other 60 percent? That’s a pretty big number and a lot of those units will go in a greenfield development. But still, 40 percent is better than nothing.

MS: The trend is positive. The Places to Grow Act is a really good piece of work.

The Greenbelt has started to shape where growth will and should occur. Municipalities like Markham and the City of Vaughan have completed studies that examine their regional growth targets and how they would accommodate them. These municipalities have found that they may not need to grow outside the existing urban envelope to accommodate prescribed growth targets.

This approach would require a radical shift towards intensification but the results will be laudable in consideration of water management and environmental objectives.

WATERFRONTS AND CULTURAL IDENTITY NC: Are communities attached to cultural and historical ideas about the waterfronts as they shift from working ports to more recreational and ecological settings? Are people embracing change? How is this idea of the identity of the waterfront coming into play in your design implementation?

KD: The land we’re working on now, in Thunder Bay, is lake-infill that started in the late 1800s. We created Marina Park with a marina and a small festival area. A portion of the park is being developed for mixed use development and is immediately adjacent to our downtown. The resistance is to the change from a more passive use to a more intensively active and mixed use. If we were just talking about fallow and industrial lands, there wouldn’t be a problem converting it. The challenge is when you’re taking it from something the public kind of likes to something they’re not sure about.

JJ: In the Thunder Bay project and other waterfront projects we’ve worked on, the site’s identity and cultural heritage have evolved over hundreds of years. A single identity is hard to nail down; these waterfronts have been so many things. You almost have to choose a single period of time or a particular past use from which to pick up design cues. The sites have an incredible amount of history and there are many opportunities to bring cultural heritage and historical awareness into the finished designs. This helps to create a place that the community loves and where people want to visit and learn about the incredible history of the site.

AN: Toronto’s waterfront is built up of layers of fill and has gradually crept south. There is still industry, but the waterfront is now predominantly recreational. Our challenge has been to bring the city to the waterfront and to overcome the disconnection that people perceive as soon as they get to the Gardiner Expressway or the rail cut. The extension of the new districts right down to the waterfront is connecting the waterfront back to the city. We are trying to convince

Round Table

people that the waterfront is not just a place to walk along in the height of summer.

NC: What are some of the ways you’re doing that?

JH: Having a population live and work there—inhabit, colonize the space—is really, really important.

AN: It won’t survive as just a tourist attraction. It has to be much more. The best examples of tourist attractions are places that have a life of their own. People attract people.

KD: The key to our experience in Thunder Bay is also creating an urban environment.

We are striving to make it something that’s not only a destination but an integral part of the community.

JH: Which is not to say that there shouldn’t be natural areas; there should be, absolutely. But where you populate it, you do it with density and intensity so that it’s a living, working place.

NC: It makes an interesting reversal in a way; bringing intensification and density and development to the water becomes a way to protect the water and to enhance the sense of the water for the city’s identity, allowing people to experience nature in the city. By creating a face-to-face relationship with the water, rather than turning our backs to it, which happened previously with industrialization, we achieve what Michael Hough has always advocated for and that is to have urban citizens see, interact with, and therefore care about the future of the waterfront and the river systems.

AN: What we have going for us is that everyone loves, loves the water. We are creating a real community that is adjacent to the water.

14

.09

Michael Hough (MH): Up to now I’ve always said, let’s find out what is actually needed in terms of where people are going to go. But another way of looking at it is asking “where is a good place to be?”

DS: Toronto is not like every other city that’s pursuing waterfront development. We’re talking about new neighbourhoods, real neighbourhoods right next to the lake.

We’re also talking about making the lake better. And rivers that feed into the lake better. The TRCA’s leading the Environmental Assessment on the renewal of the mouth of the Don. If it actually happens, we will be creating new water, not just for the sake of creating new water, but to improve and build neighbourhoods around it and make it economically viable. That’s really exciting.

I never would have imagined that we would be where we are when Michael Hough wrote his 1991 report “Bringing Back the Don” about a new mouth for the Don. KD: One of the things that’s particularly frustrating for me is we’re talking about relatively benign uses compared to what went on before [in terms of industry and contamination], and yet I can’t think of a more lengthy approvals process. It’s frightening in its complexity and the policies aren’t flexible enough to adapt to some of the things that we’re trying to achieve.

JH: I want to note a sea change. Twenty years ago, we were working for engineers almost always after the decisions had been made, particularly transportation and civil.

That’s been turned on its head. I think a more collaborative design process has really come to the fore. I think everything that is happening as a result is turning out much better. For the first time, we’re hiring engineers on the waterfront. That’s not to say that they do everything that we want them to do. [Laughter.] But it’s levelled the playing field and we’re working towards a better common goal.

CJ: We’ve talked about the fact that there are so many layers and pieces of legislation for waterfronts. The risk is that the complica-

tions lead to lengthy delays which then jeopardize projects. We take so long that they go beyond political mandates, beyond economic cycles. If we look at the current round of transit expansion, the government changed the process so there is a “transit assessment” rather than an environmental assessment. This is an expedited process.

I think it would be really good to do something like that for waterfronts. The point I’m making is that there needs to be a thoughtful integration of regulatory interest in order to not thwart our goals.

KD: How is mixed use development at the waterfront substantially different than mixed use development next to a river corridor or any other place in the urban space? And yet it seems to trigger a plethora of different legislation.

NC: There’s a clear mandate around public education in the Evergreen Brick Works project tied to cultural identity and water systems. What sort of things are you educating the public about?

DS: There are several things about the site that are obvious for education, like the industrial heritage of the old factory buildings, the ecological heritage of the north slope, the habitats in the quarry and the back, and of course water. There’s water all around it… We are reintroducing water through a series of greenways that are under construction and will eventually flow to stormwater management. In terms of education, we’ll try to do everything, including good stormwater management techniques, but we also want to talk about water conservation, drinking water, water pricing, and water as a placemaker. One of the best things about our scheme is the way we’ll bring water right up into the buildings and it will actually flow within the buildings.

NC: Can you describe the greenways?

DS: They are creeks. People will be able to walk over these creeks on bridges that take you from building to building.

Round Table

JH: The creek may be dry most of the time, but it offers opportunity for a major flood occurrence or even a major rainfall to come down to the site. And this is the area where it collects roof water and returns it back to the plant material we have located above the contaminated soils, which are farther below ground.

One of the really exciting things about the design is its treatment of water in a way that is obvious, so that you can read the story of where the water is coming from, where it’s hitting the ground and where it’s going, and how it’s processed along the way. We joke about them as designer ditches in the offices. We want to do something with a real function that benefits the environment, but in a way that also brings a kind of aesthetic joy to the whole site.

MH: I go to the Brick Works very frequently and I think there’s a real need to think about the site as a protected environment. Certain areas may need to be restricted from public use, such as the quarry. This is the kind of place that can’t be fooled around with. We have to be careful about saying “I’ve a got a new idea for this place.”

NC: That brings us back to policy; how we marry land use and public use with protection of sites in dense urban environments, while it also brings in the historical and cultural legacy of sites.

DS: One of the challenges for all of us and all of our cities and towns is to go back and retrofit existing stormwater features so that they incorporate more ecological functions.

In some cases, the parks built around these water features—creeks, ponds and lakes— are awful because the stormwater quality is disgusting. We have to go back and somehow retrofit these spaces.

