Ground 10 – Summer 2010 – Awards Issue

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AWARDS ISSUE

Landscape Architect Quarterly 08/

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Features CSLA Awards OALA Awards Round Table The Sky’s the Limit Summer 2010 Issue 10

Publication # 40026106

Letters

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Letters to the Editor

Past President’s Message

I enjoyed reading the last issue [Ground 09] about water and especially the articles on retrofitting the suburbs and splash pads.

It amazes me how many low-tech, smart, and sustainable ideas are out there to make our cities better places to live—and, what’s more, they’re affordable. The overview piece on splash pads was not only fascinating, it was fun to read and entertaining. Certainly made me wish that I was young enough now to enjoy these clever and joyful water features going into some of our parks.

Here’s to more smart stuff and fun design like the kind you’re showcasing in your magazine.

The OALA is once again proud to showcase the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Excellence—Ontario Region Awards. The CSLA annual awards program recognizes excellence in landscape architecture in categories of design, planning and analysis, research, communications, landscape management, new directions, and residential design. This year, Ontario recipients were recognized at both the national and regional levels.

The wide range of projects honoured is indicative of the broad reach landscape architecture has in our society.

JANE FARROW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR—JANE'S WALK

It was my distinct honour and pleasure to present these CSLA Awards of Excellence—Ontario Region Awards and the OALA Recognition Awards at the OALA Annual General Meeting held on June 5, 2010, at the newly renovated Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

Allow me to mention a resource that would have fit in well with the recent issue focused on Water (Ground 09). This resource (multiple resources, in fact) is supplied by Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA): http://www.creditvalleyca.ca/sustainability/lid/ stormwaterguidance/index.html.

The part I would draw immediate attention to is the Low Impact Development Stormwater Management Planning and Design Guide. This document is a free download and it weighs in with 300 pages of solid information. The guide gives an extensive exploration of numerous concepts, including some of those covered in the water issue of Ground. Take the concept of bioretention, for example. Section 2 gives a clear and simple definition; Section 4 follows with a lengthy discussion, lots of typical details, and plant lists for implementation.

Furthermore, this is intended to be a living document that gets refined and updated as technologies are tested and lessons are learned from applications on the ground. (For those who want to contribute to future editions, contact Rob Lukes at rlukes@creditvalleyca.ca.) I’m not trying to sell this thing— it is free—but you may want to download it more than once.

Do one better, and add your input to the next edition.

RYAN JAMES BLA, OALA PETERBOROUGH

Erratum In Ground 09, on page 20, in the article “Thunder Bay Waterfront,” MSAi Architects should have been acknowledged as part of the consultant team led by BMI/Pace, in place of Montgomery Sisam Architects.

I am proud to announce that the OALA 2010 Recognition Award recipients are: George Dark, OALA Pinnacle Award for Landscape Architectural Excellence; Arnis Budrevics, OALA President’s Award; Doug Fountain, David Erb Memorial Award; Rideau Waterway Land Trust, OALA Award for Service to the Environment; ESRI Canada Limited, OALA Certificate of Merit for Service to the Environment; Martha Lush, OALA Carl Borgstrom Award for Service to the Environment; Nelson Edwards, Kelly Pender, Janet Ward, OALA Public Practice Award; Raymond Moriyama, OALA Honorary Member Award; Ross Stephen, OALA Emeritus Member.

My congratulations to all recipients for their well-deserved honours. (See page 20 to 23 for details.)

This is my last Ground message as my term as President has drawn to an end. I am pleased to introduce Glenn O’Connor as your new OALA President. It has been my honour and privilege to have served the membership of the OALA. I thank everyone, especially the councillors and staff, for their support. Being President has been a most rewarding experience that has allowed me to see the association and the profession from a new perspective. I have witnessed a revitalized OALA and feel the pride and enthusiasm in the membership. I thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

LAWRENCE STASIUK, OALA OALA PAST PRESIDENT

Up Front

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Up Front

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Green roofs that are properly designed, built, and maintained do not create an excessive fire risk (Weiler and ScholzBarth, 2009). Succulent plants, such as sedums, and the mineral substrate portion of the growing medium, blended to German FLL Guidelines, are resistant to fire. Vegetation-free zones—firebreaks— in the form of one-metre-wide areas of crushed stone or pavers should occur at all points of roof penetration and parapets.

Vegetation-free zones should also be interspersed as maintenance or access paths at a maximum of 40-metre intervals.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently published ANSI/SPRI VF-1 External Fire Design Standard for Vegetative Roofs, which touches on maintenance as a means to sustain green roof systems.

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fires on purpose

Up Front: Information on the Ground

Throughout North America, prescribed burns are being used as a management tool in prairies and savannas to preserve and restore these endangered habitats.

Issues associated with the use of fire as a management tool include smoke management, air quality, public health and safety, liability, and public education.

Weed suppression, removal of leaf litter, and soil warming are some of the effects of a prescribed burn. Regular burns in rural and urban areas are conducted by trained professionals and volunteers.

With the quantity and area of extensive and intensive green roofs increasing in North America, prescribed burning is being explored as a management tool for green roofs, particularly those that include native prairie grasses and wildflowers.

Prescribed burns can be used to substitute for cutting/mowing and removal of biomass.

Green roofs have been successfully designed to be burned. The Ducks Unlimited Canada headquarters at Oak Hammock Marsh in Manitoba, which opened in 1993, is one example of a green roof that has used fire as a management tool. The award-winning interpretive centre was designed to blend into the surrounding wetland and have a low visual impact from a bird’s eye view.

Almost all of the building’s 2,620-squaremetre roof is planted with native prairie wildflowers and grasses, with an additional 490 square metres being used as public observation decks.

Prescribed burns are conducted on the upper green roof every five to seven years to control weeds and shrubs and enhance the quality of prairie grasses. The roof includes sixteen inches of growing medium and a wire mesh for rodent control.

The medium is comprised of one-third native clay and black loam, one-third native peat, and one-third imported sandy loam. In 1999, the roof was reconstructed with a heat-sealed membrane.

The challenges of burning the roof at the Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre include: the burning must be done by experts; the centre needs to notify its insurance company, the fire department, and 911; nesting birds can’t be disturbed; and staff need to be notified to turn off any air handlers. Since the most recent burn in

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2009, the plants are doing well and there is a lot less organic matter on the roof. The centre’s insurance rates have not increased as a result of the burns.

Burning has done a good job at controlling/managing the rooftop prairie— indeed, better than mowing. (It is difficult to get a mower onto the roof, and the grass clippings would need to be removed from the roof.)

As Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre’s Resident Naturalist Paula Grieef puts it, “It’s not a ‘flick-the-match’ kind of thing.” Rather, the recent (2009) burn, the third done on site, was a four-hour process involving professionals controlling every detail. “It’s not like a wild fire,” says Grieef. “The flames are low, and we use backburns so they don’t get high.”

Even so, she admits that “it’s pretty neat to be setting your green roof on fire!

To hear the sound, see the smoke, and 2- to 3-foot flames…”

As the Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre has shown, given the right design choices and rooftop conditions it is possible to burn green roofs with certified contractors and vendors.

TEXT BY CHRISTOPHER J. CANNING, OALA, A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AT CANNING GREENWORKS.

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The Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre’s green roof has been burned three times as part of the man agement strategy.

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Tye Gregg, Ducks Unlimited Canada

Up Front

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PUBLIC SPACE

revitalizing leftovers Eight years ago I was inspired to become a landscape architect. This change of career path was prompted less by my love of gardening and my appreciation of the natural environment than by my relocation to Brooklyn, N.Y. The neighbourhood I moved to, DUMBO (an acronym for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”), had a certain beauty with its remnant cobblestone streets, large industrial warehouses, and proximity to the East River, but it also bore a harshness and sense of isolation due primarily to its location— squeezed between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges and all but physically cut off from the rest of the borough by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE).

The neighbourhood had long been an important link between the port in the Brooklyn Harbour and the downtown commercial districts. The completion of the BQE in the early 1960s mostly severed that connection, leaving a vast stretch of concrete underpass between DUMBO and the rest of the borough. Houses and store-lined streets that were levelled during construction were replaced with large housing projects that deepened the chasm.

