Bruce Kuwabara reflects on the career and legacy of Claude Cormier

July 11, 2024

“Claude was prescient because his practice and work brought together his knowledge of ecology and agriculture and his irrepressible imagination,” says founding partner Bruce Kuwabara of renowned Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier.  

Kuwabara’s reflections on the career and legacy of Claude Cormier are part of an oral history project created by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) to honour the architect’s life and work. 

Pioneers of Landscape Design, an award-winning TCLF program, documents and celebrates the impact of eminent landscape architects with video oral histories and written recollections from friends and colleagues. 

A collaborator and friend of KPMB, Cormier was known for his playful, inventive designs which brought joy and wonder to public spaces. Spaces like Berczy Park with its whimsical fountain fronted by life-size bronze dogs and a cat spouting water; Sugar Beach and HTO Park with their brightly coloured umbrellas; and Love Park with its heart-shaped pond. 

As Kuwabara puts it, Cormier’s projects gave cities “soul” — with “outsized iconography and bold colour,” he created “civic landscapes founded on sustainable environmental practice.” 

In 2021, KPMB worked with Cormier’s firm, CCxA, to develop a design for the transformation of Block 2, a prominent urban block located across from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. 

The design put forward by the team — which also included Tawaw Architecture Collective, Formline Architecture, John Beaucage, Taylor Hazell Architects, Transsolar, Entuitive, The Mitchell Partnership, and Mulvey & Banani — expressed principles of Indigeneity in its connection to the earth, its emphasis on space to gather, and its views to nature, the river, and the hills beyond Parliament. 

The landscape vision included pedestrianizing Blocks 1, 2, and 3 with a red granite promenade, planting red maples, preserving historic structures, prioritizing accessibility to retail, and introducing new streetscape elements. 

“Working with Claude was a constant process, focused on achieving and expressing a really big idea that was bold and clear, and brought amenity and delight to everyone,” Kuwabara said. “Every time we got together, I felt bolder, and every time I am in one of his parks, I feel more alive.” 

Experience the Claude Cormier Oral History here.