Claude Cormier

Claude Cormier (June 22, 1960 – September 15, 2023) was a Canadian landscape architect from Quebec. The majority of his projects are located in Montreal and Toronto. His landscape practice was founded in 1994. In March 2022, the practice Claude Cormier + associes became CCxA in light of new partners.

Biography Claude Cormier studied History & Theory of Design at Harvard University, Landscape Architecture at the University of Toronto, Agronomy at the University of Guelph, and established the firm CCxA (formerly Claude Cormier et Associés) in Montreal in 1994. Over the years, the firm has been engaged to work on major public works in Montreal, Toronto, and the USA and has received more than 100 awards. In 2010, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design organised an exclusive retrospective exhibition of the firm "Erratics". In 2009, Cormier was Knighted to the Ordre National du Québec, the province's highest distinction for individuals who have contributed to the development and leadership of Quebec. Cormier was also selected as an Emerging Voice for North America by the Architectural League of New York, as well as one of 14 international designers advancing the design field by Fast Company Magazine. Last year the firm was invited by Phaidon Press to be featured in a publication as one of the top 30 worldwide Landscape architects in the world. Serious Fun: The Landscapes of Claude Cormier, the first book exclusively dedicated to Claude Cormier's practice, was published in Fall 2021 at Oro editions. Cormier died on September 15, 2023, at the age of 63, of multiple cancers caused by Li-Fraumeni syndrome.

In 2024, Claude Cormier was posthumously awarded the 2024 Governor General's Medal in Landscape Architecture (GGMLA) from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA).

Projects

Design philosophy During his time at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Cormier studied the works of two "seemingly contradictory" landscape architects, Martha Schwartz and Frederick Law Olmsted. He once described as main influences as "Martha is mom and Olmsted is dad".

Canada

Warehouse Campus Park, Edmonton (2022–) Love Park (2018–2023), Toronto The Ring, Place Ville Marie, June 2022, Montréal RioCan Leaside Centre (2020–2024), Toronto Leslie Slip Lookout Park (2020–2022), Toronto Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and Smart VMC (2020–2022), Vaughan Pensionnat Saint-Nom-de-Marie (2020–2022), Montréal 1 Square Phillips (2019–2023), Montréal National Bank Headquarters (2019–2023), Montreal The Well (2013–2023), Toronto Draper Park (2022–), Toronto Canadian Institute of the Blind (2015–2023), Edmonton Cobe, West Don Lands (2018–2022), Toronto St-Clair Block Development – Plan d'ensemble (2018–2022) Garrison Point Condos – Plan d'ensemble (2012–2022), King West Village, Toronto 2-8 Gloucester (2018–2022), Toronto 88 Queen St East (2015–2022), Toronto RCA-Lenoir (2020–), Montréal 175 Wynford-Don Valley Parkway (2020–), Toronto King and Portland Development (2020), Toronto Daniels Waterfront/City of the Arts (2020), Toronto Waterfront Musée Pointe-à-Callière – Masterplan (2019), Montréal 592 Sherbourne Street/The Selby (2019), Toronto Pôle Champlain – Proposition (2019), Ottawa Pink Balls / 18 Shades of Gay (2011–2019), Montréal 700 St-Jacques (2018–), Montréal Breakwater Park (2018), Kingston River City Phase 3 (2018), Toronto Dorchester Square and Place du Canada (2008–2018), Montréal Collège Ahuntsic (2018), Montréal Vaughan Metropolitan Centre – Masterplan (2018), Vaughan Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Bus Terminal Block (2013–), Vaughan TOM I, II, III, IV (2012–2014, 2017), Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal Balade pour la paix (2017), Montréal Parc Jean-Drapeau – Plan de mise en valeur et réaménagement (2017), Montréal Jardin Frédéric Back du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (2017), Montréal Cité archéologique Place d'Youville, Musée de Pointe-à-Callière (2017), Montréal Berczy Park (2017), Toronto National Holocaust Monument with Studio Daniel Libeskind and Edward Burtynsky (2017), Ottawa Curtis Block (2016–), Calgary Scrivener Square (2016–), Toronto CIBC Commerce Court (2016–), Toronto The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and L-Tower (2016), Toronto 300 Front Street (2015), Toronto Performing Arts Centre & Brock University School of Fine and Performing Arts (2015), St. Catharines 117 Peter Street (2015), Toronto Au grand dam (2015), Ville LaSalle One The Esplanade (2014), Toronto Le Château Appartements (2013), Montreal Blue Stick Garden (1999–2013), Métis sur mer, Montreal, Winnipeg Four Seasons Hotel and Residences (2012), Toronto Clock Tower Beach (2012), Montreal Parc Hydro-Québec (2012), Montreal Canadian Centre for Architecture (1992–2010), Montreal Sugar Beach (2010), Toronto Evergreen Brickworks (2010), Toronto Canadian Museum of History Plaza (2010), Gatineau Benny Farm (2010), Montreal Place d'Youville (2008), Montreal HtO Urban Beach (2007), Toronto Entrepôt Frigorifique – Masterplan (2006), Montreal Université du Quebec à Montreal, Campus des sciences (2005), Montreal Commissioners Park – Concept (2004), Toronto Place des Arts – Masterplan (2003), Montreal Lipstick Forest (2002), Montreal Blue Lawn, Canadian Centre for Architecture (1997), Montreal

In Toronto, Cormier won two design competitions for the Sugar Beach project and for the HtO project.

USA and abroad

Cascade Park (2021), Chicago (USA) Buchwald Plaza (2019), Mount Vernon (USA) Rice University – Masterplan (2019), Houston (USA) Blue Forest, Nissan Design America (2007), Detroit and La Jolla (USA) Pergola, Biennale d'art contemporain (2006), Le Havre (France) Blue Tree, Cornerstone Festival of Architectural Gardens (2005), Sonoma (USA) Blue Stick Garden (2005), Chicago (USA) Blue Stick Garden, Hestercombe Gardens (2004), Taunton (England) Solange (2003), Lyon (France) International Mosaïcultures of Montréal – Masterplan (2003), Dubaï, UAE Shanghai's Montreal Garden (2000), Shanghai (China) Red Lawn, Schindler House MAK Center (1999), Los Angeles (USA)