2023
The CCxA-designed Wellington Place Promenade realizes a 100-year vision to connect Clarence Square to Victoria Memorial Park with an 18-metre wide, 450-metre long tree- and garden-lined promenade. The promenade is lined with restaurants, making it a marquee destination and gathering place. The design retraces historical intentions, and re-establishes lost links through a diversity of public spaces that resonate with scale and context to reconnect the neighbourhood.
We mourn the passing of acclaimed landscape architect Claude Cormier. Claude was one of Canada’s brightest talents and the firm he founded, CCxA, is responsible for some of our nation’s most beloved public spaces. In Toronto. We are lucky to count HTO Park, Sugar Beach, Berczy Park and the recently opened Love Park among his invaluable contributions.
It has been an honour to work with Claude and his team on the landscaping and public spaces at The Well. As we work towards completing CCxA’s vision, we are saddened that Claude won’t be with us to mark their opening, but equally heartened to know these spaces will do exactly what he intended of them—spark joy. Our condolences go out to Claude’s loved ones, friends and colleagues.
Claude Cormier’s work challenges ordinary perceptions of the world, opening eyes to new possibilities and generating an appetite for the extraordinary. Rendering visible the invisible of the everyday, his projects seek to reawaken the joy of phenomena through an apparent simplicity that is complex, but not complicated. Over the years, he has acquired a solid reputation as a prolific designer, noted for his originality and creativity. Working in tandem with teams of other urban design professionals, Claude has demonstrated an innovative, imaginative capacity for problem solving. He approaches each obstacle as a challenge, each new constraint as a stimulus for fresh creativity. Claude is a dedicated and sensitive team player, for which he has gained the respect of clients and colleagues alike. 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 Claude Cormier Architectes paysagistes in Montreal in 1995, which became Claude Cormier et Associés (2011) then CCxA (2022). Over the years, the firm has been privileged to work on major public work in Montreal, Toronto ant 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 the work of Claude Cormier and his team, written by Marc Treib and Susan Herrington, has been published at Oro Editions in 2021.
Visit Claude Cormier’s website
416-306-8306
connect@thewelltoronto.com