The industrial growth in North American cities, in full swing by the mid 1950s, brought with it a steady influx of vehicles to facilitate the movement of goods and people. Often located on the waterfront, in close proximity to port shipping facilities, these factories and warehouses brought a steady flow of workers and trucks through the downtown street grid. As a means of controlling the growing congestion in the city streets and to streamline the movement of goods over land, major infrastructural construction was undertaken. Developed as post-war urban renewal projects, these expressways also served as major arterial routes moving people out of the inner city and into the suburbs.

Unfortunately, these new expressways often created a blighted residual landscape that left some communities isolated from the rest of the urban fabric. Low light levels, elevated noise contamination, and salt spray from the elevated roadways were all by-products of these new roads and created inhos-

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pitable spaces where vegetation had difficulty taking root. Expansive spaces under the on- and off-ramps formed dead zones that scar the urban landscape to this day.

In addition to the aesthetic degradation of the surroundings, these dead zones often created unsafe environments that resulted in a further dilapidation of the area.

When I arrived in DUMBO in late 2002, the neighbourhood had begun to see a resurgence with the influx of artists, galleries, and furniture shops into the warehouse buildings that remained and the construction of the first installation of what is now called the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Sited on an abandoned pier on the waterfront, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the park attracted local residents hungry for outdoor gathering spaces but also drew in people from Manhattan and other boroughs. Outdoor screenings of Brooklynfilmed movies and arts festivals drew in enormous crowds and, as the park expanded incrementally along the waterfront, public interest continued to grow.

I quickly realized what an enormous function the first patch of green space had in the revitalization of DUMBO and adjacent communities, and I became acutely aware of the role that landscape design had in making these spaces so effective.

Strategic design decisions providing framed views, open gathering spaces, and key intervals of hardy planting maximized the potential of these raw leftover spaces and allowed the park to hold its own against a backdrop of the massive infrastructural underpinnings of the bridges and expressway.

Fast-forward eight years and I am living in Toronto and preparing a move to a neighbourhood called Corktown, an area of the city that holds a similar tale to DUMBO in its historical connection to the manufacturing trades and its severance from surrounding land by the construction of the Gardiner Expressway (1955-64) and the Don Valley Parkway (1960-66). Corktown, and the surrounding area, also suffered a decline in the years following the construction of the expressways as the ramps connecting the east end produced inhospitable expanses of raw infrastructure.

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But there is change on the horizon, with the construction of the first of several planned parks for the area about to begin.

Underpass Park will be developed under and around the Eastern Avenue and Richmond/Adelaide overpasses, occupying 1.05 hectares of unused land between Cherry Street and Bayview Avenue. The park, described as the “most extensive park to be built under an overpass in Canada,” has the potential to diminish the obstacles between neighbourhoods and provide much needed gathering spaces, recreational facilities, and areas for public art and community gardens. Underpass Park will also provide a crucial connection to other parks being developed in adjacent underused spaces such as Don River Park, the Lower Donlands, and Sherbourne Park. The resulting open space system, which includes the ongoing revitalization of the Don River, will allow a renewed pedestrian tie to Lake Ontario.

New public spaces are being planned for leftover land in the west end of Toronto as well, with plans currently under way to develop open space under the Gardiner Expressway near Fort York. Farther west,

the new West Toronto Rail Path takes advantage of an abandoned rail line to create a multiuse transportation network for bicycles and pedestrians while also providing strategic connections for bordering neighbourhoods that had formerly been isolated by the railroad.

The retreat of the industrial tide in North American cities presents a new frontier for urban park development. Now with a renewed interest in city living and the simultaneous decline in factories and manufacturing in the downtown core, people are re-inhabiting the former industrial neighbourhoods that spread out from the waterfront. Transforming leftover spaces occupied by industrial infrastructure is a key step in revitalizing these neighbourhoods by creating healthy and safe places for the public to gather.

TEXT BY ANDREA MANTIN, WHO WORKS FOR THE FIRM GH3 IN TORONTO.

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Underpass Park, Toronto

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Courtesy Waterfront Toronto

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Sherbourne Park, Toronto

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Courtesy Waterfront Toronto

CSLA Awards

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CSLA Awards

CANADIAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE— ONTARIO REGION

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The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Excellence are given for outstanding accomplishment in landscape architecture. Congratulations to the following Regional Award winners.

Crothers Woods Trail Management Strategy, Toronto

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Courtesy CSLA

CSLA Regional Honour Award: __ Project Name: Crothers Woods Trail Management Strategy, Toronto __ Organization: City of Toronto __ Project Manager: Garth Armour __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: (Co-applicant) David Leinster, The Planning Partnership __ Category: Landscape Management The Crothers Woods Trail Management Strategy is a landscape management initiative undertaken by the City of Toronto and The Planning Partnership. The strategy outlines a program to protect important natural heritage features of an urban natural area park while balancing the recreational needs of park users.

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Crothers Woods is a 52-hectare maplebeech-oak woodland which features rare plant species of the Carolinian forest system located near downtown Toronto.

A long history of informal trails used by a range of groups has impacted and degraded the natural environment.

Development of the strategy brought together stakeholders with varying opinions and requirements for land use and found a balance between use and protection of the natural environment.

Implementation of the recommendations from the strategy has created a sense of place in one of the few remaining natural areas in Toronto and re-introduced the lost art of building natural surface trails.

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CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Merit Award: __ Project Name: Rees and Simcoe WaveDecks, Toronto __ Organization: WEST 8 + DTAH Joint Venture __ Project Manager: Adam Nicklin __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Adriaan Geuze, John Hillier: Partners in Charge Mark Ryan, Adam Nicklin: Project Managers Tanya Brown, Juan Figueroa: Project Designers __ Category: Design

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Rees and Simcoe WaveDecks, Toronto

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Courtesy CSLA

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Rees and Simcoe WaveDecks are part of a series of timber structures projecting over the water in playful undulations, creating new public space along Toronto’s waterfront. The robust timber structures are built to resist the harsh marine environment, while offering an engaging new experience of the water’s edge.

Rees WaveDeck is a contemplative space which gracefully bows down to the lake. The deck is fully accessible, with no slopes steeper than 5 percent. The amphitheatre-like steps can be used as a passive sitting place or as an active learning space and canoe launch for summer camps or the nearby sailing school.

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Simcoe WaveDeck is an exuberant intersection between the lake and the city. The large open space can serve as an informal gathering space or as a performance space for buskers, while the two large swells can be explored and conquered by adventurous users.

The deck is accessible from all sides, including a large barrier-free zone at the east side.

Through the innovative use of materials and structure, the WaveDecks have been designed to be durable yet playful, enhancing the experience at the water’s edge and contributing to the public realm.

CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Merit Award: __ Project Name: Markham Environmental Policy Review __ Organization: Schollen & Company Inc. __ Project Manager: Mark Schollen __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Mark Schollen—Principal, Project Manager, Senior Landscape Architect Bob Jiang—Landscape Architect Wendy Wong—Document Production __ Category: Planning & Analysis The goal of this project was to generate an overall vision for a town-wide natural heritage system comprised not only of existing features, but incorporating proposed core areas and corridors. The proposed natural heritage network will be the foundation for the town’s future growthmanagement strategy.

The Town of Markham Environmental Policy Review and Consolidation (EPRC) project establishes a new standard for natural heritage systems planning in Ontario. It sets out a clear vision for the creation of a comprehensive natural heritage network (NHN) that is comprised of existing features and functions as well as additional lands that are necessary to ensure the function, biodiversity, and integrity of the NHN in anticipation of the impacts of future urbanization. Extensive consultation with landowners, policy makers, and the community-atlarge was essential to ensure that the final EPRC recommendations were founded on consensus and could be supported by the Town of Markham.

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Markham Environmental Policy Review

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Courtesy CSLA

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CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Merit Award: __ Project Name: Don River Watershed Regeneration Concept Sites __ Organization: Schollen & Company Inc. __ Project Manager: Mark Schollen __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Mark Schollen—Principal, Project Manager, Senior Landscape Architect Kevin Yang—Landscape Technologist/Graphics __ Category: New Directions

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Don River Watershed Regeneration Concept Sites

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Courtesy CSLA

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This project entailed developing demonstration concept plans aimed at retrofitting sites located within various sub-watersheds of the Don River to achieve sustainability objectives. The concept plans explored a range of techniques to improve water quality, enhance water balance, encourage multimodal transportation, and achieve energy conservation, water conservation, and natural heritage enhancement objectives.

