Case Study - Sugar Beach by Claude Cormier + Associés Inc.

SUGAR BEACH DESIGNER: Claude Cormier + Associés Inc. LOCATION: Toronto,Ontario,Canada CLIENT: Waterfront Toronto DATE: August 9, 2010 KEYWORDS: sensory experience, aesthetics, materiality, site-adjusted, landing+grounding+finding+founding, alternative hedonism, juxtaposition “It is a space that unites opposites, without conflating them, to allow for an experience of both nature and culture, work and play, production and consumption — a microcosm of the urban phenomenon where participation relies on which direction you position your chaise and fix your gaze.”

----Project Narrative by Claude Cormier Associates

LAR5140 | CASE STUDY | QINMENG YU + YANGQIANQIAN HU

Playful and whimsical, this design transforms an industrial space into a real breath of fresh air along the waterfront.

It’s a contrived landscape that people are craving. It’s fun to be a designer with a project like this.”

—ASLA 2012 Professional Awards Jury

Abstract

As a “hedonistic” (Soper) and whimsical urban landscape project, Toronto’s Sugar Beach provides a “site-adjusted” (Irwin) response to a former surface parking lot in a faded industrial area. Claude Cormier’s design approach takes advantage of the proximity to the neighboring Redpath Sugar factory’s fragrant atmosphere in its conceptual reference and sensory experience, especially smell. We are interpreting Cormier’s Sugar Beach through Girot’s four trace concepts of “landing, grounding, finding and founding” as they resonate with the designer reacting to the unique opportunities belonging to the identity of the place. The urban park serves as a continuation of the proposal for a continuous waterfront promenade across the entire Toronto waterfront while “forging emotional, functional, and cognitive links between people and nature in the city” (Spirn, 119). As a juxtaposition of urban industrial environment and waterfront along with various materiality, the park reveals “aesthetics as an experience which occurs within an affective world that implicates bodies, objects, spaces, values, experiences, and networks” (Meyer, 35). Candy as a material concept was used to establish a symbolic and formal language for many of the elements throughout the park, from the red and white bedrock candy stripes as hard rock candies, the trees as lollipops, the pink umbrellas as pink m&m, the sand as white sugar to the grass mounds as sour apple gummy belts. Sugar Beach connects Lefebvre’s “conceived space” which emphasizes geometry, juxtaposition, whimsy and playful imagination with “lived space“ which is represented by beach, relaxation, sunshine and hedonism.

“It is a space that unites opposites, without conflating them, to allow for an experience of both nature and culture, work and play, production and consumption — a microcosm of the urban phenomenon where participation relies on which direction you position your chaise and fix your gaze.”

----Project Narrative by Claude Cormier Associates, 2012 ASLA Awards

Keywords, theories and quotes Keywords sensory experience, aesthetics, materiality, site-adjusted, landing+grounding+finding+founding, alternative hedonism, juxtaposition Quotes Water and its use for human purposes has great potential to forge emotional, functional, and cognitive links between people and nature in the city. (Spirn, 119) I understand aesthetics as an experience, not a formal language, not surface appearance (Berleant 1991; Dewey 1934; Spirn 1998). Aesthetic perception requires an exchange, a perceptual entanglement between a sensing body and the world; it requires a pause and duration. As an art and science of sensory perception and cognition, aesthetics is a mode of interacting with and knowing the world. Aesthetic knowledge combines theory with method to guide action. (Meyer, 35) My feet are compelled towards this spatial and material joint, this condition of oscillation between sand and water, dry and wet. I am engaged, immersed, and curious. (Meyer, 42) Alternative hedonism relates to the provision of conditions of the good life, both material and spiritual, from which everyone will benefit, regardless of income...the ‘universal class of humanity’...have it in their power to set off a relay of pressures that could both help to rescue the ‘repressed’ from their social exclusion and restore lost pleasures to everyone. (Soper, 573) As such, findings escape design invention and import; they are something unique(though hidden) that definitely belongs to a place and contributes durably to its identity ... a well-founded project remains clear in its approach and resolution, extending the legacy of a place toward a productive future. (Girot, 63-65) Bibliography Meyer. “Beyond Sustaining Beauty. Musings on a Manifesto” in Elen Deming editor, Values in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design (2015) 30-53 Spirn, Anne Whiston. “The Poetics of City and Nature. Toward a New Aesthetic for Urban Design” Landscape Journal 7:2 (Fall 1988) 108-126 Girot, Christophe. “Four Trace Concepts in Landscape Architecture” in Corner, Recovering Landscape (1999) 58-67 Soper, Kate. “Cultural Hedonism, Cultural Theory and Aesthetic Revisioning” Cultural Studies 22:5 (2008) 567-587 Lefebvre, Henri. Chapter 1. “Plan of the Present Work” 1-67 (esp 38-53), 169-176, 181-194, 203-220 in The Production of Space (1974, translated to English 1991)

