2026 CSLA Awards to OALA Members
2026 Jury's Award of Excellence and a National Award
Landscape Carbon Benchmarking Study (City of Toronto)
DTAH
Colin Berman OALA, CSLA
Category: Research
The built environment is responsible for roughly 75% of global carbon emissions, yet the carbon impact of urban landscapes has remained largely unmeasured. Commissioned by the City of Toronto, DTAH’s Landscape Carbon Benchmarking Study is one of the first efforts in Canada to quantify embodied carbon and sequestration in landscape design at the scale of typical urban development. Analyzing 10 representative development sites across Toronto, the study identifies where carbon is concentrated in landscape construction, highlights the material assemblies that matter most and demonstrates how alternative design decisions can dramatically reduce emissions without compromising design intent. Using the Pathfinder tool, the work translates complex lifecycle data into clear, actionable insights for designers and policymakers. The study elevates landscape architecture as a critical climate actor. It provides a practical framework for carbon-conscious design, supports the evolution of the Toronto Green Standard and establishes defensible benchmarks municipalities can adopt and refine.
2026 National Award Recipients
Playfield and Grande Poudrière Pond Redevelopment, Parc Jean-Drapeau (Montréal, QC)
NIPPAYSAGE
Mathieu Casavant, BLA, AAPQ, OALA, APALA, CSLA, Michel Langevin, BArch, AAPQ, CSLA
Category: Large-Scale Public Landscapes
Rooted in the vision in the master plan for Jean Drapeau Park, the redesign of the Plaine des jeux (playing field) and the Grande Poudrière ponds reaffirms the iconic character of Montreal’s oldest public park. The design team succeeded in the delicate task of combining restoration and rehabilitation using techniques that respect the park’s heritage elements while also meeting contemporary requirements. These key sectors of St. Helen’s Island provide high-quality landscapes with restored and accessible buildings and structures, as well as densely and diversely vegetated areas that help maintain connections among ecosystems. The coherence of the materials used and the selection of native plants reinforce the site’s identity while providing high-quality visitor spaces and wildlife habitat. The bridges and walkways of the restored ponds provide vistas for enjoying the revived charm of the landscapes conceived by Frederick G. Todd.
Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in collaboration with Musqueam First Nation (Vancouver, BC)
Hapa Collaborative
Joseph Fry, BCSLA, OALA, FCSLA
Category: Medium-Scale Public Landscapes
The reconstruction of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia created an opportunity to reimagine the site through a contemporary Indigenous lens. While the 1977 design by Cornelia Oberlander envisioned an outdoor museum, the design was inspired by the landscapes and inlets of Haida Gwaii. As the museum resides on the traditional territory of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), this metaphor was considered an inaccurate representation of the cultural specificity of place. While acknowledging elements of Oberlander’s original design, the team worked directly with UBC, museum and Musqueam representatives to “correct the narrative” of the site, allowing the landscape to be an authentic, living representation of Musqueam culture. The landscape design borrowed from the anthropological concept of “forest garden,” highlighting the shaping and cultivation of forests by humans over millennia, rather than assuming an untouched landscape. The design extends this concept into meadow and aquatic gardens, using a totally native plant palette. The gardens are reframed as spaces for craft, food, medicine and ceremonial use, opening opportunities for cultural work while honouring the Nation’s continued presence.
Anwebiiwining (Thunder Bay, ON)
Architecture49
Bhavana Bonde, B.Arch, M.A.S.L.A., MALA, OALA, AALA, BCSLA, APALA, CSLA
Category: Small-Scale Public Landscapes
Outside Confederation College’s brick walls lies Anwebiiwining (“a place where one rests”) – the catalyst for an Indigenous-led vision of land-based learning. Anwebiiwining demonstrates how intentional, holistic and collaborative design can decolonize and transform space through inclusivity, honouring the land and re-centering Indigenous voices and values. The project highlights the journey to the river, featuring a plaza and fire pit nodes along the way. A continuous, accessible boardwalk meanders through the forest on helical piles that preserve the sensitive ecology of the floodplain. The boardwalk connects the plaza to a tranquil clearing, where a sacred fire anchors the space spiritually and spatially. A tipi-inspired pergola features timber poles, a white “hide” roof and a covered fire pit for practical, non-ceremonial uses. The colonial aesthetic of the plaza was addressed by introducing natural materials, planting vines that reclaim the brick colonnade and by reversing the plaza’s orientation, emphasizing the forest as a backdrop for the wood stage, which becomes a seating area when not in use.
