Ground 43 – Fall 2018 – Legacy

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Landscape Architect Quarterly

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Five Decades of Outstanding Landscape Architecture in Ontario

Reflections

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Preserving Our Past for the Future

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Publication # 40026106

Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

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Fall 2018­­ Issue 43

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President’s Message

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A legacy can be defined as something handed down from the past, as from a predecessor; something that exists as a result of what has happened at an earlier time.

Over the past 50 years, the profession of landscape architecture and the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA) have grown. After starting with 43 founding members, we now represent 1,800 professionals. We are proud to be continuing the legacy of many dedicated professionals who are designers, master planners, policy makers, teachers, researchers, and thought leaders. Ron Williams’ compilation (pages 6-21) of some of the most significant and influential landscape designs in the past half-century gives a small indication of the incredible impact landscape architects have had in shaping Ontario’s environment.

The OALA has also matured in the past 50 years. In 1984, we successfully achieved the enactment of Bill Pr37–An Act respecting the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. This Act, introduced in April of 1984 by Margaret Scrivener, MPP for the downtown Toronto riding of St. David, who, fittingly, was a prominent figure in the struggle to preserve Toronto’s ravines from development, was given Royal Assent on May 29, 1984. This Title Act strengthened and clearly defined our role as professionals. I graduated just a few years after this Act was passed, and I saw how recognition of the “landscape architecture” name drew attention to the importance of our work and our level of professionalism.

In recognition of the important role MPP Scrivener played in advancing the profession of landscape architecture, she was awarded the OALA Honorary Member designation in 1989, the inaugural year of this award. Her son Paul Scrivener was our guest for the OALA’s 50thanniversary conference and celebrations this past April.

Our association has matured to the point where another milestone is in sight. We are working towards becoming a self-regulated profession through a Practice Act. We are looking to work with all members of the new legislature and allied professionals to achieve this distinction.

As to the future, landscape architects may just be the heroes of the 21st century. As Craig Applegath, an architect and OALA Honorary Member, stated at the 2016 Grey to Green conference, “Landscape architects have the training, knowledge, tools, and wisdom to meet our century’s greatest challenge: adaptation to climate change and environmental regeneration.”

There has perhaps never been a time in which the profession of landscape architecture is more urgently needed. The public’s renewed awareness of the power of natural forces underlies the imperative of planning and redesigning our communities to address the future impacts of climate change.

People are counting on landscape architects to create place-based designs that integrate the dynamics of ecological forces as integral components of the landscape.

My hope for the future of landscape architecture is that these skills and abilities are recognized and utilized to make positive, lasting, and dynamic differences in a resilient and beautiful future world.

Jane Welsh, OALA, FCSLA oala President president@oala.cA

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Contents/ Masthead

President’s Message Celebrating 50 Years of Landscape Architecture in Ontario

Publisher’s Message 10 Years of Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly

(Foldout poster)

(Foldout poster)

1868–2018: A 150-Year Timeline of the Profession of Landscape Architecture in Ontario and Beyond

2008–2018 Celebrating 10 Years of Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly

Five Decades of Outstanding Landscape Architecture in Ontario

What Drew You to the Profession of Landscape Architecture?

TEXT By Ron Williams

Hancock Woodlands A Legacy in Landscape TEXT By Shannon Baker, OALA

Editor Lorraine Johnson Photo Editor Jasper Flores OALA Editorial Board Julius Aquino Shannon Baker Trish Clarke Jasper Flores Eric Gordon Ruthanne Henry Vincent Javet Eric Klaver James MacDonald Nelson Todd Smith (chair) Katie Strang Andrew Taylor Dalia Todary-Michael Jane Welsh Web Editor Jennifer Foden

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Social Media Manager Jennifer Foden Art Direction/Design www.typotherapy.com Advertising Inquiries advertising@oala.ca 416.231.4181 Cover Cover artwork by Noël Nanton Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly is published four times a year by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects.

The views expressed in Ground are those of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the OALA and its Governing Council.

Compiled by Lorraine Johnson

Preserving Our Past for the Future: The Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives TEXT By Walter Kehm, OALA (Emeritus)

Ontario Association of Landscape Architects 3 Church Street, Suite 506 Toronto, Ontario M5E 1M2 416.231.4181 www.oala.ca oala@oala.ca

President Jane Welsh

Copyright © 2018 by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects.

Contributors retain copyright of their work.

All rights reserved.

ISSN: 0847-3080 Canada Post Sales Product Agreement No. 40026106 See www.groundmag.ca to download articles and share content on social media.

Secretary Stefan Fediuk Past President Doris Chee Councillors Cynthia Graham Cameron Smith Justin Whalen

TEXT By Ron Koudys, OALA

TEXT By Brendan Stewart, OALA

2018 OALA Governing Council

Treasurer Steve Barnhart

Delving into the History of Edwin Kay, a CSLA Founder

Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

Ground can be reached at magazine@oala.ca.

Vice President Kendall Flower

Reflections Excerpts of Interviews Conducted by Members of the OALA Legacy Task Force and the Ground Editorial Board

Associate Councillor— Senior Trish Clarke

University of Guelph Student Representative Robyn McCormick

Associate Councillor— Junior Mark Hillmer

OALA Staff

Lay Councillor TBC Appointed Educator University of Toronto Peter North Appointed Educator University of Guelph Brendan Stewart University of Toronto Student Representative Elspeth Holland

Executive Director Aina Budrevics Registrar Ingrid Little Coordinator Sarah Manteuffel

Publisher’s Message

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Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly, published by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, is a celebration of the practice of landscape architecture. Over the past ten years, in more than forty issues, Ground has featured articles that stretch across the breadth of the profession, from environmental and social issues to emerging trends and technologies, highlighting issues in Ontario and beyond.

Readership feedback and membership surveys confirm that Ground is one of the most valued OALA communication and information resources and one of the association’s best marketing tools; hence, we continue to share the magazine with a growing audience. Initiatives undertaken by the volunteer Editorial Board have included hosting public talks and sponsoring an award at the annual Grow Op exhibition. In 2016, we implemented an annual subscription option to expand readership beyond our OALA base audience. As well, Ground is sent to MPPS and to related professional associations, and the magazine has expanded online, offering articles that are linkable, searchable, and include extra content. The OALA recently hired a social media manager, and in 2016 created an Instagram account (@OALA_ON) that now has nearly 1,000 followers. Ground’s Twitter (@Groundmag) has seen a five-percent increase in followers since 2017. And Ground’s website page is the second most visited on the OALA website (the most visited is the job postings section).

To celebrate Ground’s 10-year milestone, we have compiled all the past issues’ articles, list of authors, and key summaries into a database accessible online. If you’re looking for a particular topic, you will be able to find it on our soon-to-be-posted online archive. Thank you to Lorraine Johnson, Karen May, Todd Smith, Katie Strang, and Angela Sweeting for compiling this complex database.

We would not have been able to achieve this milestone for the magazine without the dedication of the founding and long-time editor, Lorraine Johnson, the eight chairs and co-chairs, as well as the more than fifty Editorial Board and Advisory Panel members who have devoted their ideas and energy to the publication. A very big thank you, as well, to our creative graphic designer, Noël Nanton of typotherapy.

We look forward to the future of the magazine!

Aina Budrevics, CAE OALA Executive Director executivedirector@oala.ca

Andrew B. Anderson, BLA, MSc. World Heritage Management Landscape & Heritage Expert, Oman Botanic Garden

Real Eguchi, OALA, Eguchi Associates Landscape Architects, Toronto

John Danahy, OALA, Associate Professor, University of Toronto

Donna Hinde, OALA, FCSLA, Partner, The Planning Partnership, Toronto

George Dark, OALA, FCSLA, ASLA, Principal, Urban Strategies Inc., Toronto

Ryan James, OALA, Senior Landscape Architect, Novatech, Ottawa Alissa North, OALA, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Principal of North Design Office, Toronto

Peter North, OALA, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Principal of North Design Office, Toronto Nathan Perkins, MLA, PhD, ASLA, Associate Professor, University of Guelph

Victoria Taylor, OALA, Principal, Victoria Taylor Landscape Architect, Toronto Jim Vafiades, OALA, FCSLA, Senior Landscape Architect, Stantec, Toronto

Five Decades

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Text by Ron Williams

It is an honour and a pleasure to be asked to contribute to Ground’s special issue celebrating the OALA’s 50th anniversary. The original parameters for my article were very clear: I was asked to pick “one significant, influential landscape architectural project, in Ontario or by an Ontario-based landscape architect, for each of the past five decades,” and to provide a brief evaluation of each project’s importance.

It turned out to be quite difficult to choose just five outstanding works from among the many fine landscape architectural projects carried out in my native province over the past half-century. I started by listing several influential and deserving projects for each decade and then narrowing them down—not an easy task. Finally, instead of choosing just one project per decade, I decided to include a number of “runnersup” and to permit a certain number of ties, corresponding to periods of outstanding creativity during which many excellent projects were carried out.

On examining my completed list of selections, I noted that all of the projects are actually in Ontario, though several were designed by landscape architects from outside the province, and a couple are by non-landscape architects. I was pleased to see that, without any planning, my list includes projects from parts of the province other than the Toronto and Ottawa metro areas, which are, however, the locales for many outstanding projects.

Since I have only included projects that I know personally, I can’t pretend that this is a truly systematic appraisal. Some regions of Ontario are excluded simply because I haven’t been there; the social and cultural impact of some of the projects chosen, as well as their design quality, has certainly coloured my opinions; and I seem to have a predilection for smaller projects. So my list of outstanding projects must be seen as personal and maybe somewhat idiosyncratic.

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Trent University Master Plan, Peterborough

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Long Range Development Plan and Master Plan, University of Guelph, Project Planning Associates Limited Courtesy of Owen Scott and OALA Model, looking east, for Long Range Development Plan and Master Plan, University of Guelph, Project Planning Associates Limited Courtesy of Owen Scott and OALA

Lead Architecture Firm: Ron Thom Architect Lead Architect: Ron Thom Date Started: Late 1950s Date Completed: 1964 (first draft of Master Plan was submitted); the first buildings (Champlain College) were completed in 1967 Location: On the banks of the Otonabee River, West Bank Drive, Peterborough Size: 567 hectares Key Consultants: Designers and staff of Ron Thom’s firm: Paul Merrick; Norm Hotson; Alastair Grant; Peter Smith; Bill Lett Senior; Dick Sai-Chew; Robert Montgomery; Paul Martel; Bob McIntyre; Paul Barnard; Daryl Morgan. Engineers: Ted Crossey; Roly Bergmann; Morden Yolles Client: Trent University (Team Leader: Thomas H.B. Symons, Founding President of Trent University) Additional Information: The main academic square was conceived of as a “village square” for the university community.

Compiled by Todd Smith, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

02 University of Guelph Long Range Development Plan and Master Plan, Guelph Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Project Planning Associates Limited Lead Landscape Architects: Macklin Hancock, FCSLA; Walter Kehm, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA; Owen Scott, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA; Ken McFarland; Gary Heine, OALA (Emeritus); Garry Hilderman, FCSLA, MC; John Consolati, OALA, FCSLA Date Started: 1964 Date Completed: Long-range development plan completed in 1964; master plan completed in 1965. Initial implementation of site and landscape work were done exclusively by Project Planning Associates (PPAL) until the mid-1970s, when other firms were invited to participate in new site designs.

Location: University of Guelph, Stone Road, Guelph Size: 412 hectares Key Consultants: Project Planning Associates Limited professional staff included architects Hancock Little Calvert (architectural arm of PPAL), engineers, planners, and landscape architects.

They were assisted in the master planning by Richard P. Dober, Campus Planner, Cambridge, MA (Dick Dober with Robin Upton and H. Robert Hodge). Sert, Jackson and Associate (architects and town planners), Cambridge, MA (Jose Luis Sert, principal) provided architectural design advice for the first new campus buildings. Other architects and engineers were engaged for the implementation stage, as well; however, all landscape architectural services were provided by PPAL until the mid-1970s.

Client: University of Guelph

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Compiled by Owen Scott, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, a founding member of the OALA and OALA President from 1971-1973.