AN: In the conversation around this table, we’ve spent as much time talking about urban planning and land use planning as we have about water policies, with the understanding that these things are completely linked. You can’t look at them in iso-

15

.09

lation. That is half way to solving the problem. Even as a relatively young practitioner, I was brought up to see water as something to be feared. It causes liability, freezing, flooding, and disease. So sites like Evergreen Brick Works—completely unique in the context of Toronto—serve as a demonstration of an alternative relationship to water in the urban environment.

the cover of the magazine.” It has to be usable; it has to make sense; it has to be pragmatic but beautiful at the same time.

MAB: What’s ironic about that traditional approach is that the faster you try to keep water away . . .

KD: Understand the planning context. Look around and discover how things are and ask why things are done the way they are.

The next step is to ask why it can’t be another way. And that’s how a landscape architect can start informing a process rather than responding to the end of the process. That’s where the strength of landscape architecture comes from because it really is planning, science, and design.

Creative problem solving is what this profession offers and it’s better if you’re at the beginning of the pipe rather than the end of the pipe.

AN: The harder the water comes back.

MAB: It causes flooding.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE NC: I’d like to do a quick go around and ask everybody one question…

DS: Could I propose a question? If you were to tell a young landscape architect something that he or she could do in their career to make a difference in the area of water planning and water implementation, what would it be?

MS: I’ll start with research. You’ve got to get the science right. You’ve got to understand the facts and you’ve got to teach yourself so that you’re credible when you stand up in front of engineers or a public meeting and say that this is the right way to do it. You’ve got to have answers. Research is your future, your foundation.

JH: I’ve got to say, read up on Michael Hough and Mark Schollen.

JJ: When new graduates come out, they tend to have a habit of designing finite things in a vacuum. If you are designing a boardwalk near the waterfront, for example, I would suggest that you understand comprehensively what’s going on. Take a look at policies, talk to municipal staff, talk to people who will be using and maintaining the space, find out where stormwater goes.

Don’t just look at the park design as “I want to build this really cool space so it can be on

MAB: The practical implementation of preconsultation is important. Get all the stakeholders together in the beginning of the project; consider all the interests, don’t just focus on your own purpose in a project.

MH: Thoughtfulness, to begin with. Working through what are the opportunities.

CJ: Learn about politics, how decisions are made. And learn about what the values are behind the way things are. Learn to identify your own values and how you might convince other people of those values.

DS: I would say embrace nature, hug an engineer, and join a group on a volunteer basis that’s involved in public education.

AN: You need to be able to make provocative claims. You need to be prepared to argue with people and stand your ground.

MANY THANKS TO VAN THI DIEP, OALA, FOR TRANSCRIBING THIS ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION.

Splash, Drip, Squirt, and Mist

16

.09

01

Splash, Drip, Squirt, and Mist Carl Novikoff talks with Jim Melvin about splash pads Carl Novikoff (CN): What is your experience in working with splash pads?

02 01/

"The Melvinator" custom water play feature designed by PMA Landscape Architects and Spray Play.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects

02/

Custom water play feature in Brampton by Spray Play and Strybos Barron King Landscape Architects.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects/Spray Play

Jim Melvin (JM): In 1998, the city of Toronto had a capital program to install several splash pads throughout the city. PMA Landscape Architects and Aldershot Landscaping worked together as a design-build team to install some of these splash pads. We were very interested in alternatives to off-the-shelf spray toys, so we worked with a water play specialist, Rod Brogee, to develop some unique features. It was a really fun creative process. Brogee and I later designed splash pads together in Mississauga as well as many in Markham and Kitchener. We have built splash pads all over southern Ontario, including new ones, and conversions of wading pools into splash pads.

Splash, Drip, Squirt, and Mist

17

.09

03

CN: Why are cities replacing wading pools with splash pads?

JM: There are many factors, mostly related to maintenance and operating costs. Basically, the way wading pools operate is that staff arrive in the morning, wash down the pool, remove glass and debris, then fill it up. They usually drain a pool once during the day because for the most part wading pools don’t use recycled water—it is just standing water usually up to 16 inches deep. They have to test it and fill it with chemicals, and then they have to drain it again at the end of the day. It is a lot of work to maintain and it requires a trained lifeguard on staff.

With splash pads, kids can play in water, but they don’t get immersed. The splash pad is equal in water use and similar construction value to that of a wading pool, but there’s less maintenance with splash pads. City staff still need to go around in the morning to check for broken glass and debris, but other than that splash pads can be completely automated. They can be set to turn on and shut off at certain times on a schedule. They can run from the May long weekend to Labour Day, whereas wading pools normally wouldn’t open until the start of summer, June 21st, then they would need the operators, usually students, which limits the time frame in which they

05

are open. Sometimes wading pools will close around school schedules and/or on weekends, whereas splash pads will run until you turn them off in the fall.

CN: What are the most important considerations when designing a splash pad?

JM: Site considerations are important—how the splash pad fits in to pedestrian circulation, adjacent facilities, and playgrounds—and generally how it complements the site and the user patterns that already exist in the park. The zone surrounding the splash pad needs to include specific functions; for example, you need to create sufficient space for an area for the parents, a dry zone to spread out the towels and avoid any overspray from the system. A splash pad can’t be too close to a play surface or the drains will get clogged with sand or wood chips. Often, if you’re building a new splash pad the excavated materials can be used to make a nice berm for caregivers to sit on. Sun, shade, and drainage of the surrounding areas need to be considered.

CN: What is taken into consideration for the planting design surrounding splash pads?

04 03/

"Circle of Fun" at Forks of the Thames in London, Ontario.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects

04/

Bucket Dump custom water play feature at Regent Park South wading pool conversion.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects/Spray Play

05/

Forks of the Thames splash pad, London.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects/Spray Play

JM: Shade is always a consideration. If you were draining into a wetland you would need wetland plants, or water-cleansing plants.

There are a lot of kids playing around so we like to have a two- to three-metre barrier around the hard surface to handle any overspray. If the sod or lawn area is continually soaked, it will never recover. We like to use concrete over rubber for our surface as the

Splash, Drip, Squirt, and Mist

18

.09

rubber can tend to collect glass, and the colour and texture we can put into concrete is great. We are looking at developing a shade structure that shoots water. There are a lot of possibilities and every designer should have fun with this—be creative and let yourself go.

ice available on site. Older parks may have water on site, but they don’t meet today’s plumbing requirements for backflow preventors and water meters. So you may have to install a meter chamber and backflow equipment to prevent any contaminants from entering the water system. We usually like to have a minimum of a three-inch water supply line. The supply is based on the amount of water available and the pressure. Sometimes you may have a lot of water available but the pressure isn’t strong. Other times you can get a smaller amount of water, so if the number of features that are on is greater, you have a displacement of pressure throughout the system. You have to monitor the way you turn the features on and the amount of water during operation.

CN: Can you re-use the water?

JM: Some cities will drain the water to the sanitary sewer because the water has touched human skin and there’s a risk of disease.

Other municipalities will re-use the water for irrigation just like grey water. The water is captured in a cistern, or in a pool on site, and later used for irrigation. Other possibilities are to create a run off into a landscape feature such as a wetland, holding pond, or a stormwater pond system.

CN: So you have to monitor the pressure through zoning, almost like an irrigation system?

There are some systems that re-circulate the water, but that is a little tricky. For re-use, you have to capture the water and sterilize it with ultraviolet light or chemicals that will kill all the organisms. Essentially, you have to filter the water and then pump it back into the splash pad. This type of system can add up to $150,000 dollars to the cost of the splash pad. Treating the water involves regulations and guidelines as to how often it needs to be tested, who can test it, and adjustments to the water would have to be made with chemicals.

