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CSLA Awards

The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Excellence are given for outstanding accomplishment in landscape architecture. Congratulations to the following OALA members whose projects received awards.

Project Name: The Ring (Montréal, QC)
Consultant: CCxA (formerly Claude Cormier et Associés)
Contact: Claude Cormier, OALA, AAPQ, FCSLA, and Sophie Beaudoin, AAPQ, FCSLA
Category: Medium-Scale Public Landscapes
Project Description:
2023 Jury’s Award of Excellence and a National Award
Small-Scale Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
The Ring is a reflection of the symbolic importance of Place-Ville-Marie (PVM), the birthplace of Montreal’s architectural modernity. The 30-metre-diameter suspended metal ring is a site-specific installation, framing iconic views. It reinforces the architectural composition and timelessness of PVM. The project team engaged now 83-year-old Franz Knoll, the engineer who worked on the original PVM design. The Ring commemorates the 60th anniversary of Montreal’s modernist transformation.

The Ring. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and CcxA

Project Name: Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant and Regional Park Projects (Richmond, BC)
Consultant: space2place design inc.
Contact: Jeff Cutler, OALA, BCSLA, FCSLA, and Sarah Primeau, BCSLA, CSLA
Category: Planning and Analysis
Project Description:
The Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (IIWWTP) occupies a site of intersecting human and ecological systems. Since the early 1900s, Fraser River Estuary infrastructure has impacted salmon and other species. The IIWWTP projects will upgrade the existing treatment plant, reconnect the river and sea, create habitats, grow freshwater wetlands, and restore habitats. The Conceptual Design for the IIWWTP Project was developed with input from Musqueam Indian Band and other stakeholders.


Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and space2place design inc.

Project Name: sθәqәlxenәm ts’exwts’áxwi7 (Rainbow Park) (Vancouver, BC)
Consultant: DIALOG
Contact: Jill Robertson, OALA, APALA, AALA, BCSLA, CSLA
Category: Small-scale public landscapes designed by a landscape architect
Project Description: sθәqәlxenәm ts’exwts’áxwi7 (Rainbow Park) is a gathering place in Downtown Vancouver. It brings action to reconciliation by reintroducing language to the land. The park’s name—meaning rainbow—was gifted by the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Today, water from the splash pad catches sun rays before being recirculated to plants carefully selected for their cultural significance and relation to local habitats. It serves 30,000 neighbours.

Rainbow Park. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and DIALOG

Project Name: Peitree Yaoliang Eco Resort (Yaoliang Village, Houzhou Prefectural City, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, China)
Consultant: PFS Studio
Contact: Greg Smallenberg, OALA, CM, BCSLA, FCSLA, FASLA
Category: Residential Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
Project Description: Peitree Resort is an eco-resort that offers guests a Zen-like relationship between landscape and built form, people and nature, history and modernity. Working with DDB Architects and BEING Studio, PFS Studio and its China-based affiliate Conglian have created a small-scale utopian retreat, offering respite from busy urban China by reconnecting them to natural surroundings and local culture. The project improves several degraded, on-site water courses, and revives abandoned agricultural fields.


Peitree Yaoliang Eco Resort. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and PFS Studio

Project Name: Copps Pier (Hamilton, ON)
Consultant: FORREC Ltd.
Contact: Scott Torrance, OALA, CSLA
Category: Medium-Scale Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
Project Description: Copps Pier celebrates industrial Hamilton’s past, present, and future. This revitalization of a disused pier adopts forms from “Hammer Town’s” industrial harbour, and transforms them into public space. Along the Boatworks Promenade, giant steel boat hulls create parkettes. In Hammer Harbour, Gantry Pavilion is a venue for city-scale events. And, at the Landing, the prow of a ship creates additional public art and performance space with spectacular views.


Copps Pier. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and FORREC Ltd.

Project Name: St. Andrew’s Playground Park (Toronto, ON)
Consultant: DTAH
Contact: James Roche, OALA, FCSLA
Category: Medium-Scale Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
Project Description: The St. Andrew’s Playground Park revitalization is a newly renovated landscape providing green space, and social and recreational needs to the community. The first designated public playground in Toronto (1908), St. Andrew’s Playground Park has been transformed, with new seating, accessible paths, a central plaza, a playground, and an upgraded off-leash dog area, with catenary lighting above. Mature trees are maintained and supplemented with an urban forest succession planting plan.

St. Andrew's Playground Park. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and DTAH

Project Name: Edmonton’s Ribbon of Green (Edmonton, AB)
Consultant: 02 Planning & Design
Contact: Matt Williams, OALA, AALA, CSLA
Category: Landscape Management
Project Description: Edmonton’s Ribbon of Green provides a vision for the sustainable use and preservation of the North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System. The project draws on ecological analysis, cultural assessment, stakeholder engagement, and state-of-the-art, location-based visitation mapping. This landscape provides natural habitat and wildlife connectivity for Edmonton’s biodiversity, and a recreational resource for residents. The project provides programming and ecological guidance, as well as research-specific visioning to guide subsequent finer-scale management and design decisions.


Edmonton's Ribbon of Green. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and 02 Planning & Design

Project Name: Parliament Hill Escarpment (Ottawa, ON)
Consultant: Vlan paysages
Contact: Micheline Clouard, AAPQ, CSLA, and Julie St-Arnault, OALA, AAPQ, CSLA
Category: Large-Scale Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
Project Description: The Parliament Hill Escarpment Reforestation and Stabilization Project in Ottawa, a National Historic Site, is part of the Parliamentary Precinct, which attracts over 1.5 million visitors, annually. The escarpment along the Ottawa River is a heritage asset. The project was developed by Vlan, with collaboration from WSP, Nadeau Urban Forestry, and Biodiversity Consulting. The reforestation and slope stabilization was informed by Calvert Vaux’s 1870’s design, and the ecological value of the terrestrial community, representative of the river corridor vegetation.


Parliament Hill Escarpment. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and Vlan paysages

Project Name: Brampton Riverwalk Open Space and Urban Design Master Plan (Brampton, ON)
Consultant: DTAH
Contact: James Roche, OALA, FCSLA
Category: Planning and Analysis
Project Description: Brampton’s Riverwalk Open Space and Urban Design Master Plan reintroduces Etobicoke Creek to the downtown. It’s a place for people to enjoy, highlights opportunities for an integrated landscape, and provides a framework for the city to imagine future growth. It’s a renewed physical and social relationship to the Etobicoke Creek through the creation of a series of new trails, look-outs, and connections, with increased physical and visual access to the water’s edge.

Brampton Riverwalk Open Space and Urban Design Master Plan. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and DTAH

Project Name: Harbourfront Centre at York Quay (Toronto, ON)
Consultant: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.
Contact: Gullivar Shepard, OALA, CSLA
Category: Medium-Scale Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect
Project Description: Harbourfront Centre balances urban use and hyper-natural planting. The landscape architect-led team re-conceptualized Ontario Square and Canada Square. There are two landscaped squares and a series of locations for the development of small cultural and retail buildings. Ontario Square offers space for cultural events. An oculus connects those arriving by car to the plaza and welcomes visitors with a “Light Cascade.” At the water’s edge, Canada Square offers panoramic views of the lake.


Harbourfront Centre at York Quay. IMAGES/ Courtesy of the CSLA and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc.