A NATIONAL STUDIO PROJECT | UN PROJET NATIONAL D'ATELIERS 2021-22
University of Calgary
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, AND LANDSCAPE
MLA GRADUATE PROGRAM
LAND 604 | LANDSCAPE STUDIO I
WINTER 2022
Tawab Hlimi
Assistant Professor
Tawab Hlimi is an assistant professor in landscape architecture and planning at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture Planning and Landscape and a licensed landscape architect in the province of Ontario. He teaches design studios in landscape architecture and planning, and courses on green infrastructure and digital drawing. Through critical practices of teaching, research, and design, Tawab’s interests are three‐fold; firstly to render the discipline and practice of landscape architecture visible and meaningful by restoring its roots with the fine arts; secondly to render the practice of landscape architecture relevant in addressing the wicked environmental challenges of the 21st century by appropriating design methods and thinking from the fields of civil engineering and ecology; and lastly to harness the potential of emerging digital tools in visualization to augment the capacity of the human imagination.
Tanya Goertzen
Sessional Instructor
Tanya Goertzen is a landscape architect and visual artist that strives to create people-first places and pieces that engage people, and has been an advocate for inclusive design throughout her career. She has extensive experience in public spaces, community master planning, streets, educational grounds, healthcare facilities, and mixed-use projects. As a landscape architect and principal of People Places Design Inc, her mission is to put empathy for people at the centre of design. Her project implementation style is thoughtful, thoroughly considering user needs as well as constructability and longevity through all levels of design and construction administration. As a visual artist, she transforms deep personal emotion into empowering visual experiences through murals, abstract painting, fibre art, and public art. She uses art and landscape architecture as platforms for the study of the human condition; each practice enriching the delight of the other.
STUDIO BRIEF
Background
It is not easy to reduce the linear strip of land wedged between the Bow River and the inner‐city communities of Sunnyside and Hillhurst to one particular definition. It is simultaneously a landscape of movement, a landscape of defense, and a landscape of memory. As a landscape of movement, multiple modes and tempos of movement such as walking, cycling, and driving define an integrated recreational and commuter corridor. As a landscape of defense, it is best understood in cross‐section as a fortified embankment, resisting the river’s intrusion into the city, while repelling runoff from the city into the river via stormwater outfalls, with the objective of protecting communities settled on the low‐lying floodplain. As a landscape of memory, an archipelago of symbolic trees, memorials, and public spaces along the corridor pay homage to the fallen soldiers of WWI.
Creative Destruction
In recent history, a number of critical events have challenged the forms, functions, and meanings, which presently define the Bow riverfront. In June 2013, rapidly melting snowpack in the Rocky Mountains in combination with heavy rainfall precipitated a breach of the Bow River’s embankments, catastrophically inundating the communities of Sunnyside and Downtown Calgary, and revealing the inadequacy of the river’s embankments to resist a perfect combination of snowmelt and heavy rainfall. In late 2019, public health mandates of social distancing prompted by the global COVID19 pandemic disrupted indefinitely the long held spatial separation of work and home. With decreasing commuter flows to and from downtown, and increasing social distancing requirements for people in public places, Memorial Drive, a four‐lane arterial road bounding the northern edge of the Bow riverfront was reduced spatially and functionally to a local street, surrendering two lanes to the growing traffic of socially‐distanced pedestrians and cyclists. The benefits of reduced noise and air pollution and improved connectivity between the riverfront and the community of Sunnyside mobilized a community lead movement advocating for the permanent reduction of Memorial Drive, a prospect that the City of Calgary will explore
through a formal study. Lastly, the unraveling of the COVID19 pandemic revealed the disproportionate exposure of racialized communities to the COVID19 virus, debunking the myth that “we are all in this together”, and adding fuel to the mobilization of resistance movements such as Black Lives Matter and Truth and Reconciliation. In the Western Canadian context, the harrowing discovery of the unmarked graves of hundreds of indigenous children on the grounds of former residential schools brought into the public consciousness a hidden history and suppressed memories. Pop‐up memorials of children’s shoes and orange t‐shirts emerged across the city, including Memorial Drive, bringing into question notions of reconciliation a the selective memory of a settler society represented by the monuments to the soldiers lost WWI on Memorial Drive and the Bow riverfront.
Critical Questions
Given the creative insights which have emerged from critical disruptions, the charge of this design studio is to project the future of the Bow riverfront through the lens of reconciliation. Can the relationship between the city and the river be transformed through a new flood wall or embankment from constrictive to expansive, in order to accommodate the river’s natural processes? Can the ratio of space dedicated to motorized and non‐motorized movements along the riverfront become more equitable? Under the scenario of Memorial Drive as a local street with at‐grade crossings, do the pedestrian and cyclist bridges crossing over Memorial Drive become obsolete? How is ‘memory’ represented and experienced along this corridor? Can the ‘selective memory’ of the colonial paradigm be reconciled with the ‘suppressed memories’ of the emerging paradigm of decolonization? How can new functions and recovered meanings representative of the values of a changing society be woven into the existing forms, spaces, and aesthetic experiences of a new riverfront?
STUDENT WORK
Afrin Islam
Connecting to Bow River
This project aims to connect & give access to the Bow River’s edge that captures the spirit of the place and enhances the multisensory experience by creating interesting moments of pathways and gateways which are kinds of thresholds that will transfer people from one realm to another. New Berms with the old one creates palimpsests embedded in this series of berms that not only represent the different standard for flood mitigation over time but also gives the essence of the place by relating various aspects of the landscape to each other. Berms also act as an edge in the setting of moods to the entry points and reconnect residents to the natural environment and support biodiversity. Resolving conflict between cyclists and pedestrians by widening & separating the lanes has also been considered for each moment. The design process started with mapping down the degree of visual & physical permeability along the pathway that affects our sensory experience at certain viewpoints following Gordon Cullen’s Serial vision. These visual experiences are fundamentally the product of interesting river geomorphology: deposition and erosion. Each of the five moments in the riparian zone, Soldier Memorial, 7th Street Crossing, Sunny Beach, and riprap zone, encourage people to focus on this immersive experience of the integrated spaces juxtaposed with human interventions and plant communities. Site-specific design has been proposed for choreographing informal pathways with a soft approach that allows control and freedom. All the 5 moments have been designed in terms of a picture plane, emphasizing the depth of the plane through the composition of color, texture, and materials that are already there. Pathways start in the foreground which becomes aesthetically pleasing as the background is embellished by contrast or juxtaposition of Corten steel gateway, platforms, or steps that reveal the wide river view evoking emotive aspects of the moments. A sense of continuity has been maintained along with the site by amplifying the contemplative experience that blends with the landscape.
Daniel Cote
Diba Mohebzadeh
The Unseen; The Third Perspective
Landscape Architecture is the blend of aesthetic, social, and ecological fundamentals as one element, which some may have remained in their preserved nature. In the ecological fundamentals, the third landscape is a space unattended by man and ruled over by natural evolution, such as untouched spaces that remained in their natural state. While considering the social values, the third view of point focuses on the existing elements that could be activated by receiving feedback based on interviews and research which could be implemented to act as a catalyst to activate the selected pocket sites for the public need.
"Unseen" is an adjective that means not seen or notified. It marks the "visible" invisible matters which may have been forgotten in today's design society such as the unseen side of the human and the landscape. Based on the census data of 2012, the city of Calgary had a population of 940,950 people with a 9. 7% disability prevalence out of which 38. 7% are categorized as severe or very severe disabled. Today Calgary has a population of 1.3 million with only 4 parks equitable for all. While analyzing the landscape in our previous submission, the site consists 85% of its area is at the risk of future floods and informal pathways formed by visitors followed by a lack of signage, amenities, and uneven paving slope and patterns.
