Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier, a deeply admired figure within the country’s design community, passed away on September 15th at the age of 63 following a battle with cancer, the CBC and other outlets reported over the weekend. 

The founder of CCxA was behind many of the country’s most beloved public spaces, parks, and memorial designs, including Toronto’s Berczy Park, downtown Montreal’s new The Ring installation, and the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. A statement from the firm credited him as being a “great visionary who influenced us in surprising and powerful ways, thanks to the creative force and joie de vivre he brought to all our lives.” 

Born and raised in Quebec, Cormier studied at the University of Toronto and Harvard GSD before entering practice in Montreal in 1993. Over the years, Cormier’s work received more than 100 separate awards and honors, including being named to the prestigious Ordre National du Québec and as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. 

Summarizing his career for a recent oral history, The Cultural Landscape Foundation President Charles A. Birnbaum said, “Cormier’s design approach is unique in the landscape field — his work pulverizes the notion that history and design can't be happily wed.” Montreal’s Mayor Valérie Plante added that his passing was “an immense loss” for the community.

One project, in particular, exemplified the architect’s heartfelt approach to public space design and ambitions towards a community-centered urbanism. Completed earlier this summer, Toronto’s Love Park is meant as a symbol of the unifying nature of social interaction in civic contexts. The project resolves a former highway off-ramp site at Yorke Street and Queen's Quay. Contemporaries told us in a recent feature that it provided the city with a “whimsical, colorful, and playful public space in a neighborhood of corporate blue-glass architecture.” 

Cormier was also noted for his career-long commitment to LGBTQIA+ causes. A $500,000 gift to the University of Toronto helped establish the Claude Cormier Award in Landscape Architecture, which helps continue his legacy as a devoted practitioner and contributor to the country's architectural history. 

“Rest assured that the CCxA family will continue this great adventure with leadership, curiosity, and motivation, responding to future challenges with sensitivity and insight, remaining true to our roots and perpetuating the values of beauty, meaning, and joy in the public realm,” his colleagues promised finally.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation's tribute to Cormier can also be found here.