CSLA Awards

CSLA Regional Merit Award: __ Project Name: Peggy’s Wood and Surrounding Area Management Plan, Newmarket __ Organization: Schollen & Company Inc. __ Project Manager: Mark Schollen __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Mark Schollen—Principal, Project Manager, Senior Landscape Architect Markus Hillar—Landscape Architect __ Category: Landscape Management

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The Peggy’s Wood and Surrounding Area Management Plan provides an “environment first” approach to guide the management, protection, and enhancement of 83 hectares of regionally significant woodland within the Town of Newmarket, Ontario. Situated within a rapidly growing

The successful implementation of management actions in part will rely on an educational strategy and stewardship principles developed as part of the management plan. The maintenance/monitoring of initiatives over the coming decades will ensure that Peggy’s Wood continues to be a significant ecological and recreational resource within York Region.

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urban centre, the woodlot and surrounding area require a comprehensive approach to environmental and use management with a focus on ensuring Peggy’s Wood remains a thriving and diverse ecological system. The plan includes a comprehensive multi-nodal trail system that will become the centrepiece of the emerging community.

A network of recreational walking paths, low-impact nature trails, and commuter cycling routes will link residential neighbourhoods across the woodland valley, providing a multi-nodal transportation network designed to reduce reliance on the private automobile.

The project examined the potential to retrofit five sites, each of which exists as an archetypal landscape within the GTA. The project explored the potential to apply Low Impact Development (L.I.D.) and green building techniques to achieve stormwater management, water balance, natural heritage, energy conservation, and social objectives.

It is the intent of the TRCA to implement the concept site designs as pilot demonstration projects as a catalyst to encourage municipalities, developers, and landowners to adopt the application of L.I.D. technologies.

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Peggy’s Wood and Surrounding Area Management Plan, Newmarket

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Courtesy CSLA

CSLA Awards

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CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Bill Crothers Secondary School, Markham __ Organization: Schollen & Company Inc. __ Project Manager: Mark Schollen __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Mark Schollen—Principal, Project Manager, Senior Landscape Architect Henry Veenhoven, Senior Landscape Architect __ Category: Design Bill Crothers Secondary School was developed with the goal of integrating the school as an environmental amenity along a corridor of the Rouge River in Markham.

The design for the school incorporates a suite of innovative Low Impact Development techniques to manage stormwater, conserve resources, and enhance natural heritage.

The Bill Crothers Secondary School project represents the successful integration of state-of-the-art Low Impact Development techniques into the design of a school and premier sports and recreation facility. The site, formerly a golf course, is partially situ-

ated within the floodplain of the Rouge River. Consequently, the grading design required careful articulation of flood elevations at various storm events with the objective of enhancing flood conveyance capacity. The stormwater management strategy achieves total on-site quantity and quality enhancement for the site as well as 2 hectares of external drainage area utilizing a combination of landscapebased and structural solutions. The stormwater management strategy also achieves a pre- to post-development water balance. Innovative stormwater management solutions employed at the site include biofilters, and 1875 m3 rainwater storage and recycling system, constructed wetlands, vegetated swales, and a polishing wetland. The servicing strategy is completely devoid of conventional catchbasins and stormsewer systems, relying wholly on infiltration and filtration “biofilters” to attenuate, infiltrate, and cleanse stormwater runoff. The landscape plan utilizes predominately native plant material that complements the species composition of the Rouge River corridor.

The project is pursuing LEED gold certification with the landscape-based components contributing significantly to the effort.

The project is regarded as one of the premier Low Impact Development demonstration sites in TRCA’s jurisdiction and has been utilized by the TRCA as a Low Impact Development demonstration site.

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Bill Crothers Secondary School, Markham

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Courtesy CSLA

CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Brampton Valleys Re-naturalization Planting Program 2003-2012 __ Organization: The Corporation of the City of Brampton __ Project Manager: Karl Walsh, Director, Community Design, Parks Planning and Development __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Steve Dewdney, Manager, Open Space Design and Construction, City of Brampton Steve Bodrug, Capital Supervisor, City of Brampton Werner Kuemmling, Design Lead, Landscape Architect, City of Brampton __ Category: Landscape Management The Brampton Valleys Re-naturalization Planting Project 2003-2012 is a city-wide, comprehensive, 10-year-long planting restoration program that is re-naturalizing 160 hectares of the city’s valley lands with

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24,000 native trees, 200,000 shrubs and 100,000 perennials. It is one of the largest and most intensive re-naturalization planting programs in Ontario.

Brampton’s landscape has been largely depleted of native forests and other vegetation due to 150 years of agricultural practices and development activities. By the 1940s, the city had only 6 percent remaining natural vegetation cover.

The program focuses on the Credit River/Fletcher’s Creek watershed in the western part of the municipality and the extensive West Humber River watershed in the east.

The social benefits of the re-naturalization program are also significant. The plantings, combined with the City’s extensive pathway systems, attract local residents and visitors from adjacent communities, thus promoting Brampton’s valley systems as destinations.

This program also encouraged conservation and community groups, such as Scouts Canada and the Credit River Anglers, to undertake additional enhancement plantings. Lastly, it contributes to long-term carbon sequestering necessary to create a healthy environment.

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Brampton Valley Re-naturalization Planting Program 2003-2012

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Courtesy CSLA

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CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Landscape Visual Assessment Report, Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project __ Organization: Joint Submission—Todhunter Associates and Hydro One Environmental Services and Approvals __ Project Manager: Rodger Todhunter __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Rodger Todhunter, Principal, Todhunter Associates Paul Shelton, Landscape Architect, Environmental Services and Approvals, Hydro One __ Category: Planning & Analysis

CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Southbrook Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake __ Organization: DTAH (du Toit Allsopp Hillier) __ Project Manager: Ayako Kitta __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: John Hillier: Partner in Charge __ Category: Design

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Southbrook Vineyards in Niagara-on-theLake is a LEED Gold, certified organic winery in the Niagara region. The biodynamic operation includes a retail and dining pavilion as well as production facilities.

The composition places contemporary gardens and built form seamlessly within the heart of the vineyard.

The Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project involves construction of 180 kilometres of transmission line from Bruce Nuclear Complex on Lake Huron to the Greater Toronto Area. Visual assessment techniques and the effective communication of potential negative impacts were influential in determining transmission route refinements and alternatives along with suitable mitigation measures.

The “Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project, Landscape Visual Assessment Report” was prepared for EA approval from the Minister of the Environment under Ontario’s Environmental Assessment Act.

The landscape design is completely deferential to its setting. Arrival, parking, and strolling to the entry provides a sequence of panoramic vantage points of the pavilion within its simple, delineated landscape. The pavilion forecourt is partitioned by a reflecting pool and a bioswale which in turn are traversed by contrasting access drives and walks. Once through the massive wall entry portal, the glazed pavilion rooms and terraces sit within or extend into the vineyard beyond.

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For too long visual parameters have been overlooked in the environmental planning process in Ontario and across Canada. The proactive intervention of landscape architects in the environmental planning process and the weighing of visual factors in determining route alternatives, refinements, and mitigation measures was critical to the success of gaining senior government-level approvals in this important green energy initiative.

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This project is significant to the profession because the work of landscape architects was critical in both shaping and changing the nature of the undertaking. They were instrumental in determining route refinements, through the use of a variety of visual simulation techniques, from the initial route planning stage. These route refinements avoided visual clutter of lines in the Town of Hanover and reduced impacts on significant areas along the route.

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Landscape Visual Assessment Report, Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project

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Courtesy CSLA

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As a biodynamic facility, organic principles of soil enrichment and pest control were anticipated and observed. Sheep tend to the vineyard “weeding” while also lending a pastoral charm to the bucolic stage.

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Southbrook Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake

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Courtesy CSLA

CSLA Awards

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CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Sandy Hill Flood Control and Park Rehabilitation __ Organization: Stantec/Chantal Gaudet L.A. __ Project Manager: Adrien Comeau __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Chantel Gaudet, Stantec/Landscape Architect Adrien Comeau, Stantec/Project Manager Brett Byce, Stantec/Design Coordinator Stéphane D’Aoust, Stantec/Designer __ Category: New Directions Following a major stormwater management intervention, the City of Ottawa engaged Stantec to redesign a vital community park in the established neighbourhood of Sandy Hill. Stantec’s innovative solution resulted in a beautiful, imaginative, and functional transformation of this public space that offers flood protection while revitalizing the community.