Place Banque Nationale - Parc Michel-Bélanger (Montréal, QC)
CCxA Architectes paysagistes
Claude Cormier (OALA, AAPQ, FCSLA, FASLA), Sophie Beaudoin (AAPQ, FCSLA, ASLA), Yannick Roberge (FAAPQ, OALA, FCSLA), Damien Dupuis (AAPQ, CSLA), Léonard Flot
Category: Small-Scale Public Landscapes
Place Banque Nationale consolidates distinct landscape archetypes to ground the new Montréal National Bank headquarters at the edge of both downtown Montréal and the old city. Four landscape components – park, esplanade and two terraces – cohere through an intentional sense of place defined by a mood that is both sophisticated and whimsical. Drawing inspiration from the classic ground figures of Montréal's historical squares, Parc Michel-Bélanger offers a green oasis made up of subspaces that draw attention, allow people to gather or simply to enjoy the generous space. With elements such as the mirror-finish parking egress, “The Song of the Dodo” public sculpture and the centrepiece of circular natural stone pedestal seating, this park offers a reinterpretation of the legendary Victorian-era Montréal square. The esplanade at the entrance off Boulevard Robert-Bourassa accommodates users and cyclists, featuring a unique vegetation character. An angular layout of directional pathways is punctuated by custom furniture elements. The landscape components at Parc Michel-Bélanger reflect Montréal’s history and embody a priority for the idea of "vivre ensemble et joie de vivre."
Leslie Lookout Park (Toronto, ON)
CCxA Architectes paysagistes and gh3*
Claude Cormier (OALA, AAPQ, FCSLA, FASLA), Marc Hallé (OALA, AALA, FCSLA), Carlos Portillo (OALA, CSLA), Amy René (AAPQ, CSLA)
Category: Small-Scale Public Landscapes
Leslie Lookout Park is a 1.9-acre site at the east end of the Ship Channel in Toronto’s Port Lands, combining urban and natural elements that straddle areas curiously defined by industry and emerging wilderness. The park offers a vibrant mix of features, including a public beach bordered by forested dunes, and a 360-degree viewing platform overlooking the Ship Channel and Toronto’s skyline panorama. An intentional divide between nature and industry creates one side that supports high-impact community activity, with the other showcasing Miyawaki-inspired reforestation. The design encourages ecological restoration and social gathering, and informs civic imagination about the future of the Port Lands as a place that is both urban and wild. Indigenous consultations shaped the design, aligning lookout orientations informed by cultural principles. During the period of construction, artist Dani Kastelein-Longlade’s mural depicting the Great Anishnaabe Migration was installed on the park’s perimeter to become a beautiful feature of cultural storytelling.
CASA Paradise Courtyard (Toronto, ON)
PUBLIC WORK
Marc Ryan, OALA, APALA, CSLA
Category: Small-Scale Public Landscapes OR Residential Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
The CASA Courtyard demonstrates the value that residential landscapes can play in their dual function as both public and private spaces, within a dense city context. The courtyard offers a rare space of discovery, calm and contemplation in Toronto’s rapidly densifying Bloor/Yonge neighbourhood. Delivered through an invited design competition initiated by a city councillor and realized within a private condominium development, it functions as both a vital mid-block pedestrian connection and a destination, seamlessly extending the surrounding streetscape into a welcoming and legible public space at the heart of a vertical community. The courtyard’s formal division between garden and dynamic water plaza creates contrast and balance, while barrier-free circulation ensures inclusive access. The seasonally adaptive soapstone plaza – alternating between dry event space and inhabitable water sheet – offers a unique, ever-changing urban experience shaped by light, reflection and climate. The garden underscores the project’s environmental innovation, showcasing plant adaptability and climate resilience through a rare species thriving at the edge of its range.