This would result in almost as much maintenance as with wading pools, but you would be more environmentally conscientious because you would be recycling the water. It’s a real debate.

JM: In that way it is similar to an irrigation system; it has a timer and a controller.

CN: What professionals and trades do you work with when building a splash pad?

JM: Specialist mechanical engineers, who will analyze the water flow and the display; electrical engineers and civil engineers, who design the drainage connections. The hardest or most crucial part about the splash pad is the concrete pour. The contractors who pour the concrete and those who set the elevation of the splash pad equipment should be on the site at the same time. You don’t want any pooling water or drainage issues.

CN: How much does a splash pad cost at the minimum and the maximum?

JM: It all depends on the size. They can run anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000, and that includes construction costs, excavation, installing a concrete base, asphalt surroundings, and ground jets. It gets more and more complicated with the type of sprays you want to provide. You have to consider electrical and water supply. It’s hard to say you can build a splash pad for x cost since it’s all site specific. A very important consideration is the size of the water serv-

CN: What type of toys do kids like best? Can you give us some examples?

JM: Big water equals big fun. We devised a twelve-foot Bucket Dump—it’s really like a trough dump, it takes about twelve seconds to fill up then it dumps a huge amount of water. The kids really love that one. I have seen some of them get so anxious waiting for the bucket to fill that they try to pull it early. Ground jets can go on 45-degree angles; they can make arches or they can go straight up.

Depending on the pressure, you can have them go really high.

Another toy we use, Circle of Fun, is a large pot about 24” to 30” with a centre jet with a ring of outside sprays. It’s quite multifunctional, since it has a variety of spray settings and it also incorporates a catchbasin, so the water comes out of the same place it drains to.

There are ground jets that shoot the water from jets in the ground and can be set in a bunch of different ways; water can fall, water can spray. We made these Piston Poppers—where water enters the toys and the pressure activates a switch and sets off a whistle. The kids could care less about the whistle but we were having fun getting really creative. We designed another feature with pipes that twist and turn and they all have holes in them so the kids can cover one hole and the pressure will increase on the other holes. That toy was not only fun but sculptural. Sometimes playground manufactures 06

Splash, Drip, Squirt, and Mist

19

.09

make animals that we can incorporate into our design. We have done dragons and bulrushes, I’ve seen frogs and turtles and whales.

We try to stay away from gun stuff.

CN: Do you find that different age groups like different toys?

JM: The diaper kids or the tots like to just kick around in about a half-inch of water, near the bubblers, and we usually supply an area around that for the caregivers. The water that sprays at people is the area where the older kids like to be, and they like the areas where they can run through the water.

CN: Is there any all-season use for a splash pad?

JM: In the shoulder seasons I could see some use by rollerbladers, skateboarders, and cyclists. You used to see that in wading pools.

Splash pads are less concave than wading pools so not quite as friendly to that. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with a splash pad in the winter.

CN: Is there a lot of preparation for the winter months or regular maintenance required?

JM: It is very similar to an irrigation system. You just have to blow out the system so there is no water in the pipes that can freeze and crack the components. It’s basically a big irrigation system with a timer: there is an activator you turn on, there is a manifold housing all the valves, and we usually use pressure valves, so you can use the valves to adjust the feature.

CN: Would you ever install a new wading pool instead of a splash pad?

JM: We just did one in Dundas Driving Park [in Hamilton]. We installed a wading pool and a splash pad. The system was developed to fill the wading pool in a quarter of the time it used to. The splash pad component combined with the wading pool gave users more play options, and adjacent to the wading pool we installed an outdoor ice rink, which doubles as a concert centre in the summer.

Dundas Driving Park requires a lifeguard, since the wading pool needs to be supervised; however, the system was designed to automatically supply the chemicals to the water, and the water is continuously pumped so that there is no standing water.

07

CN: Do you know of any green initiatives in splash pad design?

JM: I think the green initiative is in the recapturing and re-use of the water. Features that integrate water re-use in a way that is sympathetic to the site can make a better park design both aesthetically and sustainably. Features such as green swales and recharge basins that help to recharge the groundwater table can be quite lovely. Also, as I mentioned before, we are now installing water meters in parks, so the cost of the water is now accounted for, since it’s a municipal supply. This will provide a big incentive for the re-use of water. Every time the splash pad is turned on the dollar signs collect.

We designed a splash pad in Kitchener where we used a well for the water supply; however, about three years after its operation they didn’t want wells any more and they had to bring in a $75,000 water line. So you could use a well, but you would have to make sure the water meets the safety standards. The state of New York is writing new guidelines, which will really influence how we design here.

BIO/ JIM MELVIN, OALA, IS A PARTNER IN THE FIRM PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS. HE HAS BEEN DESIGNING INTERACTIVE SPLASH PADS FOR 15 YEARS, AND HIS SPLASH PADS HAVE WON CITY OF TORONTO AND CITY OF MISSISSAUGA URBAN DESIGN AWARDS. CARL NOVIKOFF IS CURRENTLY STUDYING AT THE ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN WHILE PURSUING A CAREER AND FURTHER STUDIES IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE.

CN: What kind of site and social conditions would merit a wading pool?

JM: A lot of municipalities aren’t building wading pools. There needs to be a recognized program, and staff needs to be involved. In other words, it’s a community park scale element. Splash pads, on the other hand, can be really small and installed in parkettes.

06/

Fallingbrook splash pad, Mississauga.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects

07/

Brampton splash pad by Strybos Barron King Landscape Architects and Spray Play.

IMAGE/

PMA Landscape Architects/Spray Play

Thunder Bay Waterfront

20

.09

01

Thunder Bay Waterfront Drawing water into Thunder Bay TEXT BY CHRIS HARDWICKE

Water runs deep in the Canadian psyche. Many of our communities are located along rivers, lakes, and oceans. These cities, sited originally for shipping and industry, are coming to realize the power of their waterfronts as civic landscapes.

Shipping ports are part of the infrastructure of industrial economies. As cities across North America transform their economic future, utilitarian landscapes are becoming creative landscapes. Disused waterfronts are developing into sustainable places that support liveable communities.

Thunder Bay is reimagining its former working waterfront. Led by Toronto’s BMI/Pace, Prince Arthur’s Landing is the first phase of Thunder Bay’s waterfront transformation.

Thunder Bay owes its existence to the presence of water, and has since been defined by industry and manufacturing—a working landscape of grain elevators, shipping piers, and warehouses. The decline of the port began with the expansion of the Trans-Canada highway, which significantly diminished shipping activity and resulted in the closure of many grain elevators. In the late 1960s an Urban Renewal Plan prompted the conversion of a significant length of the Port Arthur waterfront into a linear park. During the 1970s three of the piers were converted into a marina, but the park continued to be separated from the city by a road and railway corridor.

A series of studies produced through the 1980s and 1990s imagined the comprehensive revitalization of the waterfront. By 1998, community groups were actively seeking change. A study prepared by The Planning Partnership and Moriyama & Teshima Architects and

02

Planners, called The Next Wave—Charting a Course for Thunder Bay’s Waterfront, identified 55 kilometres of waterfront redevelopment potential.

The city commissioned a Highest and Best Use Study for Marina Park in 2005. Produced by O&Y Enterprise Real Estate Services, it called for a concentration of mixed uses including an expanded park and a waterfront village that connected the Port Arthur downtown neighbourhood to the waterfront.