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CSLA Regional Citation Award: __ Project Name: Canadian Veterans’ Memorial—Legislative Grounds, Toronto __ Organization: Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg __ Project Manager: Greg Smallenberg __ Project Landscape Architects, Designers, Technicians: Greg Smallenberg, Principal-in-Charge with Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg Jennifer Nagai, Senior Project Landscape Architect with Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg David Leinster, Project Coordinator with The Planning Partnership Michael Tocher, Senior Landscape Architect/Clerk of Works with The Planning Partnership Allan Harding Mackay, Artist __ Category: Design

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Sandy Hill Flood Control and Park Rehabilitation

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Courtesy CSLA

The completed work commemorates events in Canadian military history from the beginning of Confederation to the present time.

Led by Canadian landscape architects, in collaboration with a well-known Canadian artist, it is the first commemorative work to be commissioned for the grounds of the Ontario legislature in more than 75 years.

Imperceptible to the public, an underground tank provides the first line of defense when the sewer system becomes overloaded.

Although integrating the facilities changed the park layout, Stantec’s creative redesign of the park maintained and even enhanced its recreational opportunities. The stormwater management pond, which sits above the underground storage tank and is 1 metre below the surrounding pathways in the centre of the park, can be utilized as a multisports field in the summer and an ice rink in the winter.

Sandy Hill Park has traditionally served as a community hub for residents to enjoy recreational activities and social events. The site features a popular community centre, sports field, winter rink, wading pool, children’s play area, and casual open spaces.

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Canadian Veterans’ Memorial—Legislative Grounds, Toronto

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Courtesy CSLA

The Canadian Veterans’ Memorial is an important project for this country and for Canadian landscape architecture.

Landscape architects took on the challenge and responsibility of designing and delivering a contemporary memorial of national significance for an historic, iconic, and highly sensitive Canadian landscape. The incorporation of simple forms and geometries, very specific and intentional material selections, exquisite detailing, and an overlay of powerful imagery have resulted in a memorial that, on one hand, speaks proudly of Canadian military and peacekeeping efforts throughout the world, while on the other speaks softly of the Canadian soul.

OALA Awards

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OALA Awards

DAVID ERB MEMORIAL AWARD:

Doug Fountain, OALA This award is named after David Erb, who was an outstanding volunteer in furthering the goals of the OALA, and his example set a truly high standard. The award is the best way to acknowledge the one outstanding OALA member each year whose volunteer contributions over a number of years have made a real difference.

2010 OALA AWARDS

Doug Fountain has been a cornerstone to landscape architecture in the Ottawa region, and beyond, for 12 years, not only as a volunteer with the OALA and its Eastern Ontario Chapter but with grassroots community groups as well. Doug has given his time to the OALA as a PDP Reviewer and Proctor, and was instrumental in the planning and delivery of a successful 2000 CSLA conference in Ottawa.

The 2010 OALA Recognition Awards were presented in June during the OALA’s Annual General Meeting in Ottawa. Congratulations to all those honoured with awards, and a special thanks to the Honours, Awards and Protocol Committee: Nelson Edwards, Jim Melvin, Jane Welsh, and the Chair of the Committee, Arnis Budrevics.

In the community, Doug has taken the lead in developing strategies and implementing solutions when issues have arisen. A recent example is the formidable work on the research concerning sensitive marine clay soils and the restrictive approach to managing these in urban development lands.

Doug has assisted community groups with an initiative to develop community vegetable gardens in lesser used corners of city parkland. He has also made arrangements for James Urban to present a symposium this fall on exploring alternatives to regressive streetscapes and, from that, present findings to the City of Ottawa— findings that will benefit landscape architects internationally.

Doug’s volunteer efforts consistently elevate the profile of landscape architects and the OALA. OALA PUBLIC PRACTICE AWARD:

This award recognizes the outstanding leadership of a member of the profession in public practice who promotes and enhances landscape architecture by working for improved understanding and appreciation of the work of landscape architects in both public and private practice.

This year, three Public Practice Awards are being presented.

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1: Janet Ward, OALA Janet Ward’s career in landscape architecture began upon graduation as a member of the University of Guelph’s first MLA graduating class in 1977. Early in her career Janet worked in New Zealand for the City of Manukau where she was instrumental in the preservation of a number of historically significant sites and the opening of these sites for public use.

Janet now works with the City of Oshawa Planning Department and has been integral in establishing many design standards and urban development policies. She has always been a strong advocate of good design while ensuring the protection of natural heritage. Janet has been involved in many urban design projects and has been a key member of many design committees including the City of Oshawa Streetscape Committee, Queen’s Market Square, and Community In Blooms.

Janet is a tremendous advocate for landscape architecture and continues to be a leader for the profession in the Durham Region.

2. Nelson Edwards, OALA Nelson Edwards has been a constant and welcome figure as a public-sector landscape architect around the City of Ottawa for the past seventeen years. As a public servant, he has always been able to garner his energy, humanitarian attitude, design sensitivities, and intellectual reach for the advancement of the landscape architectural profession.

Now, as part of Urban Design and Community Planning at the City of Ottawa, Nelson has contributed significantly to the creation of a collective vision for downtown Ottawa towards the year 2020.

3. Kelly Pender, OALA Kelly Pender graduated as a landscape architect from the University of Toronto in 1983 and has been a full member of the OALA since March 1985. He also has a planning certificate and an MBA. Kelly began his career as the Supervisor of Planning and Development for the City of Belleville where he was responsible for all open space and facility planning. He subsequently moved on to become the Acting General Manager for the Lower Trent Region Conservation Authority in Trenton.

Kelly then spent seven years as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Perth.

He is currently the Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Huntsville and he continues as a full member of the OALA and identifies himself as a landscape architect—wonderful recognition for the abilities of our profession.

Kelly has spearheaded significant planning and design projects in Belleville, Perth, and Huntsville that have created new residential neighbourhoods, parks and recreation complexes, enhanced waterfronts, downtowns, streetscapes, and urban corridors. His role has contributed to sustaining vibrant, healthy communities. As a full member, with a 25-year career working in the public sector, Kelly is deserving of our Association's Public Practice Award.

OALA AWARD FOR SERVICE TO THE ENVIRONMENT:

Rideau Waterway Land Trust Nelson returned to Ottawa in 1992 and he was able to introduce a brilliant approach to the financial and disposal pressures facing the National Capital Commission regarding the Greenbelt Land holdings.

His vocational assessment approach to the lands permitted civil discourse on the lands considered surplus.

Nelson continued to elevate the profile of the profession when he became a driving force behind Urban Form, a series offering networking and dialogue opportunities for landscape architects and associated professionals alike.

This award is given to a non-landscape architectural individual, group, organization, or agency in the Province of Ontario to recognize and encourage a special or unusual contribution to the sensitive, sustainable design for human use of the environment. The contribution must emulate the fundamental principles of the OALA and the OALA Mission Statement and go beyond the normal levels of community action in preserving, protecting, or improving the environment.

OALA Awards

Acting on the principle that preservation of land in our communities is paramount, the Rideau Waterway Land Trust works with property owners and residents to preserve land for the benefit of the community and for future generations.

The Rideau Waterway Land Trust was established in 1996 with a mission to preserve important natural lands and habitats in the Rideau Corridor and foster a healthy future for our communities. The volunteer Board of Directors comes from a variety of backgrounds including: land-use planning, environmental studies, ecology, education, law, finance, and fundraising.

The Rideau Waterway Land Trust provides landowners with an opportunity to preserve their land and leave a lasting legacy for future generations. Strategies include the option of donating or occasionally selling parcels of land to the Land Trust or donating a conservation agreement that allows the landowner to retain ownership and use of the land while preserving it. Once the land comes under the care of the Land Trust, the land is monitored annually by trained volunteers and staff to ensure that it is cared for and preserved in its natural state.

Currently, the land trust has responsibility for 17 parcels of land along the Rideau Waterway Corridor from Kingston to Ottawa.

The Rideau Waterway Land Trust is a founding member of the Canadian Land Trust Alliance.

OALA CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR SERVICE TO THE ENVIRONMENT:

ESRI Canada Limited (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.) This certificate is given to a non-landscape architectural individual, group, organization, or agency in Ontario to recognize and encourage a special or unusual contribution to the sensitive, sustainable design for human use of the environment.