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Champlain College, 1968, Trent University Courtesy of Trent University Archives Trent University Master Plan detail Courtesy of Trent University Archives

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Aerial view rendering, Garden of the Provinces Donald Graham personal archive, originally published in Ground 24

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Aerial view, towards LeBreton Flats, Garden of the Provinces

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Nathan Phillips Square from East Tower, City Hall, Toronto

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National Capital Commission, originally published in Ground 24

City of Toronto Archives

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Garden of the Provinces (renamed Garden of the Provinces and Territories in 2005), Ottawa Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Donald W. Graham and Associates Lead Landscape Architect: Donald W. Graham, FCSLA Date Started: 1960 Date Completed: 1962 (restored in 2005) Location: Along Wellington Street, between Parliament Hill and LeBreton Flats, Ottawa Size: 9,323 m2 Key Consultants: Works of art: • Tree Fountain/Fontaine arborescente: Norman Slater, industrial designer, Montreal, 1961-62 • Fountain of the Great Lakes/La fontaine des Grands Lacs: Emiel G. van der Meulen, OALA (Emeritus), designer; Adjeleian and Associates, consulting engineers, 1962 • Twelve Points in a Classical Balance/Douze points d’un équilibre classique: Chung Hung, 1981 Client: National Capital Commission (NCC) Additional Information: This public space is a very good example of the landscape architecture of the era by virtue of its simple composition, the use of materials such as exposed aggregate—newly introduced to public spaces at the time—as well as the integration of works of art into the design.

Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Viljo Revell, Architect Lead Landscape Architects: Richard Strong, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA Date Started: 1958 (competition) Date Completed: 1965 Location: Forecourt to Toronto City Hall, facing onto Queen Street West between Osgoode Hall and Bay Street Size: 4.85 hectares Key Consultants: Architecture: John B. Parkin Associates; Artist: Henry Moore; Competition advisor: Eric Arthur Client: City of Toronto Additional Information: The square is named for Nathan Phillips, Mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962, who championed the creation of a new and symbolic city hall for Toronto.

Compiled by Ron Williams, author of Landscape Architecture in Canada.

See also Ground 24, pages 26-29, “A Capital Treasure: Garden of the Provinces and Territories,” by Nicole Valois.

Compiled by Nicole Valois, AAPQ, a landscape architect and professor at Université de Montréal.

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First, I felt that it would be essential to note a few of the seminal projects designed by those who created the OALA, realized during the five years or so before its founding. The early 1960s were a revolutionary era in Ontario, witnessing great new adventures in public education, including the transformation of the Ontario Agricultural College into the University of Guelph, its 1964 master plan brilliantly laid out by a team led by Macklin Hancock, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, and his firm Project Planning Associates Limited. A second comprehensive and striking university master plan (along with several university buildings) was designed by architect Ron Thom for the newly established Trent University in Peterborough in 1964.

This period was also characterized by remarkable public spaces, ranging from the vast and iconic Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto’s new City Hall, designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell as an integral part of his competition-winning overall concept (and carried through by Toronto landscape architect Richard Strong, OALA [Emeritus], FCSLA), to Donald W. Graham and Associates’ Garden of the Provinces in Ottawa (1962): a delicate jewel, its sculptures and fountains enlivening a quiet green downtown oasis.

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Interior Garden (now called Waterfall Garden), Sheraton Centre Hotel, Toronto Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: J. Austin Floyd, Landscape Architect Lead Landscape Architect: J. Austin Floyd, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA Date Started: 1970+ Date Completed: 1972 Location: Queen Street West, across from City Hall/Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto Size: Just over 1 hectare Key Consultants: Engineers: Ted Crossey; Roly Bergmann; Morden Yolles Client: Sheraton Hotels/Four Seasons Hotels (joint venture; entirely owned by Sheraton since 1976) Additional Information: The garden’s waters are recycled condensate from the hotel’s heating and cooling systems.

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Compiled by Todd Smith, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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Interior Garden, Sheraton Centre Hotel

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Ontario Place

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Courtesy of City of Toronto Archives

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Ontario Place, late 1970s or early 1980s

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Ontario Place

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Ron Williams

Ron Williams

Courtesy of City of Toronto Archives

12 Ontario Place, Toronto Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Hough Stansbury + Associates Limited Lead Landscape Architect: Michael Hough, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA Date Started: March 17, 1969 Date Completed: May 22, 1971 Location: South of Exhibition Place, fronting Lakeshore Boulevard West, Toronto Size: 63 hectares (28 hectares of land, 35 hectares of water) Key Consultant: Architect: Eberhard Zeidler Client: Province of Ontario Additional Information: Inspired by the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal. Ontario Place was listed in 1994 by the International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings of the Modern Movement (DOCOMOMO International) on its inventory of significant international works of the modern movement.

Compiled by Todd Smith, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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13 Metropolitan Toronto Zoo Master Plan, Scarborough (now Toronto) Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Johnson Sustronk Weinstein & Associates Limited Lead Landscape Architect: Brad Johnson, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA Date Started: 1966: Feasibility study commissioned by Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto 1969: Master Plan of Metropolitan Toronto Zoo 1974: Official opening of Metropolitan Toronto Zoo Location: Rouge Valley, Scarborough (now Toronto) Size: 287 hectares Key Consultants: Initial Design Concept: Raymond Moriyama Structural Engineer: Morden Yolles Architect: Ron Thom Appointed Director of Zoo: Dr. Gunter Voss Dr. Norman Scollard consulted on overall goals of original master plan.

Client: City of Toronto Additional Information: Original design consultation was done by Raymond Moriyama. In 1986, Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited (MMM Group, now WSP Global Inc.) updated the original master plan.

Compiled by James MacDonald Nelson, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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Courtesy of Brad Johnson Point Pelee National Park beach

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Ron Williams

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From Point Pelee National Park Master Plan

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Metropolitan Toronto Zoo Master Plan

Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Government of Canada (1972)

15 Point Pelee National Park Master Plan, at Lake Erie Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Done internally by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Government of Canada Lead Landscape Architects: Staff planners are noted as Denis Major and David McCreery.

Date Started: 1968 Date Completed: April 1972 Location: Point Pelee National Park, Lake Erie Size: In park documents, the size is noted as 1,497 hectares at the time of the master plan.

Key Consultants: N/A Client: Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Government of Canada Compiled by Maria Papoulias, Superintendent of Point Pelee National Park.

My favourite landscape project from the OALA’s first decade is the interior garden of Toronto’s Sheraton Centre Hotel (originally known as the Four Seasons), created in 1972 by landscape architect J. Austin Floyd, OALA (Emeritus), a Maritimer who began work in Toronto in 1948 following his graduation from Harvard. A master of design with water, Floyd focused his garden around a central rushing waterfall a full floor in height.

Simple geometric planting boxes in concrete contrast beautifully with the rough and rugged forms of natural boulders within the realm of the waterfall.

In the same decade, Hough Stansbury + Associates Limited’s Ontario Place, the brilliant exploitation of Toronto’s interface with Lake Ontario, provided a rich panoply of educational and recreational experiences within a vibrant natural setting. Near the Rouge River at Toronto’s eastern margin, the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo, its master plan designed by Brad Johnson, OALA (Emeritus), of Johnson Sustronk Weinstein & Associates Limited, redefined zoological gardens in North America with its vast scale and habitatrelated naturalistic environments; while in southwestern Ontario, the 1972 Master Plan for Point Pelee National Park at Lake Erie, directed by the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, drastically reduced overuse of the site and set it on the road to environmental stability while still accommodating extensive public recreation.

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19 Taiga Garden, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 17

Devonian Square, Toronto

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Devonian Square, Ryerson, Toronto Ron Williams Taiga Garden, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Courtesy of National Gallery of Canada National Capital ceremonial routes demonstration plan, Confederation Boulevard Courtesy of dTAH Trinity Square, Toronto Ron Williams

Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Richard Strong, Steven Moorhead Ltd. Lead Landscape Architects: Richard Strong, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA; Steven Moorhead, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA; Margaret Kwan, OALA (Emeritus); Mas Omoto Date Started: 1977 Date Completed: 1978 Location: Ryerson University, southeast corner of Gould Street and Victoria Street, Toronto Size: 2,602 m2 Key Consultants: Sculptor: Gerald Gladstone. Key Contractors: Bruce S. Evans Ltd, Gazzola Paving Ltd Client: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) Additional Information: • Public centrepiece of Ryerson Community Park, 1977 campus master plan • The Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations gifted the principal funds for the project, with smaller financial contributions coming from the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Recreation, Simpson-Sears Limited, City of Toronto, and Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.

• Design genesis of over-scale massing of Canadian Shield Pre-Cambrian boulders was developed jointly by the landscape architects and sculptor.

• 1979 ASLA Honor Award for Ryerson Community Park • 2005 intervention (Chang School of Continuing Education) by Routhwaite Dick Hadley/Lett Architects and Corban and Goode Landscape Architects • 2012 east edge intervention (Ryerson Image Centre/ School of Image Arts) by Diamond Schmitt Architects

Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, FCSLA, C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada) Lead Landscape Architect: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, FCSLA, C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada) Date Started: 1982 Date Completed: 1988 Location: National Gallery of Canada, Sussex Drive, Ottawa Size: 2,787 square metres Key Consultant: Architect: Moshe Safdie Client: National Gallery of Canada Additional Information: Inspired by A.Y. Jackson’s painting Terre Sauvage, the garden is nature imitating art imitating nature. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, working closely with landscape architect Bryce Gauthier of Enns Gauthier Landscape Architects, recently redesigned the interior courtyard garden at the National Gallery of Canada, which she had originally designed thirty years ago. Renamed the Fred and Elizabeth Fountain Garden Court, the garden, much like Oberlander’s Taiga Garden outside, is evocative of the pre-settlement Canadian landscape.

Compiled by Todd Smith, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

Compiled by Bruce Corban, OALA, a former partner of Moorhead Fleming Corban and Partners and director of Corban and Goode Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, who currently practises as a Principal of SITE/C Landscape Architecture Inc.

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24 Trinity Square, Toronto

22 Confederation Boulevard, Ottawa-Hull (now Gatineau) Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: du Toit Allsopp Hillier (DTAH) Lead Landscape Architect: Roger du Toit, OALA Date Started: Urban Design Study—Completed 1983 Design and Implementation—Started 1985 Date Completed: Beginning with DTAH’s Urban Design Study, the boulevard project was realized over a period of nearly 20 years, involving a number of other landscape firms as well as the original designers, in close collaboration with the design team from the National Capital Commission. The final stage, designed and implemented by DTAH, was completed and dedicated in 2000 as a millennium project.

Location: Connecting the major national political and cultural institutions, monuments, and public spaces on both sides of the Ottawa River Size: 7.5 kilometres Client: National Capital Commission (NCC) Additional Information: Originally conceived by the NCC as a linking “ring” to unite the Ontario and Quebec parts of the National Capital, it was first referred to as “Boulevard Canada.” The concept was expanded to include Elgin Street and Sussex Drive, and it is now the favoured promenade for visitors and residents and the processional route for visiting dignitaries.

Compiled by Todd Smith, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Moorhead Fleming Corban McCarthy Landscape Architects Lead Landscape Architects: Steven Moorhead, OALA (Emeritus); Margaret Kwan, OALA (Emeritus); Tom Gis Date Started: 1980 Date Completed: 1982 Location: Toronto Eaton Centre, west entrance at Trinity Church from Bay Street and James Street, Toronto Size: 110 metres by 90 metres Key Consultant: Architect: The Thom Partnership Client: City of Toronto Additional Information: This central open space around Trinity Church and the core of the Eaton Centre block was the 1981 winner of the City of Toronto Design Competition and winner of a 1986 CSLA National Honour Award. The design is structured as a trinity of squares, three spaces united by paving grid. The turbulent fountain and stream commemorates legendary Taddle Creek. It is an early example of stratified park development above occupied space. In 2005, the Labyrinth Community Network installed a labyrinth, modeled on one at Chartres Cathedral in France.

Compiled by Bruce Corban, OALA, a former partner of Moorhead Fleming Corban McCarthy and principal of Moorhead Fleming Corban and Partners, who currently practises as a principal of SITE/C Landscape Architecture Inc.