In June 2006, a team led by Brook McIlroy and Pace Architects was chosen to create a master plan to implement the Highest and Best Use Study. BMI/Pace was supported by a consultant team that included Montgomery Sisam Architects, Urban Marketing Collaborative, and Noel Harding Studio. Working with the Waterfront Development Committee, city staff, and local stakeholders, the team developed a document entitled Master Site Plan and Urban Design Guidelines to guide the transition of Prince Arthur’s Landing. Calvin Brook of BMI/Pace was compelled to create a master plan that reinforced the “iconic Canadian landscape” he saw in Thunder Bay. The master plan envisioned a new mixed-use plan that would create a sense of community identity and encourage tourism, recreation, and private investment, concentrated at the foot of Red River Road in downtown Port Arthur.

The Prince Arthur’s Landing scheme is centred on a public space that includes a multi-use market square, pond, and waterfront plaza. The market square overlooks a waterfront plaza and is framed by a new Artisan Market building, a restored historic CN Station, and a new hotel. The square is designed to facilitate a range of uses such as festivals, markets, and parking.

Water is a theme that runs through the master plan. At the foot of Red River Road, a water feature leads into the skating/model boat pond. The pond is located to the west of the Artisan Market and is flanked by a Water Garden Pavilion. The pond overlooks the Lake Channel and out to the waterfront.

Thunder Bay Waterfront

21

.09

05 01/

The Circle Plaza is located at the base of the fabled Red River Road, and serves as the main entrance to the site.

IMAGE/

BMI/Pace

02/

The Viewing Circle at Pier 2 is a landscaped overlook, providing spectacular views to the Sleeping Giant.

IMAGE/

BMI/Pace

03-04/

Prince Arthur's Landing will feature a splash pad during summer months, convertible to a public skating rink in winter months.

IMAGES/

BMI/Pace

05/

The Water Garden Pavilion will be a year-round destination housing a "Marina's Hall" Visitor Centre, a restaurant, and other public activities.

IMAGE/

BMI/Pace

03

04

Water flows through the site toward the semi-circular waterfront plaza at the foot of Pier 2. The large open plaza is sheltered by an alee of trees and looks across the marina to the expansive horizon.

Along the waterfront, other water features include a floating dock, children’s boating pond, a fishing pier, and a naturalized pond.

Looking out from Prince Arthur’s Landing across the bay, the Sleeping Giant, an impressive rock outcrop, rises out of the lake under a vast sky.

The master plan includes a private development component made up of three terraced buildings that face the waterfront. The sevenstorey buildings include a 120-unit boutique hotel and two condominium buildings, each containing 52 units. The development consortium is also renovating the Thunder Bay historic CPR train station into a restaurant and spa/wellness centre, as well as building and operating the Artisan Market building.

The location of the condominiums and hotel within the park land was controversial and publically criticized despite the fact that much of these lands were reclaimed with landfill. Katherine Dugmore, Waterfront Project Manager for Thunder Bay, felt that having people living on the waterfront was essential to the success of the project: “We wanted people living and working in a new waterfront community.” The activities, destination spaces, retail, and housing will help animate the waterfront year round. The series of tight urban squares,

lined with active uses, creates urban rooms that will be comfortable in the winter months. Strict urban design guidelines ensure that views are protected to the waterfront from the city and terracing of the buildings. The condominiums and hotel allow for public access to the waterfront while maintaining private landscape space for the residents.

Approximately four kilometres of additional boardwalk, park, and bike paths span the linear park. To the west of the condominiums, a new, larger marina will be built between a proposed park and cruise ship pier on the historic Saskatchewan Pool 6 grain elevator lands and the Spirit Centre Head, an existing peninsula. The design team worked with First Nation representatives and Métis organizations on the design of the Spirit Garden.

The master plan calls for the reappointment of the existing piers as well as public art, and custom-designed outdoor furniture and lighting. Two piers will be punctuated with a light beacon.

Public art was integrated into the planning process by including Noel Harding, a public art consultant, on the planning team. The plan allocates a generous two percent of the budget for public art funding. BMI has included artists in the design team for components of the landscape design including Rebecca Belmore, a locally born, Anishinaabe-Canadian artist. Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, the former Poet Laureate of Toronto, was engaged to gather texts from local authors for public surfaces and art installations to celebrate the local culture and landscape.

The landscape design is seeking LEED certification, and is using local reclaimed building materials, green roof building materials, and certified forestry products including the concrete pieces from the old grain silos on site.

Katherine Dugmore hopes that the revitalized waterfront will help stabilize the downtown, which is economically challenged and is in a state of transition. The master plan calls for a central pedestrian crossing and one upgraded crossing to help connect the downtown across the road and railway lines that divide the city from its waterfront.

BIO/ CHRIS HARDWICKE IS AN URBAN DESIGNER AND ASSOCIATE AT SWEENY STERLING FINLAYSON & CO ARCHITECTS INC.

Urban Green Streets

22

.09

04 03 TEXT BY MELISSA CATE CHRIST, OALA

Urban Green Streets Green infrastructure in action

The imperative to “build green” is endorsed both by governments and the private sector. Augmenting or bypassing the crumbling networks of centralized “grey” infrastructure such as drains and pipes, a decentralized, distributed network of “green” infrastructure is capturing, detaining, and treating stormwater runoff in municipalities across the U.S. and Canada. A critical component of this fledgling infrastructure is the urban “green street” that mitigates the effect of storm surges on combined sewer overflows (CSO). An ASLA award- winning pilot project in Portland and a proposed streetscape in downtown Washington, D.C., demonstrate a collection of techniques that embed stormwater management into a typical urban streetscape and show the potential benefits of widespread installation of this distributed infrastructure.

Green streets can become one of the sustainable tools that municipalities incorporate into their standard details. A case in point is Portland’s 2007 Green Street Policy, a comprehensive municipal program that defines a Green Street as a “street that uses vegetated facilities to manage stormwater runoff at its source... (to) reduce flows, improve water quality and enhance watershed health.” With more than two dozen pilot projects spread across the greater Portland area, the program utilizes a collection of standard techniques that are then adapted to fit each specific installation and the surrounding context.

01 01-02/

Water is conveyed into the interior street planters in the CityCenterDC project.

IMAGES/

Lee + Papa and Associates

03/

Stormwater planters in Portland.

IMAGE/

Melissa Cate Christ

04/

Reeds capture and filter stormwater runoff.

IMAGE/

Melissa Cate Christ

05/

Stormwater enters from the street through curb cuts covered by custom grates in this Portland project.

IMAGE/

Melissa Cate Christ

02

These installations are most common in low-density residential or commercial areas, but are increasingly being applied to higher density urban situations where combined sewers make capturing, detaining, and treating stormwater runoff urgently necessary.

A pilot project in Portland can serve as an example of a green street system in action.

SW 12th Avenue, Portland, Oregon It was a typical December day in the Northwest, 45˚F with a misty drizzle, when I visited Portland’s SW12th Avenue and the 2006 ASLA award-winning project designed by Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services and maintained in collaboration with Portland State University. I was expecting an innovative, highly visible design, which would stand out as green infrastructure (even without its explanatory signage). I was surprised to find that the much-touted pilot project is a subtle design that blends into its context—a small city where continuous planting strips are common and a variety of evergreen vegetative cover is possible.