Contributions may have had a local, regional, or provincial impact through policy, planning or design, or as an implemented project Since 1984, ESRI Canada has been helping customers leverage geographic information systems (GIS) to make more informed decisions. GIS is used for many applications

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including climate change analysis, natural resource management, and urban development planning. Their solutions help customers become more sustainable.

The company leads by example. They pursued a green roof project inspired by a Ryerson University study, which estimates that if 8 percent of existing building roofs in Toronto were planted, surface temperatures could be reduced by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius.

ESRI created a green roof at their own office, in partnership with a local landscape architecture firm, to provide an environmental asset for the city and to demonstrate to customers, partners, and the community how a green roof could help reduce the urban heat effect.

ESRI Canada’s green roof demonstrates how landscape architecture can promote both sustainability and great design. It also shows how environmental stewardship is compatible with business success.

OALA CARL BORGSTROM AWARD FOR SERVICE TO THE ENVIRONMENT:

Martha Lush, OALA This award is given to individual landscape architects or a landscape architectural group to recognize and encourage special or unusual contribution to the sensitive, sustainable design for human use of the environment. This award is named in honour of Carl Borgstrom who, of all the OALA’s founders, was the most actively in tune with the natural landscape.

Martha Lush graduated with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Montreal in 1987, and studied architecture at Carleton University from 1980 to 1983.

Martha has been a member of the OALA since 1991. She carries the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Professional Credential.

Working with Corush Sunderland Wright Limited since 1982 has afforded Martha the opportunity to follow through on projects from master planning and design, to contract documents and construction. As senior landscape architect, Martha has developed strong expertise in urban design, campus planning, naturalization, wetlands, environmental issues, and construction.

This expertise, along with her design ability, enables Martha to play an integral role in the development of a variety of projects including the Monahan Drain Constructed Wetlands, reforestation planting of transitway corridors in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the award-winning Le Breton Flats Aqueduct.

We’re pleased to honour Martha for her exemplary environmental stewardship practices. She is a leader in protecting and enhancing natural environmental features when developing lands for human use.

OALA EMERITUS MEMBER:

Ross Stephen, OALA Emeritus members are full members of the OALA who have ceased full-time practice and who are nominated by another full member in recognition of their years of service to the profession.

Ross Stephen graduated from the University of Guelph in 1970—the university’s second graduating class in the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program. After graduation, he applied for membership in the OALA and has maintained his membership ever since. He began his career working for Aldershot Landscape Contractors in Burlington. In October of 1973, Ross joined the City of Burlington, Parks and Recreation Department. He enjoyed the next 35 years working with exceptional people in many departments, and progressing to Manager of Parks and Open Space. Ross provided leadership to develop and enhance the Parklands, Facilities and Open Space systems for the Community and Region. When first hired in 1973, Ross represented a pool of one professional landscape architect!

Ross’ contributions as a landscape architect are evident on many levels. His commitment and dedication have promoted the profession and are reflected in his participation and leadership in: • seven city strategic plans; • development plans for neighbourhoods; • park master plans processes, including a system that is inclusive of 120 parks and trails; • development and administration of a capital investment of .75 billion dollars in parks and open space.

OALA Awards

Ross notes that his work as a landscape architect contributed to an exciting, challenging, and very rewarding career.

OALA HONORARY MEMBER AWARD:

Raymond Moriyama The Honorary category of membership is for non-landscape architects whom Council wishes to recognize for outstanding contributions in their own fields to improving the quality of natural and human environments.

Moriyama & Teshima is an internationally renowned Canadian architecture, planning, and landscape architecture company.

Founded in 1958 by Raymond Moriyama in Toronto, Moriyama & Teshima has built its reputation on distinctive landmark projects that have garnered numerous awards for innovative design and planning solutions.

The company strives to seamlessly integrate building and site, creating environments that demonstrate an unwavering enthusiasm and commitment to caring for people and nature. Raymond is now a consultant to the firm.

Raymond has applied his extraordinary vision and understanding to numerous projects including the Bata Shoe Museum, Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning, Saudi Arabian National Museum, Ontario Science Centre, Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

Raymond is also a hero to many Canadians. His stories of being interned during the Second World War because of his Japanese heritage and his rise to become one of Canada's most respected architects continue to inspire. He has received numerous honours including the Confederation of Canada Medal, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal, and honorary degrees from ten Canadian universities. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and was awarded the Order of Ontario.

We are pleased to award Raymond Moriyama an Honorary Membership in the OALA.

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OALA PRESIDENT’S AWARD:

Arnis Budrevics, OALA The President’s Award is given in recognition of the contributions by an OALA Full Member who supports and advances initiatives and actions of the association and promotes the profession of landscape architecture in Ontario. It is given in recognition of dedicated volunteerism, generous service to the association, and for leadership in the field of landscape architecture.

Arnis Budrevics has brought a tireless energy and leadership to the OALA and CSLA on many initiatives to further landscape architecture in Ontario and Canada. Arnis has served the OALA for more than twenty-five years on many committees, special projects, OALA Council, and the CSLA Board of Directors. His contributions far exceed what one would have imagined from a volunteer.

He has given hundreds and hundreds of volunteer hours each year.

Arnis has served on the OALA Council and Executive Committee holding positions of Treasurer, Vice President (2 years), President (2 years), and Past-President.

Arnis has contributed extensively to the organization and management of OALA budgets; to membership entrance requirements changes; to revitalizing OALA conference efforts; to office operations; and to many other OALA activities.

He is the current OALA representative on the CSLA Board of Directors and a member of the CSLA Executive.

Arnis is a strong promoter of the OALA and landscape architecture. He has elevated the professionalism of the Association and has guided the annual awards program to become a more dignified event. Through his great leadership he guided the OALA to become a more revitalized association. His vision, enthusiasm, and passion for landscape architecture has rallied the membership to get involved in their association.

Arnis has left his mark on the OALA and the CSLA in so many ways. We have all benefited from his contributions.

OALA PINNACLE AWARD FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL EXCELLENCE:

George Dark, OALA This award recognizes an OALA member and his or her professional work. It singles out specific projects to draw attention to a body of work which demonstrates outstanding professional accomplishment.

George Dark is an urban designer and landscape architect with more than 30 years of experience. He is a partner at an internationally renowned Toronto firm, Urban Strategies, where since 1987 he has led a variety of important planning projects in cities across North America and in the Caribbean. George is best known locally for his pioneering work on Toronto’s waterfront and in downtown Ottawa. He is a charismatic leader, a compassionate person, and a propelling force in transforming our cities into livable urban centres.

George has brought Urban Strategies into the spotlight and is credited by his colleagues for making the firm into the successful, award-winning, and highly esteemed business it is today. His extensive portfolio of work includes the award-winning University of Toronto Open Space Master Plan, the Downtown Hamilton Design Strategy, a Master Plan for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the civic vision for Youngstown, Ohio (the first “Shrinking City” in the U.S.), as well as the Public Space Framework for Toronto’s Central Waterfront.

George is a Past Chair of the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation, Chairman of the Board of the Evergreen Foundation, and a Member of the City of Ottawa Design Review Panel.

George has been instrumental in bringing about positive changes to myriad communities. From urban intensification challenges in Canada to shrinking towns in the U.S., George has helped to raise the profile of our profession and has single-handedly proven the worth of our work in city planning initiatives. George is perhaps most deserving of this award because he is a landscape architect who works as a planner, which is no doubt a big leap in landscape architecture as a whole. George is a most worthy recipient of the Pinnacle Award.