It was particularly hard to identify a single winner from this remarkably creative decade; I would call it a tie between Richard Strong, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, and Steven Moorhead’s (OALA [Emeritus], FCSLA) simple and stunning Devonian Square on the Ryerson University campus in Toronto (1978, Margaret Kwan, OALA (Emeritus), lead designer), and the Taiga Garden at the National Gallery in Ottawa (1988), designed by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, FCSLA. Both of these landmark projects were inspired by Canadian landscapes (unlike most previous projects in Canada, which were based on European, American, or Asian prototypes)—at Devonian Square, the gigantic glacial boulders of the Canadian Shield; and in the Taiga Garden, the Group of Seven’s interpretation of these same rugged Shield landscapes.

A close runner-up was the long-term Confederation Boulevard project in Ottawa-Hull, which tied together the buildings and monuments of the federal precinct on both sides of the Ottawa River. du Toit, Allsopp Hillier (DTAH), along with several other landscape firms, designed this remarkably consistent and coherent boulevard and its environs, in collaboration with a team of gifted landscape architects from the National Capital Commission (NCC). And Trinity Square in Toronto (Moorhead Fleming Corban McCarthy Landscape Architects with the Thom Partnership, architects, 1982) provided an early example of postmodern design influences and rediscovered urban-design archetypes in the creation of a new public space on a complex downtown site.

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Village of Yorkville Park, Toronto Peter Mauss, courtesy of Martha Schwartz Partners Courthouse Square, Toronto Courtesy of Janet Rosenberg & Studio Don Valley Brick Works, Toronto

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Courtesy of Oleson Worland Architects

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Don Valley Brick Works, Toronto

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Village of Yorkville Park, Toronto

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Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Schwartz Smith Meyer Landscape Architects, Inc. Lead Landscape Architects: Martha Schwartz, Ken Smith, David Meyer Date Started: July 1991: Competition Announcement 1992-1994: Construction Date Completed: 1994 Location: Cumberland Street, Toronto Size: 30 metres wide by 150 metres deep Key Consultants: Architecture: Oleson Worland Architects; Professional Advisor: Stephen G. McLaughlin, O.A.A., F.R.A.I.C.; Structural Engineer: Blackwell Engineering Ltd.; Mechanical and Electrical Engineer: Rybka, Smith and Ginsler Ltd.; Horticulturists: Moonstone Landscape Consultants, Horst Dickert; Urban Forestry Consultant: Eric Jorgenson; Fountain Consultant: R.J. Van Seters Company Ltd.; Cost Estimator: A. W. Hooker Associates Ltd.; Rock Formation Consultant: Amsen Associates Ltd. Client: City of Toronto, Department of Parks and Recreation Additional Information: The design objectives, as stated in A Walk Through Yorkville Park (1994), were as follows: 1. To reflect, reinforce and extend the Victorian scale and character of the original Village; 2. To provide unique, inner-city ecological opportunities for the introduction of and display of native plant species and communities; 3. To provide a variety of spatial and sensory experiences, landscape qualities and park functions; 4. To link the park to existing pedestrian walkways and adjacent areas.

Compiled by Andrew Taylor, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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35 32 Bring Back the Don/Don Valley Brick Works, Toronto

33 Courthouse Square, Toronto Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Janet Rosenberg + Associates (now Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc.) Lead Landscape Architects: Janet Rosenberg, OALA, FCSLA; Glenn Herman, OALA Date Started: 1995 Date Completed: May 1997 Location: Court Street, Toronto Size: 1,740 square metres Key Consultants: Public Art: Susan Schell; Architect: CS&P Architects Client: City of Toronto Compiled by James MacDonald Nelson, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: 1990 feasibility and master plan study “Don Valley Brickworks Master Plan”: Hough Stansbury Woodland, landscape architects. 1991 “Bring Back the Don” report: Hough Stansbury Woodland, landscape architects, for the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. Mid-1990s project (landscape rehabilitation) realized on site: Landplan Collaborative Ltd.; consortium led by Oleson Worland Architects. Followup and later work, late 1990s and early 2000s: Hough Woodland Naylor Dance Leinster. Design collaboration: Toronto Parks & Recreation Department, and Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Lead Landscape Architects: N/A Date Started: 1990 Date Completed: 2000+ Location: Bayview Avenue, Don River Valley, Toronto Size: 16.5 hectares Key Consultants: 1990 feasibility and master plan study: Baird Sampson Architects. 1995-1997 master plan project: Prime Consultant: Oleson Worland Architects Heritage Architect: Philip Goldsmith & Associates Cultural Planning/Interpretation: Brian Arnott Associates Client: The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, and the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Additional Information: In 2010, Evergreen transformed the heritage buildings on site into a cultural hub, in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Compiled by Ron Williams, author of Landscape Architecture in Canada, and James MacDonald Nelson, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

This decade marked the apotheosis of postmodernism and referential design in Canadian landscape architecture. No project better exemplified this spirit than the Village of Yorkville Park in central Toronto, designed by American landscape architects Ken Smith, Martha Schwartz, and David Meyer in collaboration with Toronto’s Oleson Worland Architects. This project playfully juxtaposed ten different open-space images typical of Ontario, from a transplanted Muskoka-region granite dome to a grove of Scots pines nestled in precast planters reminiscent of a cluster of abandoned tires.

A concern for conservation and sustainable design, always present as a secondary current in Canadian landscape architecture, came to the fore during this decade, as evidenced by a series of successful efforts to “Bring Back the Don,” that long-abused river and valley to the east of downtown Toronto. Specific projects included the rejuvenation of such historical features as the Don Valley Brick Works, as well as the natural components of the valley. Over more than a decade, several private-sector firms provided key inputs: these included Hough Stansbury Woodland of Toronto and successor firm Hough Woodland Naylor Dance Leinster (later ENVision—the Hough Group Ltd.), the Landplan Collaborative Ltd., and Oleson Worland Architects, all working in close collaboration with Toronto’s Parks and Recreation Department. Also in Toronto, the firm of Janet Rosenberg + Associates (now Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc.) turned their well-earned expertise in residential landscapes to advantage in the creation of a richly planted urban design composition at Courthouse Square in 1997.

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39 HtO Urban Beach, Toronto Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc. Lead Landscape Architects: Janet Rosenberg, OALA, FCSLA; Glenn Herman, OALA Date Started: 2003 Date Completed: June 2007 Location: Queens Quay West, Toronto (East and West HtO Park) Size: 2.43 hectares Key Consultants: Landscape Architecture: Claude Cormier + Associés.

Architecture: Hariri Pontarini Architects. Lighting Design: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Ltd. Electrical Engineering: Carinci Burt Rogers Engineering. Shoreline Engineers: Baird & Associates. Structural Engineers: Carruthers & Wallace Ltd. Civil Engineers: Cansult Limited.

Irrigation: Creative Irrigation Services (CIS). Construction: Somerville Construction Client: City of Toronto

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Compiled by Shannon Baker, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

Otonabee River Trail Urban Waterfront, Peterborough Lead Landscape Architecture Firms: Joint Venture: Basterfield & Associates Inc. and Daniel J. O’Brien Assoc. Ltd Lead Landscape Architects: Brian Basterfield, OALA; Helen Batten, OALA; Dan O’Brien, OALA Date Started: 1999 Date Completed: 2001 Location: Between Sherbrooke Street and Simcoe Street, Peterborough waterfront Size: 3.5 hectares Key Consultants: Electrical Engineering: Kirkland Engineers. Architecture: Lett Architects. Civil Engineering: D.M.Wills. Water Feature Design: DEW Client: City of Peterborough Compiled by Trish Clarke, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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Otonabee River Trail, Peterborough Brian Basterfield

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Confederation Square, Ottawa Heawon Chun Photography, courtesy of PFS Studio Aerial photo of Confederation Square in context, Ottawa Courtesy of National Capital Commission Confederation Square, Ottawa Heawon Chun Photography, courtesy of PFS Studio

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Toronto Music Garden, Toronto

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Lead Landscape Design Firm: Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio, Inc. Lead Landscape Designer: Julie Moir Messervy Date Started: 1995 Date Completed: 1999 Location: The west side of Harbourfront lands, south of Queens Quay West, near Lower Spadina Avenue, on Lake Ontario, Toronto Size: 1 hectare Key Consultants: Yo-Yo Ma; Bob Duguid, City of Toronto; Anne Roberts (artist) Client: City of Toronto Additional Information: This collaboration between cellist Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy combines the art forms of music and landscape design to create a public garden inspired by Bach’s “First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello.” Each dance movement within the Bach suite corresponds to a different section of the garden.

Compiled by Ruthanne Henry, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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Confederation Square, Ottawa Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg (PFS Studio) Lead Landscape Architects: Greg Smallenberg, OALA, BCSLA, FCSLA; Chris Mramor Date Started: 1997 Date Completed: 2000 Location: On the site of the National War Memorial, at the intersections of Wellington, Sparks, and Elgin streets in Ottawa Size: 2 hectares Key Consultants: Julian Smith and Associates; Birmingham Wood Architects; Martin Conboy Lighting Design; Stantec Engineering Client: National Capital Commission (NCC)

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As manufacturing in Canada declined during the late 20th century, many of the country’s former industrial centres found exciting ways to transform abandoned industrial lands into new urban places that provided excellent environments for recreation and cultural activities. The Otonabee River, along which Peterborough’s industrial prosperity had been established many years before, was the site for an outstanding example of such a transformation in the first years of the 21st century. In the Otonabee River Trail, designed by landscape architects Basterfield & Associates and Daniel J. O’Brien, a series of linear riverside sites linked passive and active recreation areas, public gardens, and performance and gathering spaces, and provided immediate connections to the downtown area.

Toronto Music Garden Courtesy of Flickr Aerial photograph of the Toronto Music Garden taken from the CN Tower Bill Holmes

Similarly, in Toronto, studies and proposals for the abandoned industrial waterfront on Lake Ontario, begun in the 1980s, finally bore fruit with the creation of several imaginative and welcoming public spaces. These included the colourful and playful HtO Urban Beach, designed by Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc., Claude Cormier Landscape Architects, and Hariri Pontarini Architects; and the beautifully planted and fanciful Toronto Music Garden

by American landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy and Yo Yo Ma, the worldfamous cellist who provided the garden’s musical theme. Confederation Square, a restructuring of Ottawa’s central plaza at the interface of city and parliamentary precinct, took on a new, formal, thought-provoking identity through its superbly detailed redesign by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg of Vancouver, with strong support and participation from the NCC.

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Sherbourne Common, Toronto Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg (PFS Studio) Lead Landscape Architects: Greg Smallenberg, OALA, FCSLA; Jennifer Nagai, OALA Date Started: 2007 Date Completed: 2012 Location: Just east of Lower Sherbourne Street, the park spans more than two city blocks, from Lake Ontario in the south to Lake Shore Boulevard in the north, on both sides of Queens Quay, in Toronto.

Size: 1.5 hectares Key Consultants: The Planning Partnership; Teeple Architects; Public Art: Jill Anholt Studio; The Municipal Infrastructure Group Client: Waterfront Toronto Compiled by Trish Clarke, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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Canada’s Sugar Beach, Toronto

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Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Claude Cormier et Associés Inc. Lead Landscape Architect: Claude Cormier, OALA, AAPQ, FCSLA, CQ (Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec) Date Started: 2008 Date Completed: 2010 Location: Queens Quay East and Dockside, Toronto Size: 8,500 m2 Key Consultants: The Planning Partnership; Halsall Associates Limited; The Municipal Infrastructure Group; Dillon Consulting Limited; Éclairage Public; Andrew Jones Design Client: Waterfront Toronto Compiled by Shannon Baker, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

Both of my top choices for this most recent decade return us to the Toronto waterfront and environs, and to the vast and comprehensive repurposing of this key site. Sherbourne Common, again featuring landscape architects Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg as designers, is a great civic green space that accommodates extensive recreational and social activities while resolving problems of rainwater treatment in a sustainable manner; and Canada’s Sugar Beach, an additional riff in Claude Cormier’s long creative encounter with the urban beach theme, provides a spectacular—yet welcoming and peaceful—waterside haven.

Increasingly, landscape architects are faced with the rehabilitation, and sometimes the reinvention, of iconic landscapes created by their professional forebears. Working within a 2005 Land Use Master Plan for the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton by the Landplan Collaborative Ltd., Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc. undertook a successful Rock Garden renovation project, respectfully transforming the much-loved quarry garden created in the depths of the Depression of the 1930s by landscape architect Carl Borgstrom, one of the founders of the CSLA, into the striking new David Braley and Nancy Gordon Rock Garden.