Unseen focuses on creating meaningful connections between the community and the river by providing amenities such as an elevated berm hosting miniature gardens, elevated pathways, moments of pause, tactical forests (braille signage) and stop pull-outs, bathrooms, sitting areas, fire pit, local shops, vernacular planting and a sense of walking on water for all the seasons for every individual in this society. With the hope that one day, more designs will focus on the invisible aspects of life and more on the small gestures that make the heart smile.
Erin Schwab
Eruptions, Disruptions, and Reverberations
Our project site is along the north bank of the Bow River between the communities of Sunnyside and Hillhurst along Memorial Dr. Initial impressions of the site revealed layers built up over years of reactive flood interventions, artifacts and ribbons of infrastructure that facilitate the tides of people and flow of water, a hierarchy of memory and memorials against a shifting ecosystem. While addressing the immediate need to protect the communities along the river, the intent of my design is to also address the relationship between the community and the river it desires to be protected from.
There is a disconnect. There is an undercurrent of memory and a desire to pause and reflect but the current pedestrian and traffic flow has been designed to move people fast and efficiently through the site with little no formal areas of pause. My design intent is attempting to reconcile these repeated dualities throughout the site. Dualities of access to and protection from, a desire for ease of movement against the memories that insist we stop and grapple with how we crawl over them.
After collecting forms that reverberate throughout the community and site, I distilled them down to a few words and shapes that are further refined within each of the 5 moments.
Eti Borah
The Bow Riverfront: Landscape of Movement, Defense, and Memory
Amidst the expansive urban sprawl, it is essential to bring back the importance of the ecology and balance between the urban and natural landscape. The Bow Riverside has several spots which are neglected or are uncredited. These locations have become unsafe environments and mundane places and seek to be transformed.
The ‘Point of Convergence’ aims to reconnect the disconnected entities, the urban and the natural landscape, and activate these lost spaces. A set of interventions are selectively curated as per the site context, to reveal the essence or spirit of the place and unfold certain feelings of appreciation, contemplation, and retrospection within the users.
Priority is given to the circulation of people as they move through the site, encouraging people to approach nature on foot. Lines, spaces, and forms of the site are selected rationally to emphasize them. The usage of the spaces with both active and passive recreational activities is omnidirectional and not just working parallel with the Bow River to make it multifaceted. Plants are selected as per the riparian species to maintain homogeneity with the rest of the site. The motive is to retain what is already there. The Bow River has been used as a backdrop and as the focal point for the moments to bring back the picturesque. As the riparian forest is very dynamic in nature, the boardwalks are used as a gauge to visualize the difference in the water and land pattern all year round.
The design aims to unfasten from the impeding city traffic and dive into the depth of a riverine landscape to help disconnect and reconnect with the memory which was once known.
Feiyuan Lin
North Bank Bow River
The project presents the journey to the North Bank Bow River, which is a serious of five arrivals along the Memorial Dr. and Bow River. The project aims to improve connectivity and create smooth transition and pause moment for human and nature. First goal is to provide access to the river and to the nature of the site. Second is to respect to the existing memorials and encourage accessibility of those features. Third goal is to provide defense to the 1:100 Year Flood. And last goal is providing education opportunities and facilitating learning of the riparian and river ecology. The concept diagram comes from the theme Connectivity and Transition. There are three kinds of connection along the site: Spatial connection; Cultural connection of memorials; Natural connection of flood and riparian ecology. The concept diagram is extracted from the three-direction spatial connection: West-East; River-Community; Vertical connection of Topography change. Through combining the two directions West-East and River-Community together, a polyline shape is created, and the intersections of each polyline create a transitional area, where has the opportunities for becoming a pause moment. For flood mitigation strategies, the existing berm is proposed to be raised up by 1.6m and connected with flood wall. Also, in order to provide space for smooth and safe experience of the Bow River pathway, two lanes of the Memorial Dr from the LRT to Central Bridge will be closed.