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The Sky’s the Limit A panel of students explores the notion of awards, proposing new categories in the best of the best MODERATED BY NETAMI STUART, OALA, AND VICTORIA TAYLOR, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL INTERN ROBERT CRAM IS AN MLA CANDIDATE AT THE SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH. HE RECEIVED AN UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE IN HISTORY AT CARLETON UNIVERSITY. HIS GRADUATE THESIS IS FOCUSING ON THE SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL REVITALIZATION PROJECT IN VANCOUVER, B.C. MARIANNA DE COLA IS A MASTERS STUDENT OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO. SHE IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN DWINDLING AND ISOLATED COMMUNITIES, THE PASSAGE OF TIME, AND HOW ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTION CAN REVEAL AND ACCENTUATE TEMPORAL QUALITIES OF PLACE. DAN MCTAVISH IS CURRENTLY ATTENDING THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. HE IS INTERESTED IN THE LATENT POTENTIAL OF OUR NATURAL SURROUNDS TO GENERATE MEANINGFUL DESIGN RESPONSES. HE ALSO LIKES GREEN ROOFS. AUDRIC MONTUNO IS A FOURTH-YEAR BACHELOR OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH. HIS INTERESTS LIE WITHIN LARGE-SCALE COMMUNITY PLANNING, PUBLIC SPACES, AND THE MELDING OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE THINKING WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES AND PERSPECTIVES, INCLUDING THE CULINARY ARTS AND SOCIAL ACTION. TY MURRAY IS ENTERING HIS FOURTH TERM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE’S UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM. AMRIT PHULL STUDIES IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO. SHE IS INTERESTED IN THE POETICS OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND ITS UNIQUE ABILITY TO STIMULATE THE AUDITORY, VISUAL, AND TACTILE SENSES TOGETHER. SHE RECOGNIZES LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN SANCTUARIES FOR BOTH BIODIVERSITY AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT. MALA SINHA IS IN HER FINAL YEAR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, COMPLETING HER MASTER’S THESIS IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. HER MAIN AREA OF INTEREST AND THE FOCUS OF HER THESIS HAS BEEN ON ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DESIGN. TODD SMITH IS COMPLETING HIS SECOND YEAR OF THE MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. TODD IMAGINES LANDSCAPES OF REGENERATION AND ABUNDANCE AND MYSTERY, BALANCING NEEDS OF URBANIZING CULTURAL REGIONS AND LATENT NATURAL SYSTEMS. NETAMI STUART, OALA, DESIGNS PARKS FOR THE CITY OF TORONTO. VICTORIA TAYLOR, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL INTERN, IS A MEMBER OF THE GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD. SHE WORKED AS A FREELANCE RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE DESIGNER BEFORE RETURNING TO SCHOOL TO COMPLETE HER MASTERS DEGREE IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. CURRENTLY, SHE IS WORKING FOR TORONTO-BASED BROOK MCILROY INC. ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FIRM'S WATERFRONT MASTER PLAN FOR THE CITY OF THUNDER BAY. SAMAR ZARIFA IS COMPLETING HER MASTERS DEGREE IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. ONE OF HER INTERESTS IS IN FINDING MORE FUNCTIONAL AND PRODUCTIVE USES OF MATERIALS.

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Victoria Taylor (VT): We organized this Round Table with all of you to discuss awards and the cutting edge of landscape architecture. We wanted to talk to students about how awards can be used to push landscape architecture to an excellent level in Ontario.

Netami Stuart (NS): I would like to add that this discussion is not a critique of award winners or projects that have recently won awards. In fact, we’re here to celebrate the great award-winning designers and landscapes in Ontario. We’d like to start the conversation off with a question about award categories. What type of award categories could you propose that might help to clarify why the winners are excellent?

Todd Smith (TS): Well, probably the obvious categories to me are things like “institutional,” “urban design,” and “planning”. That’s all great but those sorts of divisions are becoming less and less important. What’s becoming more important is how spaces are being seen as elements of urban ecology. If you think about a gradient of ecologies, all the way from the natural systems that are going on that we never see and never think about all the way up to a highly artificial intelligence, then landscape architecture has a unique position to interpret, rationalize, make legible, and visible. In terms of categories, I would say “regenerative design” might be one, and “ecosystem services” might be another example.

VT: How would you know what the best regenerative design is? How do you judge merit in the categories you’re talking about?

TS: From an ecological perspective, it would be possible to carry out quantitative and qualitative testing to measure the success of the project. You would do performance monitoring at intervals of six months, a year, two years; you could do qualitative surveys of adjacent stakeholders. I also think there needs to be a move away from sustainability as an intellectual nicety and towards judging spaces by occupancy and qualitative criteria, plant growth, and contamination levels. There needs to be some sort of

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rigour. I’m all for beauty, but a landscape needs to be functional and be able to perform.

Dan McTavish (DM): I was looking through the 2009 Awards issue of Ground, and it talks about landscape and the profession of landscape being inherently temporal. Most awards recognize great landscape or great design of the year past or only see one instance of the landscape. So the question becomes: when is the appropriate time to recognize greatness in design in a field that is very temporal? Architecture is the same way. The best design of 2009 is very much of the time, but ten years down the road, even nine months down the road, the project could be awarded the worst renovation, the worst project of 2010. When is the appropriate time to award the merits of a project?

Marianna de Cola (MC): In response to the comment about regenerative design, I think there may be two types. One type would be ecological. The other, perhaps more interesting landscapes and architectural projects, are ones that take a forgotten space and reinvent it or just change it into an interesting public space.

I’d also like to say something about the importance of representation and drawing and being able to represent the evolution of the project, maybe years down the line.

There needs to be a focus on representation as an important aspect of judging the regenerative quality of a project.

NS: So you’re saying that awards might be given not just for the project and site itself, but for the beautiful representation of that site?

VT: Representation takes the idea of the project into the future. An interesting example is the award-winning Fresh Kills landfill in New York. They were almost being accused of misrepresentation because no one believed that they could know what was going to happen. Who is going to be around in fifty years to look at your drawings and see if they do what you say you want to do. Is that what you meant?

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MC: Representation is so important in landscape architecture because landscape design involves timelines and evolution and cycles and seasons and tides. I think it is very important to a design to be able to explain those things graphically and represent landscapes in time.

VT: What about misrepresentation? What if you can represent the way you think it ought to be but that’s not the way it turns out? Or it’s not the way that it is?

This raises an interesting question about whether you actually give an award without having visited the site, when all you have to go on is the drawings and photographs…

DM: Another issue is whether you can give awards to offices that have never built anything. Maybe the categories should be “proposal,” “execution,” and then the “inhabitation” of a project. Hopefully a project could win all three categories over time. Maybe there’s even a fourth one where if you get all three you get the golden star.

I once heard that if you really want to see the innovative projects, look at the secondplace winners versus the first place, because first place just tops things in the instance the award is being given.

TS: That’s a very valid point, because how much are we awarding trend? And how important is it to award trend? I don’t personally think it is very important. Some of the most engaging, mysterious, and timeless landscapes that I have experienced were not at all responding to trend or fanciful notions about design. I think trendy design has its place, especially in a city, but it doesn’t always stand the test of time.

VT: It is also based on the jury themselves.

A lot of projects that are amazing and that actually helped the profession move to new levels don’t even get recognized. What we are trying to figure out is, how do we change that.

Samar Zarifa (SZ): It is also important to judge a project on its holistic approach to landscape. Juries should not just look at design and projects that are aesthetically pleasing but should also look at economic

factors, cultural factors, how ecology is addressed, how you can improve the land in terms of how it was before.

MC: In terms of categories, I wonder if there’s a way to look at the different scales too. It seems odd to have the same sort of awards group for a university campus and a small garden.

Ty Murray (TM): Scale is not simply the size of the project but how much money is invested into it. I want to bring us back to the awards and talk about subjectivity and quantifying things.

When I worked for the City of Edmonton I worked on some competitions for contracts.

The City was concerned about being subjective and how you quantifiably represent a project and set criteria. This was important because in awarding contracts, so much money was at stake.

TS: There is a difference between competitions and awards, as well. In order to enter a competition you must submit a proposal for a project, and it’s the same for awards.

People have to submit, or nominate themselves for awards, as opposed to being independently awarded. People can get awards for anything if they submit to all the places that give out awards. I am interested in who’s nominating these projects and how do you ensure that you capture for the jury everything or all the projects that deserve to be awarded?

DM: We all know designers who are always in the media, for better or for worse. They are ingrained in the psyches of the juries, and I suspect that when they submit for an award, the jury is going to look favourably on it. Maybe because the project is really great but also because they are being judged for other work that they have done in the past. The nomination process is sort of the whole crux of this conversation, not necessarily categories, I guess.

VT: And maybe it is also who we choose to be on the jury…

TS: Ostensibly a jury is neutral…

Round Table

VT: Should jury members always be landscape architects?

TS: I don’t think it needs to be confined to landscape architects, because the way we need to move forward is collaborative and transdisciplinary and not having one discipline be the torch bearer for ecological and cultural design.

DM: I think the people who should award prizes for excellence are the users. In public space maybe we should get a panel of homeless people, and that’s not meant to be offensive in any way, but those are the people who are using the space most and in the most diverse kinds of ways. During the day, at night, when its pouring rain, when it’s freezing cold, when it’s snowing.

