Dale Hodges Park Wins CSLA Award of Excellence

Designed by O2 Planning & Design and Source 2 Source Inc. with Sans façon for Watershed+ and AECOM, Dale Hodges Park is a 40-hectare (99-acre) park that is also a stormwater treatment facility and is considered one of the largest public artworks in North America. The project came about after the City of Calgary acquired the former Klippert gravel pit, with the aim of restoring the area's ecological integrity and enhancing the recreational and educational value of Bowmont Park, of which it expands. The park is named for Calgary Alderman Dale Hodges, who served that role for 30 years and was particularly active in creating and protecting green spaces in Calgary.

Dale Hodges Park collects stormwater from upland residential communities into a large Nautilus Pond, from where it travels into marshes, meadows, riparian habitats, and streams before being discharged, fully treated, into the Bow River. The collaborative design expresses, per O2 Planning & Design, "the integration of water engineering, public art, landscape architecture and ecological design." The firm also contends that the landscape forms, inspired by anabranches, or river scrolls, "enhance filtration, create diverse habitats, and provide more depth to store water when necessary."

The Jury's Award of Excellence was selected from the fourteen winners of the National Awards, which are listed below, interspersed with photos of Dale Hodges Park and with links to the projects on the CSLA website. A total of 72 projects were submitted for this year's awards, with the jury* looking at a deep understanding of the craft of landscape architecture, innovation, promotion of the discipline, and the demonstration of exemplary environmental awareness, among other factors. Jury chair Bernard St-Denis said, "the award-winning projects highlight new approaches and illustrate the levels of expertise to be mobilized to address current social, cultural and environmental challenges."

• Dale Hodges Park by O2 Planning & Design and Source 2 Source Inc. with AECOM and Sans façon for Watershed+
• University of Guelph Child Care and Learning Centre by Earthscape Play Inc.
• Gordonridge Community Multi-Sport Court by ERA Architects Inc.
• Sumac Garden by Straub Thurmayr Landscape Architects, Dietmar Straub & Anna Thurmayr
• Wanuskewin Interpretive Playground by Crosby Hanna & Associates
• Place Alice-Girard by NIPPAYSAGE architectes paysagistes + EXP. architecture de paysage et ingénierie

• Saugeen First Nation Creator’s Garden and Amphitheatre Restoration Master Plan by Brook McIlroy Inc.
• Uptown Brampton Transit-Oriented Communities Toolkit by Yvonne Yeung, Ken Greenberg, Matti Siemiatycki for City of Brampton and Urban Land Institute Toronto District Council
• The Future of Stephen Avenue by The City of Calgary, Gehl Studio, Stantec Consulting Ltd., and Calgary Downtown Association
• Biodiversity Corridor, Borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec by civiliti, LAND Italia, Table Architecture, Biodiversité conseil
• Projet paysage de la MRC Brome-Missisquoi by Mille Lieux, coopérative de travail
• Sève by Collectif Escargo

• Accidental Wilderness: The Origins and Ecology of Toronto’s Tommy Thompson Park by Walter H. Kehm with photos by Robert Burley, FRSC
• Memoirs of Pioneering Landscape Architects of Quebec and Ontario by EVOQ Landscape Architecture (formerly ARCADIA STUDIO)

• Alex Bozikovic, architecture critic at The Globe and Mail
• Bernard St-Denis, landscape architect and professor at the School of Landscape Architecture at the Université de Montréal
• Elaine vanTol Smit, landscape architect with the City of Regina, Saskatchewan
• Hans Pfeil, President of APALA and Director of Public Works, Development and By-Law Enforcement in the Municipality of Argyle in Tusket, Nova Scotia
• Sung Ae Sim, landscape architect, educator and arborist at the City of Toronto's Parks, Forestry and Recreation division