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The David Braley and Nancy Gordon Rock Garden, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Lead Landscape Architecture Firm: Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc. Lead Landscape Architects: Janet Rosenberg, OALA, FSCLA; Glenn Herman, OALA Date Started: 2013 Date Completed: Substantially complete in 2015 Public opening on April 30, 2016 Location: Royal Botanical Gardens, York Boulevard, Hamilton Size: 37,000 m² Key Consultants: Visitor’s Centre Architecture, Project Lead: CS&P Architects.

Water Feature Consultant: DEW. Structural Engineers: Halsall Associates. Mechanical Engineers: Smith + Andersen. Civil Engineers: MTE Consultants. Electrical Engineers: Hammerschlag + Joffe Inc. Construction: CRCE Construction Ltd. Landscape Construction: Aldershot Landscape Construction Client: Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) Compiled by Shannon Baker, OALA, a member of the Ground Editorial Board.

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In retrospect, we can see that landscape architecture in Ontario has mirrored and reacted to the social and economic evolution of the province over the past half-century since the founding of the OALA: the optimistic expansion of the 1960s; accepting the artistic challenges of modernism— and then postmodernism—in design; increasing artistic focus on the unique Canadian landscape and experience; coming to grips with the ecological crisis; making sense of de-industrialization…

We can see that, throughout this period, the best landscape architectural work has ably confronted these challenges while creating outstanding places for people.

And I think we can be confident that this will continue to be the case with respect to the unknown challenges that future years will present.

David Braley and Nancy Gordon Rock Garden, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Courtesy of Janet Rosenberg & Studio

BIO/

Ron Williams, Professeur titulaire (retired), School of Landscape Architecture, Université de Montréal, is the author of Landscape Architecture in Canada (McGill- Queen’s University Press)/Architecture de paysage du Canada (Presses de l’Université de Montréal), 2014. In July 2018, Ron Williams was appointed a Member to the Order of Canada.

The compilers of the sidebars, which include details regarding the various projects highlighted in Ron Williams’ article, have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information contained therein. If Ground readers have further clarifications, corrections, or additional details, we would be happy to include the information in the online edition of Ground, at www.groundmag.ca.

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TO view additional content related to This article, Visit www.groundmag.ca.

What Drew You to the Profession of Landscape Architecture?

We’d barely pressed “Send” on this question when the magazine inbox began to ping with heartfelt responses that told stories of serendipity, clarity, epiphany, hope, mission, and spark.

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Compiled by Lorraine Johnson

It turns out that the reasons behind the decision to pursue a career in landscape architecture are as varied as the profession itself.

Many thanks to all those who responded to this Ground e-blast.

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What Drew You to the Profession of Landscape Architecture?

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Alana Evers, OALA, Toronto The idea that I could have a career creating beautiful places for people, in harmony with nature, sounded exciting and novel to me. The places I explored as a child affected me profoundly, from woodlands to playgrounds to anywhere where there was water, and I wanted to create opportunities for other people to enjoy the outdoors like I did. This path melded my interests in art, ecology, and sociology like no other. After years of drawing playgrounds in crayon as a child and clicking away at floorplans as a teenager for fun, I found my fit in landscape architecture.

Brad Smith, OALA, Burlington I decided that I wanted to become a landscape architect in Grade 11.

My family had a vacation property in the Bruce Peninsula and, from an early age, I was fascinated with the landscape, ecology, climate, and recreational opportunities of that area. Landscape architecture brought them all together and, to this day, I approach design as a relationship between our place in nature and nature’s place in our lives. The profession has allowed me to change communities, inspire place-making opportunities, spark relationships, foster experiences with the environment, and create unforgettable personal moments.

Brian Basterfield, OALA, Peterborough The question is not “what,” but “who” drew me to landscape architecture. In 1972, I had a summer job at L.L.Solty’s Garden Centre in Scarborough. I ventured into the offices by chance one day to see sketches and plans spread over drafting tables and Jary Havlicek designing like a mad man. Looking over his shoulder, I asked, “What are you doing?” He said with conviction, “Wonderful things!” Perusing drawings, inspecting the tools of the trade, seeing the lines, forms, colours, textures, and listening to Jary, I knew at that moment this would be my future—doing “wonderful things” like a mad man!

Henry Gotfryd, OALA, Toronto In response to the question of what drew me to the profession of landscape architecture, the answer is: Richard Strong, Founding Chairman, Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Toronto.

Jamie Douglas, OALA, Welland Growing up in the small town of Wingham, Ontario, as part of a family of six brothers and one younger sister, our mom was always telling us kids to “go outside and play.” In those days, there was no “creative play structure” in the local park, just a big, tall slide and three swings—boring! We mostly played in the woods at the edge of town, climbing trees and making forts amongst the bushes. This was the reason I developed a love for plants, nature, and creative design. After 45 years, I still love creating outdoor designs with plants and other materials. Now, get out there and play!

Jeff Kaster, OALA, Ottawa In high school, I had a lot of interests—natural science, art, sports, and even math. There didn’t seem to be a career that would accommodate all my interests and aptitudes until my mother found out about landscape architecture at the University of Guelph. Seemed like the perfect blend of art and science; and I did like to build things.

My mother was pleased with the job opportunities as she was worried that I would end up a starving artist living in her basement.

Jim Belisle, OALA, Toronto I studied architecture at McGill and Berkeley. I grew up in rural Quebec, spent Sundays at the Central Experimental Farm with my parents, and enjoyed the outdoors. While studying architecture, I was interested in how and where buildings were located: entrances, views, topography. At Berkeley, the landscape program and the architecture program were in the same building. I was fascinated by the landscape courses, and the professors: Garrett Eckbo and Christopher Alexander. Studying in a landscape different from that of my childhood made every view fresh. I studied landscape architecture in order to be a better architect. Architecture and landscape architecture enrich each other. It is a joy to be both.

John P. Sakala, OALA, Hamilton In 1966, I was interested in architecture and wanted to enter the University of Toronto. I had an interview with Michael Hough. It appeared that the architecture program was not possible for me, but he asked if I would be interested in the landscape architecture program. He explained the profession and I did some research. I was intrigued by the depth and expanse of the profession and the impacts on cities and spaces. I was accepted into the program and graduated in 1970.

I was in private practice with J. A. Floyd for a year and then in government and municipal practice until 2017. I have appreciated and been blessed with being a part of the profession of landscape architecture in various developments in the cities of Hamilton and Mississauga. The profession has an influence on our everyday environments which people take for granted.

What Drew You to the Profession of Landscape Architecture?

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Joseph Yu, Landscape Designer, Oakville I was drawn to the profession of landscape architecture because it connects people with nature, development, and recreation through sustainable, designed spaces.

Julia van der Laan de Vries, BLA, Mississauga I was studying fine art at the University of Guelph in 1986. I decided that it would be hard to make a living as an artist, so in 1988 I transferred into the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program. I loved the outdoors, gardening, and design, so it seemed like a good fit. I am glad that I made the decision to pursue this profession. There are so many facets to explore, and so many ways to advocate for the environment.

Julianna Nyhof Young, BLA student, University of Guelph Landscape architects have the power to reconnect people to nature by designing gardens and parks or by adding green spaces to otherwise industrialized areas. They have the skills to look at what exists now while also visualizing what can be. People may have their own opinions about what a beautiful space is, but landscape architects can weigh those opinions with the needs of the environment and the public and combine them into an innovative vision for the future.

Kaari Kitawi, Landscape Designer, Toronto I fell in love with landscape architecture in 1998 while reading James C. Rose’s book Creative Gardens at the University of Nairobi’s Architecture Library. At that time, none of the local universities were offering landscape architecture programs, and this library, though a major source of information, was only open to students and paying members. I was neither. However, with my new-found passion, I decided to start a landscape design-and-build firm to “learn on the job.” Fourteen years later, I enrolled in the University of Toronto’s MLA program.

Kevin Sadlemyer, recent BLA graduate, University of Guelph Growing up I always knew I was a very visual person who loved the outdoors and good design, I just didn’t know how to channel my energy at the time. That is, until I found the profession of landscape architecture shortly after designing and constructing my parents’ landscape back in 2012. Since then, I applied, attended, and graduated with distinction from the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Guelph and can see a bright future for the profession: an exciting, challenging, and rewarding future that places us as stewards of the land and designers for the people.

Lorenzo Ruffini, OALA, Mississauga My Grade 13 guidance counsellor suggested landscape architecture to me because of my love of art, music, social sciences, and dreaming. I visited the University of Guelph landscape architecture building unannounced and a professor showed me some of the work the students had worked on that semester. From that point on, I was hooked on learning everything I could about landscape architecture. I was accepted at the University of Toronto in 1981 and understand that I was the only candidate who played guitar during the interview as part of my creative portfolio. I still think that harmony is the key ingredient to exceptional design.

Michael Ormston-Holloway, ASLA, Toronto I embraced landscape architecture because of an intense desire to green cities more meaningfully. And I don’t just mean with a specimen-approach, but through a more robust, systemsapproach to designing the urban forest and its associated ecological connections.

We can do better. And I use the discipline of landscape architecture as my vehicle for this discussion.

If we can convince the world that our urban forest is more valuable than we currently understand it to be, then we will have the resources we need as designers to implement better details and ultimately a healthier and more resilient urban forest.

Miriam L. R. Mutton, OALA, Cobourg I remember to this day: in Grade 10, standing on my high-school 400-metre track after completing a cross-country running race.

My science teacher asked, what are you going to do after high school? And, he suggested I check out Guelph. Later, I went to the school guidance office and checked the career file library.

Landscape architect, “that is me!” I smiled to myself…except, no geography (a favourite topic in high school) and running. Well, I could run outside classes…

Pablo Jimenez Passano, MLA student, University of Toronto Early in the 1980s, when I started my undergraduate architecture studies in the Faculty of Architecture of Montevideo, Uruguay, my first studio project was an architectural proposal for a park where an Enterolobium contortisiliquum or “Timbo” was living in the proposed lot. This indigenous, ancient tree inspired me with enough respect and mysticism that I made my entire conceptual proposal around it. This tree and the life surrounding it was the spark that motivated me to seriously consider landscape architecture as a career.

What Drew You to the Profession of Landscape Architecture?

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Phoebe Solomon, BLA Student, University of Guelph Through the media, we all saw the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on families in New Orleans. During the winter break of 2012 and 2014, while I was in high school, I traveled from my home in Toronto to Louisiana to help make a difference. When a home was rebuilt, cleaning the yards to provide safe, clean, and beautiful outdoor areas was key to helping families rebuild their lives. Realizing the impact I could have, I traveled to Nicaragua and Costa Rica where I helped create community gardens that transformed landscapes for communities. After my experiences with planting trees in Nicaragua, building sidewalks in a rainforest in Costa Rica, and reconstructing yards for families affected by the damage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, I had time to reflect on how I could use the skills gained from these experiences to pursue a career in the future. I am an individual who cares about the community and environment around me, I am visually creative, I have an appreciation for nature, and I find fascination in designing outdoor spaces. I researched and discovered the field of landscape architecture.

Raphael Justewicz, OALA, Toronto Landscape architecture offered the writing of a design narrative that includes architecture, which is where I had been.

It has launched conversations about the common with the idiosyncratic, the sedate with the whimsical, the absolute with the sensory, the literal with the metaphorical, and the contemporary with the historic.

Sheila Murray-Belisle, OALA, Toronto In 1967-1968, I hitchhiked through Europe, then settled in Paris, where I went to school and spent half my time at art galleries.

Cities like London, Vienna, and Paris made me aware of urban design, and countries like Italy and England awoke my interest in gardens. I applied for law school but a boyfriend insisted that landscape architecture, which I had never heard of at the time, would be perfect….and it has been. I loved every minute of studying landscape architecture at the University of Toronto and Harvard, was inspired to teach, and I am grateful to still practise with a great partner.

Todd Smith, OALA, Toronto Landscape design let me sink into another world that had great meaning and good vibes; I still feel like I am making a positive contribution to our world.

Van Thi Diep, OALA member on Leave of Absence, Toronto It was Lucius O’Brien’s painting Sunrise on the Saguenay (1880) that led me to believe in landscape’s magic as a child. Wanting to be immersed in magic, I decided to become a landscape architect. I learned quickly that reality is much more lacklustre and disappointing. Only recently, I realized that magic is found in faith.