Urban Green Streets

23

.09

Composed of four 18’ by 5’ stormwater planters offset from the curb by a 3’ parking egress zone paved with sand set concrete pavers, only a few details differentiate these planters from the typical to all but the trained eye. A 4” raised curb surrounds each planter, with two cuts on the sidewalk side for water to enter. Two cuts on the parking egress side are flanked by 18”-wide concrete forebays inside the planter and 12”-wide decorative grates spanning the egress zone. The ADA-compliant grates connect the planter to the street side curb cut that allows roadway runoff to enter and exit the planters depending on the storm intensity and volume. There is a 12” grade difference between the planter soil level and the sidewalk that allows for rainwater detention. The rushes (Juncens patens) and trees (Nyssa sylvatica) in the planters capture and filter the runoff. The shrubs and groundcovers at each end of the planters mark the pedestrian pass-through to the sidewalk and serve as accent plants along the length of the whole installation.

There was a minimal amount of trash lodged in the winter-ravaged rushes, and one of the grates was damaged, but overall the effect was one of a reasonably well-maintained roadside planting.

Most importantly, it also captures, stores, and treats stormwater at its source.

CityCenterDC, Washington D.C. A Washington, D.C., streetscape in the final stages of permitting and bid documentation has several special conditions that differ from the context of the SW 12th Street planters in Portland. Thus, it is a good test of the adaptability and performance of green street techniques.

CityCenterDC (CCDC) is located on the 10-acre site of the former Convention Center in downtown Washington D.C. The planned project includes eight buildings with green roofs, a park, plaza, pedestrian alleys, and streetscapes for both sides of two newly reconstructed “interior” streets: 10th and I; and one side of four “perimeter” streets: H, 9th, 11th, and New York Avenue. Due to a special relationship between the city and the developer, the streetscape is being built and will be maintained by the developer in collaboration with the city. The opportunity to rebuild the interior streets led Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd., Lee + Papa and Associates and the design team to design two bioretention systems, both of which aim to detain and treat the first flush of stormwater runoff (.75”) before it is released into the combined sewer system. Due to existing utilities and roadway grading, the planters along the perimeter streets only collect water from the sidewalk. On the interior streets, the planters collect water from the sidewalk and from the roadbed through street-side curb cuts.

Once collected in the planter, the water infiltrates through a series of layers (i.e., fine gravel on the surface to ease trash cleanout, a specially formulated bioretention soil mix that stores water for uptake by the plants, small diameter “choker” gravel to catch soil fines, dust, and small particles, then larger diameter “water storage” gravel) before entering a perforated pipe which is connected to the stormwater manholes in the street. Each system complements the traditional stormwater infrastructure—inlets are located downstream from the planters so as to capture any overflow.

Incorporating downtown D.C. streetscape standards into the design was a primary concern. The planters range from the typical

05

4’ x 10’ to 6’ x 15’, and are surrounded on three sides (or four where there is a parking egress zone on the interior streets) by a 12”-high steel fence. These fences not only relate the aesthetic of the new planters to the ones in surrounding neighbourhoods, but in this case they also protect pedestrians from the grade difference between the sidewalk and the planters’ soil level, 14” on the interior streets and 1” on the perimeter streets.

The plant species chosen for all the planters, but especially those on the interior streets, need to tolerate inundation and drought, as well as salt and other pollutants from the sidewalk and roadway.

Spartina patens, a grass native to salt marshes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, will capture and filter the water when it first enters the interior street planters, whereas Myrica cerfiera and Ilex glabra will provide the planters with the structure and formal aesthetic required in this downtown business district.

Although many of the techniques and details used in these planters build off of work in other cities such as Portland, the CCDC streetscape combines and incorporates them on a broader scale and in a dense urban context. Another unique aspect of this streetscape is the continuous biorentention soil trench below grade that connects the planters to each other, increasing soil volume for water storage and nutrient uptake for the trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials along the length of the system.

Seen as a prototype by the designers, these new green streets will be monitored so as to inform and convince the public, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders of their efficacy in dense urban environments. When asked about the challenges that lie ahead, Ben Tauber, of Lee + Papa and Associates, stated that these “systems are by their very nature decentralized… downtown is just one piece…we need to find a way to build all of our public spaces to incorporate these strategies.”

See: http://asla.org/awards/2006/06winners/341.html for more information on the SW 12th Avenue pilot project.

BIO/ MELISSA CATE CHRIST, OALA IS A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT LIVING IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

From Coast to Coast to Coast

.09

From Coast to Coast to Coast A conversation with James Dobbin, OALA

TEXT BY ANDREW B. ANDERSON

Ontario is defined by some of the most spectacular coastlines in the world: from the shores of the St. Lawrence River; the Great Lakes and their innumerable islands, bays and inlets; Heritage Rivers like the Grand, French and Missinaibi; countless smaller lakes and rivers scattered throughout the province like watery legacies of glacial retreat; to the desolately beautiful and often forgotten saline coastlines of James Bay and Hudson Bay. If you’re in Ontario, chances are you’re not very far from water.

James Dobbin, OALA, founding principal of Washington, D.C.based Dobbin International, has carved a niche as the world’s foremost expert in Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) planning. Since establishing his firm in 1976—likely the first firm in the world to specialize in Integrated Coastal Management planning, Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning, and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)—these fields have now become widely recognized. ICM is defined by the Subsidiary Body [to the Convention on Biodiversity] on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), as “... the participatory process for decision making to prevent, control, or mitigate adverse impacts from human activities in the marine and coastal environment, and. . . the restoration of degraded coastal areas.

It involves all stakeholders, including: decision makers in the public and private sectors; resource owners, managers and users; nongovernmental organizations; and the general public.” Something special happens where water and land come together.

With an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from the University of Toronto and following several years of work with Gros Morne National Park and Fathom Five Provincial Park, Dobbin began searching for a university to further develop his research and studies related to ICM planning. He was driven by the thought that perhaps regional ecosystem and land-planning principles

24

could be applied to the land, coast, and oceans. With no university in Canada or the U.S. offering relevant courses, he developed and proposed his own program and applied to Harvard University, combining courses with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

University summers spent working with Conservation Authorities found Dobbin studying and exploring the Trent River from a tourism, recreation, and ecological perspective. After graduation from the University of Toronto, he worked with Richard Strong and Steven Moorhead Limited and, as project manager, developed numerous marine protected area management plans, including a management plan for Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Through working closely with marine biologists and ecologists, the project proposed extending the boundaries of the park offshore to establish a marine protected area parallel to the shoreline. This soon led to the management plan and classification and “marine spatial planning” and zoning of offshore areas.

Eager to further explore how landscape architecture and planning principles could be applied to coastal and offshore planning, Dobbin pursued his master of landscape architecture at Harvard University four years after graduating from the University of Toronto: “I wanted to find out what we could learn from looking at the marine environment from the perspective of a landscape architect and regional land planner, and what could be learned and brought back to working with the land.” Having consulted for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and participated in the first International Conference for Marine Parks in Tokyo, Japan in 1975, Dobbin identified a gap between science and management: “At that time, the approach to marine protected areas was very science based, with very little local consultation, capacity building, or introduction of planning processes to bridge science and management.

There was little consideration given to people.”