Maybe that is a better litmus test of what great design is.

Amrit Phull (AP): And perhaps it’s the target user group rather than the actual or most numerous users that should be judging a space.

Audric Montuno (AM): That’s an interesting thought because we have so many diverse types of landscapes. There are so many differences between an ecological design versus an urban space. Maybe the same panel should not be tackling urban space and residential design and regenerative design. Maybe there should be a rotating series of categories that get addressed every year, so one year ecological designs are considered for awards and then the next year public space. And perhaps that would solve some of our issues about how to address time scale in landscape architecture. It allows for a bank of extremely good projects to build up and then you analyze the five-year span of projects and then the next year you’ll have a different category.

That way you get a lot more depth, kind of like the summer and winter Olympics. Since landscape architecture is a really broad or diverse profession, maybe our awards should reflect that as well.

Mala Sinha (MS): I think it really enhances the value of the award and makes it something really worth striving for. We’ll get an increased level in the quality of entries.

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I think you should have a multidisciplinary panel judging them with some landscape architects because there are some considerations that I think the general public doesn’t understand about how things are built on the landscape. But everything happens on the land so everybody has something to say, certainly user groups.

You know, there are all kinds of different ways to analyze the space.

Robert Cram (RC): I would say under the current system, too, it seems like a revolving door. One year someone is nominating someone, and the next year the’re winning an award. One year you’re winning and the next year you’re the juror.

NS: Are there any landscape or design awards that you look out for and take note of the winners? Obviously we will all go and watch the movies that won an Oscar for the best actor and actress or the best picture.

Are there similar awards for landscape architecture or architecture that you know of? How do we recognize the best of what we do and what kinds of publications or awards would you take as a really good recommendation?

DM: I think the highest honour is the Pritzker Prize. Everyone looks at that, but it’s for architecture. I’m not sure there’s a similar honour for landscape architecture. I would also notice the winners of the Evolo Skyscraper Competition, but that’s not an award, it’s a competition.

TS: Awards and competitions are quite different because a competition has pretty tight parameters and with awards you don’t know what the parameters are going to be.

DM: I guess it depends on the competition, the brief.

TS: I think that the process you go through in design is different if it is a competition or if you’re building a project and then you just happen to win an award two years later. It’s a varying process. In a competition you have to put it all together in two months or whatever, whereas for an award it doesn’t happen like that.

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DM: I guess everyone does competitions or goes through that process with the same intention of creating the best possible project that they can, and one day maybe it gets built, maybe it doesn’t.

TS: We can’t assume that other countries or other cultures—however they deal with their landscape—are designing from the same motives and needs and platforms. So we have a portrait of four or five different places in the world and can see what wins an award there. I think that would be really fascinating rather than just focusing on what we think is award worthy.

Round Table

building cities and towns as ecosystems.

You’re getting your needs met, but you’re concentrating them in dense urban centres so you’re not drawing on the ecosystems around you to meet those needs.

There’s this sort of functionality built into it that I would think of as regenerative design or highly sustainable. I think this is the kind of paradigm we need to think about moving into, in the future.

RC: I think there should be an award category for “places adults can go to be a kid again…” [laughs]

VT: If you could come up with one category, what would it be? We’re thinking of some funny ones like “cruiser park” or “best public space under .3 hectares,” or something like that.

MC: The one project, this is not so much an urban scale but what keeps coming to my mind is Mount Ellen’s Receding Village and it takes into consideration sea level rising and coastal erosion and it’s a very outrageous project and it’s not built and I don’t think it ever will be. It’s not just a playful, nice public space but it kind of changes the way you think about design and what a space should be, considering time, evolution, and all those things.

VT: So what kind of category would you put it in for? What category of award?

MC: I guess something along the lines of “evolution,” that it’s not just about the design when it’s built, it’s about the duration of the project over ten years and that’s sort of the point of it, that it’s supposed to be a continual movement. That’s really interesting and it kind of epitomizes the idea of time in landscape architecture because it is constantly redesigning itself.

MS: I recently have been doing a lot of research on designing the landscape as an ecosystem and there’s a man in Arizona, he’s actually an architect, named Paulo Soleri, and he lives in this place called Arcosanti. He has developed what they call “Arcology” combining architecture with ecology and the whole idea of really

AM: I think the way we will continue to grow as a profession is to take stronger stances.

So looking at a project as originally proposed by the developer and hopefully through a collaborative relationship, changing it to something a lot better. Hopefully more firms will start stepping up to the challenge and saying we don’t have to be complacent to the developers just because they have the money. I guess it goes more towards that idea of process-based award than product-based award.

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are still on the shelves or partially on the floor, almost like a time capsule. These places exhibit a certain quality of workmanship that isn’t seen or maybe it’s more rarely seen nowadays. They don’t necessarily need to be improved, they just need to be recognized.

VT I would like to finish by asking if anyone else has any other projects that you think deserve awards that maybe haven’t gotten awards, or you would like to think of a special category for them?

AM: Following the Oscars, I think there could be an interesting way to use an award, kind of like a razzie award, where they nominate the worst leading actress or whatever, but not really in a malicious way. We recognize that not everything is perfect, not every single one of our ideas will be manifested in its truest form or it won’t have much validity to its original intentions. So yeah, you have to recognize that as an interesting approach to awards perhaps, to say this didn’t turn out the way it was suppose to, so why didn’t it?

What can we learn about it, what can we do about it now? Excellence is great but you learn a lot from your mistakes as well.

VT: Some public spaces around the world are amazing because of the craft of the installation and the way that the stone is carved, the choice of the materials or the forming of the concrete or the attention to lighting. We’re all talking big ideas, yet what it comes down to is, how does that paver feel or look? I would like to see categories like “best unit paver” or something.

AP: I think materials is really interesting because you could compare material choices and material parameters of Northern Russia to North America and see that they are totally different. And the special thing about Canada is that Medicine Hat is completely different than Iqaluit and what are the parameters that dictate those material differences. That might be another way to categorize awards: the parameters of building construction in relation to design.

AM: Recognizing the quality of materials and execution, not every project has to be a groundbreaking project but ideally everything will be thought out well and will be a well-done or well-executed project.

Even if it’s mundane…

VT: Like a city sidewalk.

DM: There is a project in Detroit that someone showed me, and it hasn’t been used since 1988, I believe. It’s Detroit Central Train Station. It is just totally vacant, totally overrun but I think there is something incredibly beautiful about its properties and maybe we don’t recognize the spaces that are inherently beautiful or sort of naturally overrun enough. There are excellent spaces in Toronto that we never give any attention to.

VT: Maybe the category would be “best space that should just be left”?

DM: Just left, yes.

AM: That’s interesting, because one of our classmates is doing one of his designs in the Detroit area and some of the photographs he has brought back are just some of the most haunting, beautiful things you’ve ever seen. It is as if everything was just picked up and left, well not even picked up, just left. And he was talking about libraries and classrooms and all the books

VT: Most educational unrealized potential?

TS: I have one that I want to share, it’s a regional-scale project that is underway in Holland by Dirk Sijmons and H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten, and I would say that it’s regenerative design on a regional scale.

It’s called “room for the river” in English and what they’re doing is a multi-billion dollar project that has convinced many cities and regions to consider how their landscape needs are balanced with that urbanizing delta as the Rhine flows from Germany into Holland and out to the ocean. They are completely decentralizing how they manage water and they came and spoke to our class and I thought that is, you know, terribly constructive but this is a departure from and a way of thinking about water and not thinking about controlling nature but balancing what we need. They went to all the different towns and asked, “what do you need, what do you do here?” My category for it would be “best regional regenerative design.”

AM: Yeah, something that we need to use every single day, because we should recognize the ones that are really done well.

MS: Yes, that bring quality into our daily lives.

AM: Yes, and the quality and the craft back into the profession…

THANKS TO ROBERT CRAM FOR TRANSCRIBING THIS ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION.

Professional Practice

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Professional Practice

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TEXT BY ERIC GORDON, URBAN DESIGNER

This is the first in a three-part series that explores the variety of options available to students upon graduating with a degree in landscape architecture. The series looks at the choices made by three successful young professionals as they reflect on their first five years of post-graduate work experience. After graduating from the same class at the University of Guelph with their Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degrees in 2005, each of the three has taken a different route towards their current positions, which are in themselves diverse. They have each chosen different geographical and cultural environments in which to work, representing isolated, rural, and urban contexts.