Nature, in all cultures, is an existential narrative of our humanworld relationships, and landscape, as the “processing” of nature through perception, intersects with materiality, consciousness, and spirituality. To see and create magic in landscapes, we need to believe in it.

Yong Uk Kim, Landscape Designer, Toronto Coming from a bioengineering background, I saw overarching parallels between my research and landscape architecture. My goal was to re-create a spinal disc by seeding stem cells onto a biodegradable scaffold, which would direct the alignment and prolific growth of stem cells—theoretically altering their morphology and enabling them to bear the weight of the human torso. In parallel, a successfully designed landscape is essentially a scaffold, having clear directional circulation routes, satisfying user experience, and functioning as a critical component in a greater environmental ecosystem. In this profession, I see landscapes to be as omnipotent as stem cells—an alluring medium that is living, flexible, and responsive, with an endless number of analyses and experiments that can be designed and performed on it to ensure the success of its function in enriching our lives.

Reflections

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Past Presidents of the OALA and senior practitioners reflect on the past, present, and future of landscape architecture, and share their thoughts on the professional milestones of their careers.

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[Photo 07] Virginia Burt, OALA, FCSLA, FASLA, Principal of Virginia Burt Designs Inc., specializes in healing landscapes and gardens, labyrinths, and sacred spaces for private residential, educational, and healthcare clients. Her work has achieved international recognition for master planning, private gardens, and public healthcare projects, receiving multiple national awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Palladio, and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA). Virginia’s work creates landscapes that reveal their natural context and reflect those who use them, demonstrating her deep respect for place and for the human dimensions of each project.

[Photo 01] Ed Holubowich, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, worked for the National Capital Commission (NCC) for 28 years, serving as Chief Landscape Architect for 18 years. The NCC has the responsibility and authority for the planning, design, development, and maintenance in perpetuity of all federally owned lands in the National Capital Region. It is within this context that Ed, as Chief Landscape Architect, was required to plan, organize, and coordinate the NCC’s landscape development program. He was also responsible for monitoring compliance with and implementation of the recommendations of NCC’s Advisory Committee on Design as they related to landscape and urban design. Providing direction and leadership for up to 15 professional and technical staff, Ed was responsible and accountable for an extremely diverse scope of design studies and projects, such as the master plans for Gatineau Park and the Greenbelt, and site planning and development of the Parliamentary Precinct.

[Photo 03] Since 1998, Linda Irvine, OALA, FCSLA, has been Manager, Parks and Open Space Development and has been responsible for overseeing, managing, and coordinating all new park development within the City of Markham, as well as managing selected urban design projects for the municipality. Prior to 1998, Linda served as a faculty member in landscape architecture at the University of Toronto, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Guelph. Since the 1990s, she has been active in the OALA, serving as a member of Council as Appointed Educator, Vice-President, President (2005-2007), and Past-President (2007-2009). She has also served on the CSLA Board of Directors as President-Elect (2008-2009); President (2009- 2010); and PastPresident (2010-2011). Currently, she is Chair of the College of Fellows.

[Photo 04] Brad Johnson, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, earned his BLA from the University of Illinois in 1958 and his MLA from Harvard in 1963. He worked for Project Planning Associates from 1958 into the 1960s. In 1966, with a planner and engineer, he co-founded Johnson Sustronk Weinstein & Associates Limited (sold to associates in 1987). He founded B J + Associates in 1987. His work included planning and design for all levels of government, institutions, and the private sector in Canada and abroad. He was a visiting teacher in Canada, the U.S., and Australia. Johnson is Past President and Fellow of the CSLA and Academician of the RCA. [Photo 15] Walter Kehm, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, has had a life-long interest in the integration of nature with cities and communities. After his university education at Syracuse and Harvard, he began his practice at Project Planning Associates in 1965. Following his time at the firm, he taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and, when he returned to Toronto, started the firm EDA Collaborative with three colleagues.

In 1986, he was appointed Director of the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph, where he remained until his retirement in 2000. Since then, he has been a Senior Principal with Landinc and recently completed Trillium Park at Ontario Place. He continues to practise on a part-time basis with commissions in Egypt, South Africa, and Canada.

[Photo 05] Steve Moorhead, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, received his BLA from Penn State University in 1962 and his MLA from the University of Michigan in 1963. His first job in Toronto was at Sasaki Strong in 1964. Major projects he has worked on include McMaster University; York University; Expo 67; Gros Morne National Park; Fathom Five Provincial Park; Writing on Stone Provincial Park; Ryerson Community Park; CBC Headquarters Park; Muskoka Wharf; and Canada’s Wonderland. A founding partner of Forrec in the 1980s, Steve has designed theme parks in countries around the world.

[Photo 09] Cecelia Paine, OALA, FCSLA, FASLA, recently retired from the University of Guelph, where she had been on faculty since 1990. Prior to that, she practised in Ottawa; her firm focused on urban design, heritage conservation, urban park design, and open-space planning. Active in professional organizations, Cecelia served as president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and the OALA and was founding editor of Landscapes/Paysages. She currently serves on the board of the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation and is a member of the National Capital Commission Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Real Estate.

06 [Photo 11] Owen Scott, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, served as President of both the OALA (1973-1975) and the CSLA (1976-1978). He is a graduate of the University of Guelph and the University of Michigan; was a professor in Guelph’s School of Landscape Architecture (1969-1982); edited and published Landscape Architecture Canada (1975-1981), the CSLA’s quarterly magazine; was a Secretary-Treasurer of the CSLA College of Fellows (1979-1989); was a member of the CSLA Accreditation Council; was chair of the City of Guelph’s LACAC (now Heritage Guelph); was Director of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals; was a landscape architect with Project Planning Associates Limited (19641969) and principal with The Pacific Landplan Collaborative Ltd. (1977-1986) and The Landplan Collaborative Ltd. (1977-2018).

[Photo 12] Carolyn Woodland, OALA, FCSLA, MCIP, RPP, joined the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) following 25 years of private practice with Hough Stansbury Woodland, later HWNDL, where she was a managing partner. In her current TRCA position as Senior Director, Planning & Development, she has overseen the environmental planning, development review, policy, and environmental assessment functions within 18 municipalities in the Toronto region.

Carolyn’s significant work has helped to protect Ontario’s future by defining plans to manage growth, protect and enhance greenspace, protect watersheds, and focus on climate change. Her 40year career is founded on a passionate advocacy for integrating design and science for a vibrant public realm—embedded in her award-recognized consulting, academic teaching (University of Toronto), and public service.

[Photo 02] Rob Wright, OALA, FCSLA, has a BSc from the University of Ottawa and an MLA from the University of Guelph. A professor at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, his work is interdisciplinary and eclectic in nature. He is also the Principle of iz, an open and exploratory design practice that seeks to develop creative design experimentation in many disciplines, including landscape architecture, fashion, furniture, art, and the industrial arts. Rob is the Director of the Centre for Landscape Research, bringing the University of Toronto’s expertise together with community, industry, and government research Interests. He is also an associate of the Cities Centre at the University of Toronto and cross-appointed with U of T’s Department of Geography.

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Devonian Square, Toronto Elsie Nisonen Fowler Rooftop, Ohio

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The following text excerpts are from video interviews conducted by the OALA’s Legacy Task Force and from email, phone, and in-person interviews conducted by members of the Ground Editorial Board. To view the full video interviews, visit www.oala.ca/profession/oala-at-50/ (click on the “Video Interviews” link) or the OALA’s YouTube channel (search “OALA Official” on YouTube to subscribe).

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Courtesy of Owen Scott Rendering detail of Trillium Park and William G. Davis Trail, Ontario Place, Toronto Courtesy of Walter Kehm

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Owen Scott: The founding of the OALA in 1968 was a turning point because it was the first time in the province that landscape architects had a collective voice. The CSLA existed from 1934, but it was a national organization, not a local organization. The OALA became that strong collective local voice, though it wasn’t really provincial—it was really just two cities, Ottawa and Toronto. Nonetheless, that voice was the turning point for landscape architects.

Almost no municipalities had landscape architects on staff back in 1968.

CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and the National Capital Commission (NCC) were probably the only public agencies that had landscape architects on staff. After the OALA was founded, and with the students that came out of the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto, landscape architects started to be engaged by municipalities. Most of them weren’t called landscape architects, they were called park planners, but they were landscape architects nonetheless.

That was a real turning point because that meant that these young people who had all kinds of great ideas were now in positions of responsibility and authority, so they could engage landscape architects to do the work that municipalities were doing.

With students graduating from Guelph and Toronto, we didn’t need to import landscape architects anymore. As a matter of fact, we now export landscape architects.

Many of my students have ended up in the States. They’re all over the world.

Linda Irvine: For me, the most important turning point for the profession was in November 2005 when in my capacity as President of the OALA, the membership ratified changes to the bylaws that govern membership entrance requirements including education, experience, and examination requirements. These bylaw

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changes to membership entrance options reconciled the expanding range of activities and areas of practice within landscape architecture with OALA’s legislative responsibilities to serve and to protect the public interest. The bylaw changes provided for full membership with “Certificate and Seal” and full membership with “Certificate only.”

These bylaw changes acknowledged the full breadth and depth of the profession by setting appropriate membership standards and examination requirements to permit the use of the title landscape architect by individuals who practise within all areas of the ever-expanding profession. As such, these changes provided the opportunity for professional status, recognition, and representation for those practising in non-traditional and emerging areas of the profession, including those that may not result in built works, as well as those who provide traditional landscape architectural design, construction, and contract administration services.

Ed Holubowich: I believe that my most important contribution was to conceive and develop standard details for the concept of Cluster Campground Units based on the pinwheel principle. Traditionally, until then, campsites were located along the sides of long, winding roadways—always noisy and dusty. This new system, using aerial topographic survey mapping along with site reconnaissance, allowed more efficient and coherent use of available usable level-land areas, while decreasing roadway construction, increasing campsite density, and with greater conservation of existing vegetation offering more privacy and camping pleasure.

During this time, landscape architects did not have professional status in the federal public service. We were hired as technical officers, receiving much less pay than architects, city planners, and engineers. To correct this unfairness, with the help of colleague Peter Coe, we prepared a report

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to be submitted to federal Treasury Board officials. It contained a brief history of our profession, educational requirements to graduate, a description of work done by landscape architects, the code of ethics, and professional practice standards.

After several meetings with the Board, our efforts paid off. By the mid 1970s, federally employed landscape architects received professional classification and commensurate compensation with parity to the other professions. This was a benchmark achievement that may have had a ripple effect on other levels of government employing landscape architects.

Carolyn Woodland: My years at the University of Toronto with teachers such as Ed Fife, Richard Strong, Bill Rock, and Gerry Englar were stimulating and rich in a studio culture that always nurtured great debate, excellence in our design endeavours, and a sense of mission that grew out of our varied project explorations and the exemplary leadership of our mentors. I will always be so grateful for a scholarship in my third year at school that landed me in the office of Hough Stansbury + Associates.

They supported a young woman in the office at a time when these positions were rare, and they never let me down in their encouragement. Although I only drafted and prepared presentation graphics for two years before I was given any project, I soaked up the dynamic projects of a firm that already had a well-known urban design reputation in Toronto but was also building a resource management reputation with a full team of biologists and field scientists. This new team worked side by side within a multidisciplinary team of landscape architects, architects, and planners—a completely unique style of office for 1976.

My career spanned 25 years with this groundbreaking consulting firm, working across Canada and even to a few selected international locations. The leadership in

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Devonian Square, Toronto

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St James Park, Victorian garden, Toronto

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Norma’s Garden, The Gathering Place, Ohio

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York University, Academic Science Courtyard, 1989

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Trillium Park and William G. Davis Trail, Ontario Place, Toronto

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Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto

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Richard Mandelkorn, courtesy of Virginia Burt Model for University of Guelph Master Plan Courtesy of Walter Kehm

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design and ecological management was masterful with Michael Hough and James Stansbury in the early years. Huff and Puff, as the firm was nicknamed, became a firm with an ideology about linking science and design—a foundation of “design with nature.”

Walter Kehm: The founding bases for the OALA were: health, welfare, and public safety. These were the pivotal issues of why we should be a self-regulating profession. If we don’t get to the roots of why we are professionals, we’re going to miss the ball. We have to hold onto these principles of health, welfare, and public safety. Landscape architects can marry all these things together—this is what we do.