Now, thirty years and hundreds of successful projects later in more than a hundred countries, Dobbin International is a global leader in multidisciplinary collaboration. The firm addresses land, coast, and ocean conservation and development issues, including oil, gas, and mineral exploration and development activities and increasing pressures for use of the world’s coastal zones for tourism, urbanization, industrial, and regional development. While the scale of his work may vary, the fundamental planning principles that Dobbin applies to his work remain the same: follow an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach across sectors and at multiple scales; always involve local communities from the very outset of a project; and remain cognizant of biophysical, cultural, political, and socioeconomic context and working across multiple sectors: “Landscape architects bring together knowledge and disciplines across space. Sometimes you need to step back and take in the big picture to see the natural and cultural processes at work. Only then is it possible to understand the specifics.” He emphasizes the importance of working with local people during the planning process. “Once the consulting project is done, local team members become the leaders who are well trained to lead and implement the project.”

From Coast to Coast to Coast

25

.09

The portfolio of work completed by Dobbin and his team covers the globe and includes some of the most significant terrestrial and marine environments on the planet. From Caribbean-wide marine conservation strategies, critical marine habitat studies for walrus management, and sea otter translocation studies in the Bering Sea and western USA coast, to strategic regional planning in Gabon, Mozambique, and the Arctic, he brings an integrated strategic approach to problem solving at every imaginable scale, cautioning that the potential benefits of any project can be skewed by a “single sector viewpoint.”

01

The diversity of Dobbin’s projects is staggering. He has been involved in the production of coastal and marine atlases of all the coasts of the U.S. and Canada; he has prepared management plans for all the original U.S. national marine sanctuaries; he has developed a coherent Environmental Management Program (EMP) strategy for the Mediterranean Basin, a marine conservation strategy for the Caribbean Basin, and management plans for coastal resources in the Arabian Gulf, Egypt, Lebanon, Albania, China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malawi, and Cuba. He has been the Chief Technical Advisor to Cuba since 1991 for the Cuban SabanaCamaguey Ecosystem Global Environment Facility (GEF) project covering a 75,000 km2 watershed, coastal area, and ocean zone established to protect biodiversity and establish sustainable tourism development.

In recent years, the firm has been heavily involved in the strategic spatial development planning for a 125,000 km2 region in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique that encompasses three national parks, 12 districts, three towns, and the entire transboundary coastal zone of Lake Niassa.

02

01/

Coastal lagoon rich in shrimp and fish near Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar.

IMAGE/

James Dobbin

02/

East Africa Swahili coastal dhow offshore from Zanzibar sailing by the offshore sand dunes.

IMAGE/

James Dobbin

03/

One of the seven unusual baobab species found in the Anosy Region in Madagascar.

IMAGE/

James Dobbin

Despite the broad nature of landscape architecture, calling James Dobbin a landscape architect seems too narrow a term.

He speaks with conviction and exudes a quiet confidence, having seemingly perfected the ability to translate complex and messy multi-disciplinary scientific information and knowledge into a form that is logical and easy to understand. On any given day, perhaps the seamless transition of his work between land and water, between people and place, defies definition. Integrated Coastal Planning, Marine Spatial Planning, and Marine Protected Area Planning have become commonly accepted terms and disciplines, while the recent strategic spatial development planning of land, coastline, and oceans conveys new directions. Continuously building on the foundations of knowledge gained from studying landscape architecture, James Dobbin continues to chart new waters while leading by example.

For more information on Dobbin International, please visit www.dobbin.org.

BIO/ ANDREW B. ANDERSON, ROVING REPORTER FOR GROUND, LIVES IN DUBLIN, IRELAND, WHERE HE IS PURSUING A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN WORLD HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN—A SHORT BIKE RIDE AWAY FROM THE ROCKY COASTLINE OF THE IRISH SEA.

03

Cultures of Play

26

.09

TEXT BY CHRISTIE PEARSON

Cultures of Play Wading into water’s delight

I recently went to a public charrette for input on parks in my west-end neighbourhood of Toronto. One of the items that the group raised for discussion was the local wading pool. Is it used? By whom? In our climate, which affords us only about 60 days of wading, do wading pools warrant such a large chunk of the park? I have not seen a new wading pool built in Toronto in my lifetime, but I have seen many wading pools destroyed, filled in with soil, or transformed into a “splash pad,” our era’s standard take on water play.

A splash pad is a wet zone without standing water, where objects can be triggered or programmed mechanically or electronically to spray water. It does not require pool attendants, or the labour of filling and emptying. While spraying is something enjoyable that we can do with water, splash pads reduce the variety of opportunities for water play in comparison to wading pools. What you are really engaging with in the splash pad is an electronic sensor. No doubt, sensors are cool. But playing in a tub of water is perhaps cooler for a wider variety of ages—what we do with it is an exploration requiring our active participation and imagination synchronized with our senses. What I notice about wading pools is how everyone brings their own level of development and interests to the space in a way that nearly precludes boredom. In thinking about water and landscape, I’d like to make an appeal to maintain existing outdoor pools and create more watery spaces for unstructured play in urban environments.

Play does not have a purpose, although purposes and interests become readily attached to the play impulse and then tend to destroy the play spirit. Play has a generative cultural function whose dynamism is maintained through lively participation. When a cultural game becomes stagnant, it suffocates, and so must remain flexible enough to adjust rules that no longer seem vital. One thing I have learned from Dutch cultural theorist Johan Huizinga (in particular, his 1938 book Homo Ludens) is that all environments can be seen as settings for some type of play; another is that the rules of the game must be understood; then, that the rules must be able to shift continually and so the environment must adapt.

The playground as a feature of urban life has a rather brief history.

The dense industrial working class city increasingly made the street the only outdoor play space for children. In the early twentieth century, American social reformers began the charge for people to create spaces expressly for working class children to play in, at the same time as they were pressuring cities to create public baths to get these same children clean. The aims were to alleviate the physical suffering of the poor, and moreover to morally improve a group now seen as a hygienic and social threat to the middle and upper classes. Olmstead’s great American parks arose in this same movement.

These three roots of public playgrounds, baths, and parks are still intertwined in our cities’ recreation spaces, and merge in the children’s wading pool.

Early playground equipment was principally made of steel to be vandal proof above all else, and swings, slides, and monkey bars are

01

Cultures of Play

27

.09

02

ground, designed by Halprin, for example, you can walk in water, stand under a fountain, and climb to its summit. Halprin’s legacy of fountain playgrounds emerges from a less litigious and more sensually optimistic time. The Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London, England, by Kathryn Gustafson (2004) is a fine example of a more contemporary design based on wading for un-programmed play in an abstracted simulation of a river in solid granite. Barefoot children and adults explore its irregular ring-trough of changing section and elevation that speeds up or slows down the flow of the water. Textures beneath your toes transform from smooth to rough to pebbly to stepped.

03

design essays in the mechanical means of production—basically machines for playing in. While the inventive can usually discover the latent possibilities of anything, there is a “right way” to use a slide or a swing.

In the 1960s, the adventure playground movement began to form.

The focus on experience, rejection of authority, the human potential movement, and the attempted reconstruction of certain cultural games all inform the adventure playground. This is more than an unstructured play space: it is a proposition to build and destroy.

Landmark 1960s and 1970s playgrounds, such as Jacob Riis in New York by M. Paul Friedberg, were fixed miniature landscapes of basic elements such as steps, hills, and walls, and appear inspired by Van Eyck and Isamu Noguchi’s provocative playground designs of highly abstracted landscape elements. Lawrence Halprin is part of this wave of 1970s play spaces with a focus on water. In a Seattle play-

The potential for water play is great. I wish that we could explore more seasonal uses for outdoor water play spaces in cold climates.

I wish that we could resist somewhat the fashions of technology and ideology when we come to design spaces for play, grounded in our experiences of water’s sheer delight.