Heading North A recent grad finds challenge and opportunity in Iqaluit

There are no roads to Nunavut, which means that any out-of-territory transportation must happen by air or sea. De Long notes that it is not uncommon to be stranded in distant communities for several days before the weather clears and it becomes safe to travel. However, it is the transport of goods that factors more into the management of De Long’s projects. Living above the tree line makes sourcing even a simple length of lumber a bit of an ordeal.

As a result, many of his projects must organize their timeline around the arrival schedule of the building materials.

In this issue we profile Cameron De Long, Manager of Park Planning and Operations with Nunavut Parks in Iqaluit.

Upon graduating with his BLA, Cameron De Long knew that he wanted a job within the profession that would offer him hands-on experience with quality exposure to the profession at large.

De Long had been running Priority Landscapes, a landscape design/build company he has owned since 2003 in his hometown of Fredricton, New Brunswick. However, De Long’s first move after graduation took him to Vista, California, where he acted as an assistant project manager at Landscape Development Inc. After a year in Vista, he came across a posting for a position with Nunavut Parks. The position seemed to offer De Long just the change in scenery and perspective he was looking for, and after a successful application, he returned home to Fredricton to re-helm Priority Landscapes for a few months before heading off to Iqaluit.

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De Long admits that there are a few drawbacks to working in the high north. One is the fact that they are at the mercy of the satellite communication system that serves as the link between Iqaluit and the rest of the world—a system he says can at times be problematic. However, the biggest drawback may be the issues around transportation.

Since moving to Iqaluit, De Long has advanced to the position of Manager of Park Planning and Operations—a position he says allows him to wear many hats. “I seem to be involved in a little bit of everything related to my division: park establishment, staff recruitment, operations, capital planning, to name but a few,” says De Long. More specifically, he has recently been working with a planning firm to design interpretive messaging for Mallikjuaq Territorial Park in Cape Dorset, Nunavut; interpretive trails, site planning, and the development of amenities within an island park; and community consultations with local residents and elders.

De Long explains the importance of community consultation in all of his projects, and how gaining support from the residents and elders is vital to the success of projects in such an environmentally and culturally delicate landscape. Working in such a context also plays into how his department tenders work. In fact, when De Long issues something for tender, the process is governed by the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement (IIBA), which contains strict guidelines with respect to encouraging the involvement of Inuitowned businesses. He often has to break tenders into smaller pieces in hopes that more of those pieces can be performed by Inuit-owned businesses. This commitment to the support and respect of the Inuit people and culture appears to be an underlying element in all the work that De Long and his department do.

This is especially true when their work involves substantial historic elements.

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One of De Long’s recent projects is Kekerten Island Territorial Park, a National Historic Site in Cumberland Sound. This isolated site (three hours by boat from the community of Pangnirtung) was the location of an old Scottish whaling station where the Scots worked side-by-side with the Inuit in the 1850s and 1860s. De Long describes the area as “feeling very ghostly,” which makes sense when you consider that there are still open burials remaining on site. His team erected a steel structure reflecting the frame of the old station, and is in the process of tendering for the fabrication of the interpretive signage.

These sorts of inconveniences seem to come with the territory (pun intended), and a visitor might easily characterize them as charming. However, one can imagine that it takes the right sort of person to make the transition from an urban life in southern Canada to life in the high north. Certainly De Long appears to have done this brilliantly, as was made clear when asked if he would recommend working in such an isolated environment: “Definitely, the experience gained here is so broad. You are exposed to work that you might never have the chance to deal with in the South. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to live in the North and experience the unique Inuit culture first hand.”

BIO/ ERIC GORDON IS AN URBAN DESIGNER AT URBAN STRATEGIES INC., AND IS A MEMBER OF THE GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD.

De Long speaks about his projects with enthusiasm, and maintains a sense of wonder at their unique qualities. He describes these qualities, along with the variety of tasks he performs, as some of the most appealing aspects of his job. As he says, “I can be out on a patrol in one of our beautiful parks one day and meeting with senior officials on an upcoming capital project the next.”

De Long notes that the diversity and responsibility he enjoys in his position with Nunavut Parks is due in part to how geographically isolated they are. The isolation limits the pool of professionals they can draw upon for assistance both internally and externally, giving more work and a greater variety of work to the few professionals able to operate in that context. This is a similar concept to the difference many perceive in working for a large firm or a small office.

In a large firm, the diversity of work may be present, but your responsibilities might be diluted amongst the many employees.

In a small office, project types may be limited, but responsibility is shared between fewer staff. De Long describes a scenario in which he seems to be getting the best of both worlds—the isolated context is forcing his department to be somewhat of a jack of all trades while sharing their duties amongst a smaller staff.

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Cameron De Long

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Courtesy Cameron De Long

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There are unique challenges to working in the high north.

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Nunavut Parks and Special Places

Notes

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Notes: A Miscellany of News and Events

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resources The City of Toronto Planning Division recently announced that the Urban Design Streetscape Manual is available for public use in a new online format. The manual emphasizes design quality and amenity in the pedestrian realm and serves as an important reference tool for the design, construction, and maintenance of streetscape improvements across Toronto.

Available at toronto.ca/streetscapemanual, the manual was developed by an interdivisional team of City staff.

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exhibition

new members

An exhibition at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto explores the idea of a new model for urban parks. Redux Park, which opened in June, invites firms to look at the unused industrial infrastructure of their city and re-purpose a new use/direction for these sites. Is there a piece of vacant land, industrial site, street or railroad spur that could be proposed to have new purpose?

This exhibition presents three case studies from three different cities and asks the question: what is the new paradigm for the urban park? The High Line in New York and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston both re-contextualize existing urban structures into contemporary urban parks; are there possible sites for this to happen in Canada? For more information, visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com.

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

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Brook McIlroy’s contribution to Redux Park exhibition: Iron Ore Dock, Thunder Bay

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Brook McIlroy

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Esplanade—Crombie Park, Toronto

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City of Toronto

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Spacial mapping by Nadia Amoroso

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Nadia Amoroso

Morteza Behrooz * Sheila Boudreau Gransaull * Norman Cameron Wai Ying Di Giorgio * Vanessa Eickhoff Lori Ellis Suzanne Ernst * Chantal Gaudet David Gerrard Sophie Lacroix-Nissan * Lisa MacDonald Gerardo Paez-Alonso Mirella Palermo * Mark Parris Duncan Prescott * Petrucia Pushan * Jonathon Reeves * Haig Seferian Lisa Shkut Asterisk (*) denotes a Full Member not having custody and use of the Association seal.

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mapping Imagine a city invisible to the human eye and only manifested by its non-visual urban phenomena. What shape will it take? If these new urban forms are represented as images, do they become new maps of the city? Examining representations of the city not usually visible to the naked eye, The Exposed City, a new book by Nadia Amoroso, Landscape Architectural Intern, takes textual urban data and transforms it into architectural visions. Criminal activities, population densities, transportation patterns, public surveillance, cell phone usage, air quality readings, and other spatial statistics all become new maps of the city. Showing new ways to map invisible urban information, Amoroso’s book is ideal for those landscape architecture, urban design, and geography students along with professionals interested in the theoretical and practical issues of representing the hidden city through spatial mapping.

Artifact

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Healing Benthic Wounds

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Marianna de Cola’s work goes deep—to the ocean floor. Focusing on the southern coast of Newfoundland—“an isolated place, only accessible by boat, eclipsed by the modernization of contemporary society ” is how she describes it—de Cola explores the forgotten landscape of the ocean floor, seeing connections between the scarred topography resulting from fishing and the human needs of the coastal communities that depend on the ocean for livelihood, transport, and cultural meaning.

Specifically, de Cola is designing a shifting wave harness system that both produces energy for coastal communities and revitalizes the benthic surface of the ocean floor by creating an artificial reef.

Strategically located where populations gather and where energy is in demand, this system can be dismantled from its nutrient-filled foundations and moved to follow cyclical and seasonal human migration patterns.

“This shifting infrastructure can provide for a regenerative design of both landscape and waterscape—turning our gaze back to the ocean.”

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Marianna de Cola’s work explores harnessing wave energy and constructing articial reefs.

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Marianna de Cola