Brad Johnson: The big turning point for the profession in Ontario was the creation of schools of landscape architecture at the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto. Candidates for these programs evolved from those with green thumbs to those with creative spirits. This reinforced landscape architects’ capacities for broader scope in the design of the land.

Collaboration with other design and planning disciplines became feasible.

Carolyn Woodland: The work of the Crombie Commission on the Toronto waterfront was an important period.

Demonstrating how landscape changes and urban design could transform these neighbourhoods and build environmental health was a key shift forward for the city and the profession of landscape architecture. In my opinion, the second era of change occurred in 2003-2004 when the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) and the Rouge Park Management Plan were introduced by the Province. The change in ecological thinking to ecosystem planning, and bringing the need to manage and restore into the urban landscape, was established in legislation.

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Carolyn Woodland: Michael Hough and our office team were determined to embed ecological thinking into the office’s work—our studio was a testing lab for new work in landscape restoration and ecological site design. This approach was not popular in the 1980s, and it was difficult to bring clients around to trying new approaches to landscape design and management. A more low-maintenance and habitat-creation approach was still new to the general public.

Public agencies were more open to experimenting with sustainable landscape design and investing in naturalization techniques. The National Capital Commission was a leader in this movement for naturalized landscapes, experimenting on acres of their vast greenway system. Conservation authorities were also changing as teams of ecologists worked towards the replication of habitats for wetlands, forests, and riparian areas.

Cecelia Paine: The challenges, I would say, started with having people understand what it is we are capable of as landscape architects. We would often be part of a team, and we struggled with having the team understand or develop awareness that landscape architects could do more than the assumptions many people had. Oftentimes, we would be asked to contribute at the end point of a project as opposed to the beginning. This was even more severe at that time than it is today.

Owen Scott: Landscape architects have been at the forefront of looking for natural solutions to design and planning for millennia. Conservation is obviously the way to go. In the early 1970s and the late 1960s, landscape architects were doing revegetation and restoration of streams— Fletcher’s Creek in Brampton and Etobicoke Creek in Mississauga, for instance. Most

people look at those places today and think they’ve always looked like that. But they were ditches. They were concretelined channels. They were engineered solutions that weren’t solutions. Landscape architects changed that, re-engineered them if you like, and turned them back into natural areas. That’s the direction that we’ve been going in, and that’s the direction we have to continue to go if we’re going to do anything about climate change.

We need to think about the big picture in terms of the professions working together.

Landscape architects need to continue to be, and even more so, well-rounded people. They need to know as much as they can possibly know about conservation, about biology. There are lots of different places for us to be, but we still need each and every one of us as landscape architects to be as well-rounded as we can possibly be.

Cecelia Paine: There were some challenges for me as a female, not so much with my co-workers and other landscape architects, but with other consultants and clients. For the most part, I tried to ignore sexist actions and sought clients whom I respected.

Linda Irvine: Over the past 20 years in Markham, our park development group has dedicated itself to adopting inclusive approaches to the planning and designing of parks and open spaces. Since Markham is one of Canada’s most culturally diverse communities, we have sought to understand our residents’ diverse needs, values, cultural identities, and social norms, and to translate this understanding into the making of more relevant and meaningful places. By creating great parks where residents of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can come together to socialize and recreate, different groups become comfortable with each other, thereby strengthening our community and its

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cohesiveness. We know that just the opposite happens when, by design or in ignorance, parks are exclusionary and are made inhospitable to certain groups of people. My greatest design challenge over the past two decades has been to ensure that public spaces are more inclusive and welcoming by making sure that residents see their values, preferences, and cultural symbols expressed in Markham’s parks and the public realm.

Virginia Burt: Past and present, a design challenge is always matching the time needed for design, with the time available.

In the past, finding available research on nature’s healing abilities was a challenge; today, however, there are fabulous resources.

Now, the challenge is keeping current on technology and product development.

Rob Wright: I never differentiate much between the urban and suburban. I think it’s an artificial definition—it’s all urban.

It’s all been urbanized, and some of the greatest challenges we face are in some of the suburban areas, and particularly as they change.

Walter Kehm: Unless we can address human behavioural issues, climate change is going to get worse and worse. Is the role of landscape architects to make things pretty? No. Pretty is after we’ve looked at health, welfare, and safety.

Rob Wright: I often say to architects that our work—the work of landscape architects— can die. If it’s not done well, it can die.

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Brad Johnson: Over the years, designers have changed from using pencils to using digital tools, enabling greater capacity and interchange. But what still remains at the core of any design challenge is understanding the physical and social context of the project—with the next largest scale and the next, etc.—and what aspects make it matter. This enables landscape architects to acquire meaningful perspectives (including those on climate change) to better guide design decisions and support multidisciplinary collaborations.

Designing rational solutions in response to any challenge, at any scale on, in, under, and over our landscape, is the basic task in the science of landscape architecture.

But creating functionality and beauty in ways that stir the blood, make spirits soar, and stimulate contemplation is called art; a transcendent, sometimes elusive goal, but a worthy quest for landscape architects.

Walter Kehm: Whatever I’m working on— an individual residence, the design of a city, or on a park—I’m thinking, what is it going to do to influence human behaviour?

What are we doing to enhance wildlife?

What do we do that makes people aware of water as a precious commodity—more precious than gold or oil?

Owen Scott: I think we respect our rural landscape much more so than we did 50 years ago, but we still have a heck of a long way to go. There are dozens and dozens of farmsteads and farm buildings and farm landscapes and agricultural landscapes that really belong on the heritage register. Most municipalities don’t include those on their heritage register. But it’s starting to change, as we have more knowledge and more respect for our rural landscapes and rural heritage.

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Cecelia Paine: The Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation is an opportunity for landscape architects in Canada to develop a legacy for the profession. The focus of the foundation, which is now 30 years old, is to put our efforts into research, communication, and scholarship that benefit not only the profession of landscape architecture, but what we call the ideals of landscape architecture. These are the values we hold, many of which are shared by the public and other professionals.

Walter Kehm: I think landscape architects should be explorers. We should be involved with expeditions.

What’s happening to the islands that are disappearing in the Pacific? What’s happening with the drought in Africa? I worked in Africa for a year, and I saw how people were adapting to their environment, and how they were trying to keep their cattle alive and keep their families alive. As a landscape architect, you begin to say, what can I do? One of the first things we did was to start tree planting, because the trees were being cut down for firewood. My role as a landscape architect was to replant, and then we found out that a lot of people had eye diseases, such as glaucoma, because there was no groundcover anymore and lots of dust. For the most impoverished people, with the greatest health problems, what can we as landscape architects do? What can we do to help with health, welfare, and human dignity?

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Virginia Burt: Motivation is such a personal journey and, for me, it is a journey of the heart. I love the wide range of projects and diversity of challenges each project brings.

I am grateful to have found landscape architecture and such a wonderful collection of professionals to work with. Recognition by allied professions of the art and science of our profession and by pioneers such as Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, our first companion of the Order of Canada, keeps me looking forward.

To me, there is much to be done to improve and further green our homes, communities, healthcare facilities, cities, and planet—I am excited and thrilled to be a part of the journey.

Steve Moorhead: There are now so many things you can get into as a landscape architect that I don’t think you would have had the opportunity to do in the past. You would not have had the role that you do now. I think that’s the future.

Linda Irvine: I believe that landscape architecture-based mitigation strategies and adaptive measures can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and temperature increases. Many landscape architects work to manage sustainable and healthy forests to serve as carbon sinks, and others design and implement low-carbon, smart-growth communities that provide for mixed-use neighbourhoods, complete streets, diverse forms of transportation, and ample parks and green spaces. Also, the landscape architectural profession is uniquely positioned to create climate-resilient communities that have the capacity to cope with, and react to, a rapidly changing environment.

Walter Kehm: Landscape architects today have so much to offer because of our background in art, science, and engineering.

We are integrative people. We can integrate architectural thinking, we can integrate engineering thinking, and we’re involved up to the top of our hip waders with mental

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health issues. The current work I’m doing now is on prison reform, and how we can bring horticultural therapy back to prison environments. I can tell you stories about people who are in a prison horticultural program—one individual, a man in his 40s, watched this bulb grow, and he sees a flower for the first time in years, and he says, “Oh my gosh, I’ve done something of value.

I created something of value. I created something.” That is the kind of experience that shows how we can introduce people to nature. It’s so vital to our mandate to create humanity, to create conditions for humans to heal, thrive, grow, and be alive.

Carolyn Woodland: Landscape architects and our scientists need to work together on managing our forests, wetlands, and vulnerable ravines not only to sustain our water management systems for resiliency, but to reduce the impact of temperature change, and reduce vulnerabilities to disease and infestation deterioration.

Rob Wright: We need collective intelligence to solve problems. A lot of my educational strategy with students is to get them introduced to other disciplines. I often think of landscape architecture as a discipline of disciplines. We interact with so many different groups, and learning how to do that is really important. Particularly in terms of respecting Indigenous knowledge and people who live on the land. These are really interesting times for us, because our work will shift with that.

The great thing about landscape architecture is that we can move in many different directions depending on our interests, right?

Which makes it a really interesting profession.

Carolyn Woodland: As a young professional, I thought that good, thoughtful design of our public spaces alone could sell the value of landscape architecture. Today, and with the challenges of city-building before us, good, thoughtful design needs to blend with a political agenda for neighbourhoods and open spaces that contribute to health, social

inclusion, and environmental imperatives.

Our work as landscapes architects needs to be fueled with creative solutions for urban revitalization and landscape restoration as a foundation for open spaces of the future.

Virginia Burt: Climate change is here, and we are the profession most qualified and most experienced to help. Our time is now, and we can be even more of a solution by writing, publishing, speaking, researching, informing and advocating, and evaluating to produce evidence-based design solutions.

Cecelia Paine: Landscape architects have always dealt with the issues that are coming about because of climate change. We’ve been dealing with stormwater management as part of our profession since its inception.

When you think back to Olmsted’s early work in Boston, it was about how to manage stormwater and overflows. Obviously, though, what’s new is the pace at which climate change is happening.

The research that we are doing at the University of Guelph will benefit the profession.

It will help us understand better how to design green roofs, for example, and how shade can influence people’s comfort and health. Health professionals are becoming interested in how landscape is designed and how communities are designed, and I think we’ll see stronger ties with health professionals in the future.

What I love about landscape architecture is that you have two living systems that you’re trying to meld. You have the living system of the earth and all the life that it supports, and then you have people and human systems. Putting those two systems together is what has excited me about being a landscape architect.

Todd Smith, OALA, conducted videotaped interviews with Walter Kehm, Steven Moorhead, Cecelia Paine, and Owen Scott, and the interview (via letter) with Ed Holubowich.

Sarah Culp, OALA, conducted the email interview with Virginia Burt. Eric Klaver, OALA, conducted the in-person interview with Brad Johnson. James MacDonald Nelson conducted the in-person interview with Rob Wright.

Trish Clarke, OALA, conducted the email interview with Linda Irvine. Ruthanne Henry, OALA, conducted the email interview with Carolyn Woodland.

Delving into the History of Edwin Kay

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Text by Ron Koudys, OALA, FCSLA

Edwin Kay was an interesting and influential man who helped shape the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) and what would eventually become the OALA, yet relatively little information is available about him on the public record. While attending a fundraiser, I met Katharine Wanger, Kay’s granddaughter, and she agreed to share family stories and information with me.

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Edwin Kay’s submission for competition “Proposed North-Western Entrance to the City of Hamilton” Courtesy of Royal Botanical Gardens Dyer Memorial, Huntsville Courtesy of Muskoka Digital Archives / Bracebridge Public Library Cawthra-Elliot Estate, Mississauga Wikimedia Commons, Briantoronto Edwin and Evelyn Kay in an undated photograph Courtesy of Katharine Wanger Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens monument, Toronto Wikimedia Commons

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Edwin Kay was born in Whorlton, England, on June 1, 1889. After receiving his formal schooling, Edwin was sent to apprentice with the head gardener at one of the Queen Mother’s residences (Streatlam Castle) in the town of Barnard Castle. It was here that his knowledge of horticulture grew, and he developed a passion for roses. Over

Delving into the History of Edwin Kay

time, he took over as head gardener and became quite well known as an expert in the design and culture of rose gardens.

After his marriage to Evelyn Forshaw in 1913, Kay and his wife moved to Europe, where he took a position as head gardener at one of the German royal family’s castles. Their time there was short-lived, though, as the threat of war caused them to return to England.