BIO/ CHRISTIE PEARSON IS AN ARTIST, WRITER, AND ARCHITECT AT LEVITT GOODMAN ARCHITECTS IN TORONTO. SHE CO-FOUNDED THE WADE FESTIVAL FOR PERFORMANCE AND INSTALLATION ART IN TORONTO WADING POOLS (WWW.WADETORONTO.CA), URBANVESSEL PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE (WWW.URBANVESSEL.COM), AND THEWAVES (WWW.THEWAVES.CA).

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHRISTIEPEARSON.CA.

01/

Louis Laberge-Cote dancing in Dufferin Grove Park wading pool, Toronto; choreographer Peter Chin.

IMAGE/

Cheryl Rondeau

02/

Projection work on water at night,

by Tony Stallard, in Bellevue Square wading pool, Toronto.

IMAGE/

Cheryl Rondeau

03/

Bellevue Square wading pool, Toronto, where Chrysanne Stathacos has floated rose petals.

IMAGE/

Christie Pearson

Technical Corner

.09

Retrofitting the Suburbs TEXT BY NANCY CHATER, OALA

Remaking stormwater systems

01

02 01/

Warden Woods community, Toronto—typical streetscape condition.

IMAGE/

Schollen & Company Inc.

02/

Proposed "sustainable street" with narrowed pavement, bioswale, and infiltration gallery.

IMAGE/

Schollen & Company Inc.

How do we retrofit low-density industrial sites and suburban neighbourhoods to integrate current best practices for stormwater management? Large suburban residential, commercial, and industrial areas are serviced by aging infrastructure that requires repair or replacement at tremendous cost.

Not only is this infrastructure breaking down physically, but these existing systems were designed based on an outdated approach to stormwater management that focused on conveying runoff as quickly as possible, sending it at uncontrolled rates, and completely unfiltered, into the storm sewer system. Storm pipes discharge directly into the nearest river tributary (in the GTA, primarily the Don, Rouge, and Humber rivers as well as numerous creeks), wreaking havoc by dumping pollution and sediment into natural water systems and destabilizing stream banks, resulting in erosion. Storm sewer systems often combine stormwater runoff with sanitary sewage, resulting in unfiltered overflows during large storm events. A new approach focused on treating runoff at its source takes the pressure off these combined systems, resulting in less frequent overflow situations and, consequently, improvements to downstream health.

According to Mark Schollen, OALA, principal of Schollen & Company Inc. and widely recognised for his expertise in innovative stormwater design, retrofitting vast tracts of the suburban landscape using non-structural stormwater management techniques is one of the biggest and most exciting opportunities for landscape architects today. This area of work has the potential to make radical improvements to water management systems, water quality, aquatic habitat, and overall watershed health.

28

Schollen summarizes the difference between past and present approaches to stormwater management as a paradigm shift; previously, stormwater was viewed as wastewater, now it is recognized as a vital resource. Instead of efficient systems to convey storm water away, we are introducing systems to allow for groundwater recharge and infiltration to occur, which helps to restore the source of water that contributes to base flow rates in streams. These infiltration systems also replenish shallow groundwater stores, nourishing soil and contributing to slope stabilization by supporting vegetation. This riparian vegetation is also critical to sustaining habitat for terrestrial and aquatic species.

The good news, according to Schollen, is that retrofitting the suburbs is doable: “the solutions aren't tricky.” They are also cost effective, partly because they are not intensive in terms of construction and degree of intervention in existing sites.

Several of the systems are low-tech and proven. Techniques such as permeable pavement, infiltration galleries, increased tree canopy cover, expanded vegetated buffers, and pocket detention areas can be installed in a variety of situations without extensive excavation or disturbance to existing storm sewer infrastructure.

Schollen notes that as a by-product of sprawl, municipalities created very large road right-of-ways that are often 20 metres wide, with pavement widths that exceed what is typically required. This situation affords the opportunity to narrow the width of the paved surface and reassign the reclaimed real estate to create open space on the road margins that can accommodate new stormwater management systems that are not only efficient but can be beautiful as well, creating new identities for suburban areas.

Permeable Pavement Comprised of precast unit pavers with voids filled with free-draining aggregate that allow a percentage of surface water to permeate into the ground below, permeable paving materials make immediate sense, allowing for rapid infiltration that can reduce runoff rates to near zero during minor storm events. However, one of the objections often raised is the question of where water

Technical Corner

goes below the paving, especially in areas that are underlain by predominantly clay soils. The need for sub-surface drainage systems tied in to traditional overflows (to the sewers) can become an expense generated by the permeable paving surface.

Schollen counters this by pointing out that natural clay soils in predevelopment situations do have a degree of permeability, it is just slower than more porous soils, such as sand. Infiltrating into clay soils takes more time. “The relationship that’s important is the predevelopment condition compared to the post-development condition.” Even if clay soils allow 180 mm of rainfall per month to infiltrate in the predevelopment condition, this is considerably more than zero, which is the result when a site is covered with impermeable paving.

How do you create the time that infiltrating into clay soil requires? By using infiltration galleries, and designing them to allow for the maximum interface between soil and water. Wide and shallow dimensions of infiltration galleries, for instance, increase contact between water and soil when compared with narrow and deep trenches.

Another approach is to cut out portions of existing pavement to create islands of permeability when the paving sits on naturally sandy soil. By removing just 10 percent of a parking lot and directing runoff into the permeable area, intelligent landscape design can compensate for large expanses of impermeable surfaces.

Infiltration Galleries Similar to a French drain, an infiltration gallery is, at its most basic, an excavated area filled with granular material and lined with geotextile. Water seeps back into the soil around the gallery. But, as Schollen points out, an infiltration gallery is more than a “dumb trench.” It is a purpose designed system, with intake and outflow points to regulate flow rates and attenuation volumes, and to accommodate overflow requirements. The stone-filled trench has an inlet and outlet pipe with a control orifice.

A valve can be used, or a smaller diameter pipe, to slow down the flow. The inlet and outlet methods are passive, not automated.

They need to have some flexibility built in so that they can be adjusted if the flow does not exactly match the calculations that

29

.09

determined the sizing. The idea is that once the orifice is in place, it is left alone, though there does need to be a degree of “tunability” built in because designers are working from models and actual volumes may vary.

One of the key issues is the space infiltration galleries take up. Landscape architects can steal back real estate in wide road right-ofways. There are also issues with utilities below grade competing for space. Schollen typically looks for parks, schoolyards, lanes, and streets as well as other left-over spaces in the public realm. The other challenge is that the infiltration gallery needs to be relatively close to a low point.

Increased Tree Canopy Tree canopy slows down rainfall as it hits the ground. The leaves are a form of interception. Schollen suggests that a general rule to follow is: the more canopy, the better, particularly over impervious surfaces.

Trees set in grass are not as critical as trees that cover impervious surfaces. Like infiltration galleries, trees need space for their roots and for the soil volume they require, along with adequate moisture.

Expanded Buffers Vegetative buffers of layered, native woody and herbaceous plant material protect slopes from erosion from rainwater. Expanded buffers are particularly important in areas built right to the ravine wall and beyond. By extending native plants up to the crest of the ravine slope and beyond, we help to regenerate valley systems. Schollen notes that there are a number of good examples in Toronto’s Don Valley system where expanded buffers and enhanced native plantings have assisted in stabilizing slopes. Unfortunately, there are also many examples where the removal of native vegetation has resulted in slope failure.