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Design Process

Design Process

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How it’s used

Designer - Claude Cormier Associates Firm Philosophy: Artificial, not fake Our work celebrates manmade nature. Landscapes are constructed, and we believe they should look the part. We are deeply committed to the specific qualities of each site – its natural conditions, its cultural history, its sociology, its politics. We want to translate each unique situation into a bold and pleasurable design that will connect with people physically, sensually, and playfully. We want to wake our audiences up and force them to take a fresh look at their surroundings. Our work may be artificial; it’s also anything but fake.

We thrive within bureaucratic constraints, lengthy decision-making processes, conflicting affiliations, and demanding timetables, and budgets, because these are the intensely interesting realities of any site. Within each project, we navigate webs of political, environmental, historical, social, and economic entanglements, seeking to extract a simple, clear idea that encapsulates it all. Once this single concept is identified, we meticulously unfold it to guide all aspects of the project, from global organization to the finest construction detail. This results in complex, consistent environments that communicate loudly and clearly. We believe that a bold landscape image can brand a company, define the identity of a city, or simply entice passers-by to take a closer look.

Claude Cormier’s work challenges ordinary perceptions of the world, opening eyes to new possibilities and generating an appetite for the extraordinary. Rendering visible the invisible of the everyday, his projects seek to reawaken the joy of phenomena through an apparent simplicity that is complex, but not complicated. Over the years, he has acquired a solid reputation as a prolific designer, noted for his originality and creativity. Working in tandem with teams of other urban design professionals, Claude has demonstrated an innovative, imaginative capacity for problem solving. He approaches each obstacle as a challenge, each new constraint as a stimulus for fresh creativity. Claude is a dedicated and sensitive team player, for which he has gained the respect of clients and colleagues alike.

Pink Balls, Montreal, Canada (2011-2016)

Claude Cormier studied History & Theory of Design at Harvard University, Landscape Architecture at the University of Toronto, Agronomy at the University of Guelph, and established the firm Claude Cormier et Associés inc. in Montreal in 1995. Over the years, the firm has been privileged to work on major public work in Montreal, Toronto ant the USA and has received over 85 awards. In 2010, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design organised an exclusive retrospective exhibition of the firm “Erratics”. In 2009, Cormier was Knighted to the Ordre National du Québec, the province’s highest distinction for individuals who have contributed to the development and leadership of Quebec.

Cormier was also selected as an Emerging Voice for North America by the Architectural League of New York, as well as one of 14 international designers advancing the design field by Fast Company Magazine. Last year the firm was invited by Phaidon Press to be featured in a publication as one of the top 30 worldwide Landscape architects in the world.

Source: Claude Cormier+Associates website

Place d’Youville, Montreal, Canada (1997-2008)

Reference Works

YORKVILLE PARK

Toronto (Ontario), Canada 1992-1994 Schwartz Smith Meyer Landscape Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture.

HTO - URBAN BEACH

Toronto (Ontario), Canada 2003-2007

CLOCK TOWER BEACH

Montréal (Québec), Canada 2009-2012

DANIELS WATERFRONT

Toronto (Ontario), Canada 2012-2019

Water Promenade

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Georges Seurat

Bathers at Asnières Georges Seurat A conceptual reference for Sugar Beach was the painting Bathers at Asnières by Georges Seurat, which depicts recreation of common citizens at the edge of the Seine in the late 1800s, with billowing smokestacks in the background, capturing Paris at a moment in its transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial one.But instead of offering a space for release and repose from labor as with the Paris antecedent, Canada’s Sugar Beach creates a space for a contemporary form of recreation — a kind of idle productivity that comes from a space that allows for personalization and an uncluttered horizon to refresh the imagination.

The river Seine at La Grande-Jatte Georges Seurat

Site Aerial

Aerial View - 2007 Parking lot

Aerial View - 2018 Urban beach

Site Diagram The diagonal promenade is a continuation of the proposal by West 8 and DTAH for a continuous waterfront promenade across the entire Toronto waterfront. Elements of their masterplan, such as the maple leaf granite mosaic paving pattern, custom benches, and wooden light poles have been adapted to seamlessly integrate the promenade at Sugar Beach.

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