In 1915, Kay was called up for service in the British Army. He was captured by the Germans and spent two years in a prisoner-of-war camp. On his release, he began planning to emigrate and, in 1920, he moved to Canada. Kay thought of himself as a professional landscape architect and set up a design office in Toronto at 96 Bloor Street West.

Kay’s practice did very well in the booming days of Toronto during the 1920s, and he completed many high-profile projects. He was one of nine landscape architects who regularly met at the Diet Kitchen Restaurant on Bloor Street and eventually formed the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and Town Planners. Humphrey Carver (CSLA President in 1939), while speaking at the 50th-anniversary meeting of the CSLA in 1984, described Edwin Kay as “having a small moustache, a black suit and a watch-chain hung across his waist coat; Kay looked more like a businessman than the other more ‘tweedy’ members of the group. He belonged to the management side of landscape work and had the air of a practical man who knew how to get things done.” (Ken Phipps, A History of the Cawthra-Elliott Estate, September 1989.)

Kay undertook a number of projects for the City of Toronto, perhaps due to his excellent sense of politics and his strong connections at city hall. Some of these projects included the cuts for the TTC subway and the Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens.

Fresh from winning a prize for his design of an Italian garden at the Canadian National Exhibition, Kay was selected by a committee to design a garden in memory of Alexander

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Muir (composer of the song “The Maple Leaf Forever”), originally located across the street from Mount Pleasant Cemetery, in Toronto. The construction of the Yonge subway line, in 1951, required that the gardens, gates, and stone walls be moved to their current location near Yonge and Lawrence, and Kay was hired to supervise the move.

A few of his other projects included the estate of Governor-General Massey at Port Hope, the Dyer Memorial in Huntsville, the Cawthra-Elliott estate in Mississauga, the landscape surrounding the Shell Tower at the CNE in Toronto, and numerous private homes, many of which featured beautiful rose gardens.

Kay served as president of the CSLA, which had formed in 1934, for two terms: first in 1937 and then again from 1950 to 1952. In 1946, he appeared at Queen’s Park with Gordon Culham (first president of the CSLA in 1934, and again in 1956-58), expressing the CSLA’s concern that the professional engineers’ association had included town planning in their field as part of a new bill that was being considered by the Ontario legislature. They were able to point to a list of new town planning projects being carried out by landscape architects, while no projects were being designed by engineers.

Today, this action seems particularly appropriate considering the OALA’s recent attempts to strengthen the place of landscape architecture with a Practice Act. In 1948, Kay attended the inaugural Congress of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) in Cambridge, England. He went to a number of these international events and became a life member of IFLA. Following the first Congress, he wrote an article for the American magazine Landscape Architecture in which he discussed one of his greatest concerns: “…the student of today does not receive an adequate training in plant ecology and lacks generally the basic knowledge of the materials he has to work. It is one thing to know design, but design without proper execution is worthless.”

Kay’s focus on plants was also demonstrated by his commitment to the Men of

Trees Society. The organization planted trees around the world, and Kay served as president of the Canadian branch. [See Ground 38, “Faith and Silviculture,” by Camilla Allen, for more information about the Men of Trees Society.]

In 1951, Kay was speaking as the president of the CSLA during the opening of Landscape Art Week at the Montreal Botanical Gardens, and he stated that Canada needed a landscape department in at least one of its universities. Francis Blue (one of the CSLA’s nine founders) wrote that the first move toward professional status occurred in 1952 when Edwin Kay “pointed out the desirability of protection by legislation for Landscape Architects similar to that enjoyed by the allied professions of engineering and architecture. The great drawback to this was the lack of a School of Landscape Architecture in Canada.” (Francis Blue, History of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, unpublished manuscript.) Thirteen years later, in 1964, Victor Chanasyk, OALA (Emeritus), and Jack Milliken, OALA (Emeritus), helped to found Canada’s first school of landscape architecture at the University of Guelph.

Kay’s wife Evelyn died in 1951, and he married twice more before his own death on December 9, 1958. It must be said that Edwin Kay’s foresight and commitment to the profession of landscape architecture has left a legacy that we enjoy today. He demonstrated resilience and a passion that laid the groundwork for future generations. In his Landscape Architecture article, he wrote: “opportunities exist and are presenting themselves daily in such a way as we have never before known… We, of the profession, shall be very remiss in our duties and obligations if we permit these opportunities to pass us by without exerting our every effort to cope with them in a masterly and professional manner.” This call to action is as applicable today as it was in post-war 1948. The contribution made by this important figure in the history of our profession should be recorded with those others who did so much to shape what the OALA is today.

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Ron Koudys, OALA, FCSLA, ASLA, is a retired professor of landscape design at Fanshawe College and maintains an active private practice in London, Ontario.

Hancock Woodlands

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Courtesy of Hancock family Macklin Hancock and workers using the “Burlap Cloud” method of propagation at Woodland Nurseries, which Leslie Hancock developed by adapting a propagation technique he witnessed in China.

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Marjorie, Macklin, and Don Hancock in the Woodland Nurseries office

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Rhododendrons in bloom at Woodland Nurseries

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Courtesy of Hancock family Dorothy Hancock Courtesy of Hancock family

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Leslie Hancock, 1950

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Woodland Nurseries, 1946

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Courtesy of Hancock family Yoshio Shimoda, 1943, with the Woodland Nurseries truck. Leslie and Dorothy Hancock were outraged by the Canadian government’s internment of Japanese-Canadians during the war, so Leslie turned part of the shed into living quarters and hired a number of young Japanese-Canadian men to work at the nursery (policies of the day permitted them to work, instead of being placed in internment camps, if they were housed on-site).

On a warm spring evening, cherry blossoms just breaking bud, the sound of bird song and the wind whispering through the pine trees is all that can be heard in the Hancock Woodlands. Amongst the trees, it is easy to forget that this ten-acre parcel sits in the heart of Mississauga. The group of white pines, standing on this land for hundreds of years, is what drew Dorothy and Leslie Hancock to the land in the 1930s. The trees remain a touchstone for the family today—a family that is deeply rooted in this place, a family that regards their role as stewards of the land with a deep sense of purpose and strong emotion.

After purchasing the property, Leslie and Dorothy Hancock set about building a home and developing a nursery business on

Courtesy of Hancock family

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Hancock Woodlands

the site, Woodland Nurseries. A graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College, Leslie Hancock laid out the nursery property on an axis responding to the pines as well as to the organizing grid established by the surrounding roads. The fields were soon filled with young trees and shrubs, and, most famously, many rhododendrons and azaleas imported from Asia. At its height, the nursery carried more than 30 species and many more cultivars of these specialties such as Rhododendron catawbiense.

Leslie Hancock would go on to lecture in horticulture at the Ontario Agricultural College, where he developed a keen interest in the cultivation of rhododendrons.

In winters, he would carve out winding paths through the woodland, laid out with a sensitivity to nature and the landscape. The magic of discovery that the winding layout created can still be read in the landscape today. This is especially true in spring, when a burst of pink rhododendrons explodes amongst a backdrop of deep green.

The Hancocks had three children—Macklin, Donald, and Marjorie—and each grew up with a strong sense of place and respect for nature. All three worked in the nursery for periods of time, as did some members of subsequent generations. Following the deaths of Leslie and Dorothy Hancock, all three children became owners. Donald conducted his landscape business in the latter years from the nursery office. Marjorie began working with Leslie a number of years before his death, at first designing the nursery catalogues, and eventually moving more into horticultural practice, apprenticing with her father. Fraser Hancock, son of Macklin, also studied horticulture at the University of Guelph, and went on to co-manage the nursery with Marjorie after Leslie’s death, Marjorie serving as office/ business manager and Fraser as production manager, and eventually business partner.

For a time, members of the fourth generation were also involved. At the height of operations, Woodland Nurseries also had satellite farms: a property on Trafalgar Road in Hornby, where Donald and family lived; leased land on the 8th line; and land under

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a Hydro right-of-way on Creditview Road in Meadowvale (now Mississauga).

The eldest son, Macklin, studied at the Ontario Agricultural College (then part of the University of Toronto) and afterwards studied landscape architecture and planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He was called away from his studies for a time to work on the Don Mills New Town plans, and went on to found Project Planning Associates, a pioneering firm with a multidisciplinary approach to practice. The firm employed landscape architects, planners, engineers, and environmental specialists, and completed a wide range of local and international projects, including Centre Island Park, the Don Mills New Town master plan, the waterfront of Kuwait, the University of Guelph Master Plan, and the City of Xi’an in China. Informed by the values instilled in him by his parents and grandparents, Macklin Hancock’s work took inspiration from the form and structure of the existing landscape, and he always strove to work in harmony with nature. His daughter, Carol Hancock, recalls her father forever reading the landscape through the eyes of a landscape architect, telling her to “look at the grade” on a family road trip, his eyes transfixed on the winding Tennessee road so artfully carved into the hills by the Tennessee Valley Authority. During his career, Macklin served as the President of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, as well as the Canadian Institute of Planners. The Project Planning Associates Ltd./Macklin Hancock fonds are archived at the University of Guelph.

Donald Hancock followed in the footsteps of his older brother Macklin, and also went on to become a landscape architect.

He worked alongside Macklin at Project Planning Associates on projects such as the master plan for Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Don Mills, and the Kuwait waterfront, and notes that the most rewarding aspect of the Kuwait project was working alongside his mentor, his brother. Donald can still recall discussions with Macklin about siting houses, studying the topography, the woodlands, and the railway tracks that cut lines through the landscape.

The youngest of the three children, Marjorie, also spent time working with Project Planning Associates, bringing her training in art and design at the Ontario College of Art to the firm to complete colour palettes for developments such as Don Mills. Her design philosophy, as recalled by her son Mark, was that horticulture, art, and design should all be carried out in modest scale. She went on to co-manage Woodland Nurseries, becoming a very knowledgeable horticulturist and a fierce steward of the woodland.

At a time when so many cities are disconnected from nature and from place, the legacy of the Hancock Woodlands is an important one. A family so closely connected to the landscape in which they lived and worked is remarkable. Their shared respect for nature, and its influence over their practice of landscape architecture and horticulture, as well as many related design endeavours, is inspiring.

In 2010, the Hancock family sold seven acres of the ten-acre parcel that was once Woodland Nurseries to the City of Mississauga, hoping to preserve the property for generations to come as parkland. The remaining three acres are still owned within the family, and are the sites of several family homes. The nursery closed at the end of January 2010, when the sale to the City was final. Fraser Hancock notes that his wish for the property is that it continues on as “a touchstone for people to connect to nature, something they can experience.” Today, the first phase of the park has been completed, making the remarkable woodland, where generations of a family rooted themselves in a landscape, accessible to all. It is a place of quiet refuge in the city, where the connectedness of people and place is deeply felt.

BIO/ Shannon Baker, OALA, is a landscape

architect at Waterfront Toronto and a

member of the Ground Editorial Board.

The author thanks Grace Hancock, Carol Hancock, Donald L. Hancock, Donald W. Hancock, Fraser Hancock, and Mark Van Alstyne for generously volunteering their time to be interviewed for this article.

TO view additional content related to This article, Visit www.groundmag.ca.

Preserving Our Past for the Future

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From the Dunington-Grubb collection, Bain Estate, Oriole, Ontario Courtesy of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives From the Lois Lister collection, Cormack residence Courtesy of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives

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Text by Walter Kehm, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA

The Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives

A little-known gem resides in the University of Guelph Library. This gem is actually a seed waiting to grow to its full glory, and it is called the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives. No, it’s not a dusty set of drawings, plans, and reports tucked away for posterity. Instead, it’s a lively and growing place where landscape architects and others interested in our cultural history can retreat, peruse, and learn about the evolution of our landscapes and the people who helped shape them. In short, the archives illuminates the story of landscape architecture in the province and the landscape architects who have had a significant role in developing our public and private spaces.

The School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph is in a unique position to make use of this living history.

The students and faculty have at their doorstep the historic works of important firms such as Project Planning Associates

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Ltd. as well as Dunington-Grubb and Stensson and influential landscape architects such as George Tanaka. These are not necessarily everyday, familiar names today, but at the archives their vibrant legacy of insight and creative thinking lives on. The beauty of the archives is that it is available free of charge to all.