Source Controls This refers to capturing water where it lands, close to the source, rather than sending it into the storm sewer. Disconnecting downspouts and letting water spill onto lawns to be absorbed into the ground is an example of source control. While some source control methods are “no brainers,” many places still have roof leaders that are not disconnected and that send rainwater directly into the storm sewer.

Rain gardens are another simple method of source control. By creating a low point with appropriate soil to facilitate infiltration and installing plants that transpire lots of water, such as willow or some poplars, stormwater runoff is significantly reduced.

Stormwater Detention Ponds While these were state-of-the-art from the 1980s until about 2005, the current approach is to focus on source controls, infiltration methods, and Low Impact Development (LID) techniques to minimize reliance on “end-of-pipe” facilities such as stormwater ponds. By employing a comprehensive source control strategy, the size of the traditional end-of-pipe pond can be reduced and in some cases the requirement for a pond can be eliminated. When a pond is located at the end of a system of source control technologies, the pond tends to perform more efficiently and require less maintenance over the long term since it is receiving water that has already been treated within the source control system.

Wave of The Future For Schollen and his firm, retrofitting the suburbs is “a huge opportunity to do some really good work with a significant environmental benefit. There is an opportunity to step in, incorporate smart growth planning, and allow some imagination to take hold. All this real estate could be made more efficient and retain its purpose while also being renewed to be a model of efficiency and sustainability.”

BIO/ NANCY CHATER, OALA, IS THE GROUND TECHNICAL CORNER COLUMNIST.

Notes

30

.09

Notes: A Miscellany of News and Events

water

new members

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) is launching a new professional course on integrated water management principles and technologies to be introduced in June 1, 2010, at its Regional Green Roof and Wall Conference in Washington, D.C. “Our future ability to retain the many positive benefits of vegetation in cities will hinge directly upon the wise use of our water resources in an increasing number of markets,” said Steven W. Peck, Founder and President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. “This expert committee will apply integrated design and management principles and technologies to the issues of water shortage and urban greening,” he added. For more information, visit www.greenroofs.org.

The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects is proud to recognize and welcome the following new full members to the association.

symposium

pollination

A national symposium on the exemplary work and ideas of established and emerging Canadian landscape architects was recently held in Toronto. Sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation and the OALA, and organized by University of Toronto professor Alissa North (Landscape Architect Intern), the event included speakers who were invited to present their projects over the last decade and discuss a Canadian-specific trajectory.

A course offered by the University of Guelph Arboretum will provide an introduction to the world of pollination and pollinators. Learn how to identify major groups of pollinators and then conduct field observations using Pollination Canada’s citizen-science program.

Explore the Arboretum to find pollinatorfriendly plants, and discuss ways that you can help stop the decline of pollinator populations. For information, visit www.uoguelph.ca/arboretum.

Of particular highlight were those specializing in the design and planning of heritage Native landscapes: Aarluk Consulting out of Iqaluit and Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram out of Winnipeg. The panel discussion that followed the presentations of seasoned Ontario practitioners was enlightening and focused on the role of design competitions. The final panel consisted of emerging designers from across Canada, from Toronto to Montreal to the east coast.

01/

Michael Hough receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Green Building Council.

IMAGE/

World Green Building Council

02/

Margery Winkler

IMAGE/

Margery Winkler family

For a full list of speakers, go to http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/events/ symposia/2009/11/4975.

Richard Archibald * Jeffrey Briggs Darlene Broderick * Gerald Dieleman * Joseph Fry Britta Hild * Michelle Lazar * Stacia Stempski April Szeto * Asterisk (*) denotes a Full Member not having custody and use of the Association seal.

Notes

31

.09

biodiversity

01

awards

The United Nations has proclaimed 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, marking a unique opportunity to increase our common understanding of the vital role that biodiversity plays in sustaining life on earth.

May 22nd is the International Day for Biodiversity, and the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa will mark this milestone date with its own milestone: the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the construction of its historic building. For more information, please visit the Canadian Biodiversity Information Network (www.cbin.ec.gc.ca), the Convention on Biological Diversity (www.cbd.int), the International Year of Biodiversity (www.cbd.int/2010/welcome), or the Canadian Museum of Nature (www.nature.ca).

The World Green Building Council presented their 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award to Michael Hough, OALA. Hough was presented with this award on September 23, 2009, at a special ceremony following the World Green Building Council Leaders Summit in Toronto. The award ceremony took place at the Canadian National Exhibition’s (CNE) Heritage Courtyard Building.

Michael Hough is the first landscape architect to have received this award.

02

preservation

in memoriam

The Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation’s upcoming conference is on the theme “Enchanted Landscapes: Exploring Cultural Traditions and Values.”

The event takes place April 21 to 24, 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information, see www.ahlp.org.

Margery Winkler, OALA Professor in the Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University An Appreciation by Sue Macaulay and colleagues Margery Winkler died of cancer in December 2009. Margery was a wonderful mother to Ali, Michael, and Jackie, and the wife of Vladimir. Margery joined Ryerson in the late 1970s and it seems we have known her forever. We taught together, ate together, and celebrated together the development of our students into competent profes-

sionals. Without show or rhetoric, Margery seemed to be a promoter of better things: ideas, methods, and the enhancement of the landscape architecture program at Ryerson. She made us think, and she made us laugh. Margery gave her all to her academic endeavours—her boundless energy, her creative ideas, and her willingness to help. Her infectious spirit was pervasive in the design studios and lecture halls. In reading cards of condolence, many from colleagues and students, it is evident that her kind, gentle, and respectful way, and her readiness to both listen and give guidance, was greatly appreciated and will be fondly remembered.

Wherever there was a need, Margery responded to it. She had a special interest and success in connecting Ryerson to the larger community; a schoolyard became an oasis of green, a middle school now has an engaging entrance where students gather.

Recently, Margery was part of an esteemed jury of seven who selected the winner for Toronto’s new June Callwood Park, in memory of June Callwood, a Toronto community activist and humanitarian. Some of the primary concepts of the winning entry are “community engagement,” “ecological responsibility,” and “timeless themes of human play”—ideas that Margery espoused.

This past year, Margery masterfully developed and directed the RU GREEN Student/Alumni Sustainable Open Space Design Competition for the Ryerson campus. This competition was an opportunity for young designers to create a dynamic, sustainable, multi-functional urban open space. Beyond her work at Ryerson, Margery was the core and inspiration for her close and loving family. We will remember her as a colleague, for her friendship and her bravery.

Artifact

42

.09

Molar Bears 01

More than ten years ago, sculptures appeared in Toronto’s Don Valley. Motorists speeding down the D.V.P., twisting and turning along with the river, hugging the valley slopes, can’t help but notice these blocky, almost comical shapes. Some liken them to molars; others to bears or elephants. “Molar Bears” sounds about right. Some embrace them as a striking addition; others consider them odd and out of place.

pods were soon crowded with invasive exotics. Vandals couldn’t resist the clean white canvas on which to make their graffiti marks; the ground around the sculptures became scarred with the evidence of frequent bonfires.

Called Elevated Wetlands and designed by artist Noel Harding, the sculptures pump water from the Don into vegetated pods that were originally intended to function like wetlands but over time have evolved into dry meadows. Much like the Don Valley, the

WITH THANKS TO CARL NOVIKOFF FOR RESEARCH.

But also like the valley, the “Molar Bears” have survived the indignities. They stand, both gateway and guard, inviting comment, interaction, a smile, a lament.

01/

Noel Harding's Elevated Wetlands project, in Toronto's Don Valley.

IMAGE/

Casey Morris