The history of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives can be traced to 1977 when Owen Scott, OALA (Emeritus), acquired almost one thousand Dunington-Grubb and Stensson drawings associated with close to 250 projects and deposited them in the holdings of the University of Guelph Library. Then, in 1987, with the initiative of Jack Milliken, OALA (Emeritus), materials related to the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture Awards came to the University of Guelph. Award-winning slides, images, and plans have been placed annually in the archives since 1998, and the holdings now contain more than 600 projects.

Preserving Our Past for the Future

This collection of work was not, in my view, adequate, as the archives lacked critical mass.

I was impressed with the work of Phyllis Lambert and the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. On visiting this unique centre, the possibilities for landscape architecture were evident. And thus, I embarked on expanding the University of Guelph archives. A pivotal moment occurred in 1996 when I was the Director of the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph (1986-2000) and the Tanaka family approached me with a question of how they could preserve and protect the work of George Tanaka. I had been associated with George Tanaka since 1965 when he was the treasurer of our still-forming provincial group known simply as Landscape Architects.

I decided that the University of Guelph and the profession needed a place where materials related to landscape architecture could be placed for posterity. Discussions with library staff ensued and resulted in the formation, in 1998, of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives at the University of Guelph. The George Tanaka documents were the first additions to the already assembled materials from Owen Scott’s collection and the CSLA awards. This was followed by the addition of materials from the work of Lois Lister; du Toit Allsopp Hillier; Cecelia Paine; Frances McLeod Blue; Stanley Thompson; and Project Planning Associates.

I would like to issue a clarion call to all OALA members to participate in “growing” the collection by adding their works to the archive. It should be the repository of our creative efforts, documenting the decades of work by all to shape our landscape and thereby improve the lives of people. As our membership matures, we are witnessing the passing of our founders, whose work should not go into the dustbin of history. I lament that Don Graham’s work, for example, was not included before his passing. As a profession, we should be encouraging scholarly work to explore how our landscapes have been enhanced as a result of our efforts. As the OALA celebrates its 50th anniversary, we have a truly remarkable archive and legacy for the future.

BIO/

Walter Kehm, OALA (Emeritus), FCSLA, is currently a visiting design critic and lecturer at Carleton University’s Master in Architecture program and a Senior Principal at LANDinc, with projects at Trillium Park at Ontario Place, the Humber Bay Community Recreation Plan, and a variety of projects in Egypt.

His current research work is involved with the development of indoor orangeries for private residences.

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From the George Tanaka collection, construction details of waterfalls for Mr. and Mrs. James F. Crothers’ property, Toronto, 1959 Courtesy of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives From the Hancock collection, Dodoma Shops perspective, Chamwino Village, Tanzania Courtesy of the Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives

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Support the Centre Text by Kathryn Harvey

The Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives provides an important resource for helping us understand our rich social, cultural, and environmental history. Its diverse holdings require highly specialized knowledge and care in order to make the collections easily accessible to the public and to ensure that archival materials are rehoused into acid-free containers and stored in a proper climate-controlled environment.

This degree of specialization comes at a cost, so we always welcome monetary donations to support our efforts. An endowment to help maintain the Centre would be most welcome. Information about monetary donations and endowments (both of which are eligible for tax receipts) is available from Breanna Wells, Senior Development Manager for the Library, at bwells02@uoguelph.ca.

BIO/

Kathryn Harvey is Head of Archival and Special Collections, Centre for Canadian Landscape Architecture Archives, at the University of Guelph.

TO view additional content related to This article, Visit www.groundmag.ca.

Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

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Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

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Text by Brendan Stewart, OALA

Asked to think about the OALA at 50, and where our profession in Ontario is and ought to be headed, I started by contemplating the spirit of our present era.

At first, I found myself dwelling on the challenges, many of which are interrelated and seem intractable. Challenges that are boggling in scale and complexity, and that are evolving at a blinding pace: the consequences of climate change, the degradation of the natural environment, and loss of biodiversity; fake news, the seeming erosion of civil society, the rise of tribalism and populism; disruptive technologies and their unpredictable impact on our economies and ways of life; acknowledging the tragedy of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples and working toward reconciliation; the forces of globalization and the growing polarization of rich and poor, urban and rural; overpopulation… The list goes on and on. The discord of our times is difficult to navigate.

Of course, there are many forces for good, too. We are living through a period of numerous progressive social movements (Me Too, Time’s Up, Black Lives Matter, Idle No More, Occupy Wall Street, to name a few), as well as dramatic technological innovation. In fact, some argue that when you zoom out and consider the plight of humanity at a global scale, we have never seen an era with so little violence and hunger and so much prosperity.1 But, ultimately, facing as we are the urgent need to learn to live more compactly and lightly, to live with less and to share more, it seems that a hopeful future depends most on our collective capacity to work together, to teach and take care of one another, and to steward our various cultures and the environment.

More than ever, landscape architects need to be conscious of the power we wield and the responsibility we are handed in shaping culture through our built work, the process of design and civic engagement, and through our education and advocacy efforts. To equip ourselves for the future, we all need to work to create a cultural landscape that enables our communities to adapt to and thrive in the more difficult times ahead, and to cultivate a sense of citizenship and stewardship.

In talking with friends and colleagues, I was reminded of the dynamic social context of the turbulent and heady late 1960s—the era during which the OALA was established.

Arguably, this might be the most relevant historical period to look at for guidance in thinking about our own tumultuous times. Might recalling this period offer lessons? __ See Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018).

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The mid-1960s to mid-1970s in Canada were heavily influenced by the coming of age of the baby boomers—my parents’ generation—whose youth-led, counter-culture ideas fomented a dramatic rethinking of the social order and pushed to usher in a new hopefilled, idealistic vision of the future—a vision founded on a modern approach to what Canada is and could be.

South of the border, 1968 in particular recalls the upheaval and grimness of the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the mass race riots of the previous summer. Tens of thousands of draft dodgers and conscientious objectors fled the U.S. for Canada during this period, bringing with them numerous luminaries—including Jane Jacobs, who arrived in Toronto with her family that same year—who went on to boldly shape Canadian culture.

On the other hand, the collective feeling in Canada in 1968 is remembered as a delirium following the previous year’s centennial celebrations, marked most notably by Expo ’67 in Montreal, an event that symbolized the “coming of age” of Canadian identity, culture, and design, and epitomized the optimism of the period.

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Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

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Youth culture was wrapped up in Trudeaumania. The campus landscapes in which many young Canadians were educated had recently been re-invented by an unparalleled and idealistic period of building. In Ontario alone, the preceding decade had seen the establishment or expansion of Carleton, York, and Trent universities, Scarborough College (now U of T Scarborough), as well as the universities of Guelph and Waterloo, all in a soaring, modernist mode that exuded belief in a prosperous future.2 — See Concrete Toronto: A Guide to Concrete Architecture from the Fifties to the Seventies, edited by Michael McClelland and Graeme Stewart (2007), for a good overview.

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For a Toronto-centric overview, refer to The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s What’s Out There Toronto guide, supported by the OALA, available digitally at www. tclf.org/places/city-and-regional-guides/ toronto. For several articles in Ground, see “Designating modern cultural landscapes in Ontario,” by Michael McClelland, in Ground 23; “A Capital Treasure: Garden of the Provinces and Territories,” by Nicole Valois, in Ground 24; “University Avenue: Toronto’s Grand Boulevard,” by Michael McClelland and Brendan Stewart, in Ground 26; and “A modernist masterpiece: the CNIB Fragrant Garden,” by Mark Affum in Ground 27.

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Landscape architects in Ontario played primary roles in many of the seminal projects of this period3 and were also at work establishing Canada’s first landscape architecture programs, at Guelph in 19644 and Toronto in 1965. Steeped in the forward-looking, hopeful, and distinctly Canadian civic values of this period, new generations of landscape architects could for the first time be trained on home turf, and, as of 1968, could gain membership in a newly established provincial association, the OALA, as they set out to leave their mark on the world through practice.

Like 2018, 1968 was a complex year in the midst of an era of profound change. As we navigate the complexities of our present era, and strategically chart the OALA’s course into the future, might we draw inspiration from the significant collective accomplishments of our forebears, charted in an era of similarly unstable times?

Consider three strategies: _1 Borrow the optimism of the past, and channel the spirit of the youth.

First, we need to be more open. Might we allow a bit of modernist optimism, hope, and sense of collective purpose to permeate our sometimes cynical, individualistic, and apathetic outlook today? Can we open our minds even more to new ideas, and invest in the passion and idealism of young practitioners as they emerge from our programs at educational institutions?

Note that the campus plan from 1965 by Project Planning Associates recently won the CSLA’s 2017 Legacy Award; see also Ron Williams’ article “University of Guelph: From Agricultural College to ‘Multiversity’” in Landscapes/Paysages, Vol 19. No.3.

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Brendan Stewart is collaborating with University of Guelph MLA grad and artist Daniel Rotsztain and professor Karen Landman on a pilot project called plazaPOPS, a pop up “privately owned public space” to be installed during summer 2019 in a strip-mall parking lot within Scarborough’s Wexford Heights neighbourhood along Lawrence Avenue East. Inspired by the lofty modernism of its surrounding context, the project engages the diverse local community to create a new type of gathering space in the suburbs.The project is made possible by the Public Space Incubator, an initiative of Park People with the support of Ken and Eti Greenberg and the Balsam Foundation.

Brendan Stewart

Building the Cultural Landscape of Tomorrow

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_2 Nurture our roots.

Our work today is enabled by the hearty “roots” (in this analogy, the legacy) grown by OALA members in the rockier, less fertile “soils” (the cultural context) of the past—a world less aware of the value of our practice, less receptive to our ideas, and offering fewer and smaller opportunities to lead. We need to focus outwardly, and collectively nurture our roots, actively building a more productive cultural context in which to undertake our work. Beyond executing impactful projects, contributing to policy, activism, and engaging in politics, we need to focus more than ever on building broader public awareness by telling compelling stories about what we do and how we think. We need middleschool children to aspire to become landscape architects. We need to foster a culture that has higher expectations.

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Grow Op, a yearly exhibition at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto featuring a series of temporary art installations within the rooms of the hotel, invites the public to explore contemporary ideas about what landscape, gardens, and urbanism mean in our cities and in our lives. Co-founded and (for the first three years) curated by Victoria Taylor, OALA, Grow Op engages the child in all who visit, young and old, and also plays a role in recruiting high-school students into Ontario’s landscape architecture programs. This image is of artist Shadi Ramos’ daughter with Ramos’ installation at the opening of the 2018 edition of Grow Op.

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The La Croix First Nation School graduation ceremony (2013) was held in the Celebration Circle, which is located within the Spirit Garden at Prince Arthur’s Landing in Thunder Bay. Designed by Brook McIlroy in collaboration with local Indigenous community members, the gathering place gives expression to the deep cultural and historic roots that link Indigenous peoples to the Lake Superior shoreline.

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Courtesy of Grow Op

Courtesy of Brook McIlroy

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The Hoop Dance Indigenous Gathering Place at Mohawk College was designed through an iterative consultation process with Elders of Six Nations, Indigenous students at Mohawk College alongside Mohawk College staff and a team of architects and landscape architects at Brook McIlroy. Based on cultural traditions and Indigenous place-making practices, the design incorporates traditional planting, an outdoor pavilion structure, a fire circle, seating platforms, and a water feature.

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Courtesy of Brook McIlroy

_3 Enhance our community.

In parallel, we need to work to enhance our professional community. We need stronger linkages between research and practice, accelerating innovation in the field while strengthening our accredited programs to produce graduates who are more prepared to tackle the issues of the 21st century. We need to create a more inclusive and diverse community of OALA members that better reflects the society we serve and that welcomes more perspectives to the table, enhancing our capacity and effectiveness.

Thinking about the challenges can be exhausting, but be reminded of the fact that our capacity to address them is not static over time: landscape architects today operate on the shoulders of the practitioners of earlier generations, benefiting from the battles they fought, the ground they tilled, the seeds they sowed in the landscape and the culture.

And collectively, we continue to strengthen and expand this legacy every day.

BIO/

Brendan Stewart, OALA, CAHP, is an Assistant Professor of landscape architecture at the University of Guelph, and an Associate at ERA Architects in Toronto.

Congratulations, OALA, on your 50th Anniversary!

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