For the design strategies of each moment, the first moment has rich riparian resources. A pathway starts from the Soldier Memorial to the river is created. The Soldier Memorial is extended and provides a visual connection towards the Military Museum on the other side of the river. The pathway aims to provide people a journey of different scenes of the riparian. Platform with information boards is provided. The second moment divides traffic flows by using a ramp to create level changes. The extended lookout platform has hollowed spaces for riparian trees’ growth. The stairs and ramp connect the upper platform to a waterside platform where could be a boat launch area for recreational purposes. The third moment presents a cutting back for clear view of the stormwater outflow infrastructure. Also, this moment shows a cultural connection of the flood memorial by having vegetated stairs with historical flood height engravement on benches on both sides of the outflow. The spaces on top of show contrast of the river nature and human infrastructures through using symbolic angular geometrical shaped pavements. Ab overhanging bridge connects both sides together. The fourth moment aims to provide a forest meditation space to increase spiritual connection with nature. It stars from a tunnel that connects to the community, and the pathway in the forest connects to the main Bow River Pathway. The wood board path follows along the stream flow in the forest. Two hammocks located inside the forest provide a quiet and secret area for meditation. Several benches with glassed holes on the surface are lined up with the pathway in the forest to provide seats. The forest is reflected from the glasses, which represent the connection and reflection between nature and human. The last moment provides a pause moment for people getting down from the Pedestrian Bridge. Shaped line pathway connected with ramps brings people from the upper ground to the river. Small platforms locate at the transitional node of each path provide a space for gathering. A floating board above the water is a area for entertainment and relax.
Marie-Astrid Levert
The Bow River: North Bank
The site of the North Bow Riverbank is an area of flux with complex histories and change in use over time. My intent in design is to provide year-round connection to the river, the community, and the city while improving the network and safety of movement throughout the site. In searching to improve the quality of community access, I am addressing a current disconnect across the site, as well as a lack of intimacy in the relationship between the river habitat and the urban landscape.
I look to the philosophies of Christophe Girot where he imparts the significance of the scale of places and surroundings to navigate the relationship between landscape and habitat in urban environments (Girot, 2003 p. 148). My goal is to punctuate a usual experience of accessing the site using varying hierarchies of pause with decks at 30 degrees to encourage different viewsheds across the river. The site is linear in the East-West movement of vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, and each moment I have created has a loose longitudinal axis in the flow of circulation to address a gap in cross-movement. I look to connect nature versus artifice and create access to the river both visually and physically.
These moments of pause have hierarchies initiating various levels of intimacy making space for people to experience the act of remembering in their own personal way. Some moments can be easily bypassed, others require interaction of moving through to continue accessing the riverbank. Threads of connection through carefully curated viewsheds, decks, garden landscaping as well as pavilion structures create a discrete synergy unifying the site and inspiring a reimagined relationship with the Bow River.
Physically connecting people from the community to the riverside through degrees of approachability is key. The often-overlooked daily landscape is the one that can be most indicative of transformation as it responds to the human scale and exemplifies that important relationship between the human experience and the surroundings (Girot, 2003, p. 148). Smaller scale and emphasis on the individual interaction with the site is fundamental to my vision of a reimagined North Bow Riverbank.
Girot, F.C. (2003) Frédéric Christophe Girot. Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 23 (2), 141-151. 10.1080/14601176.2003.10435289
Megan Ciocchetto
Retreat
With increasing risks revolving around flooding in Calgary, more permanent measures must be implemented to ensure the safety of high-risk communities, as well as the longevity of meaningful site elements.
Along the south-facing edge of the Bow River, along Memorial Drive, changes in site elevation through the implementation of a permanent berm structure is crucial to protect nearby communities. The priority of Retreat is to maintain memorial aspects of the landscape while incorporating public spaces and honouring the natural landscape. Overall, my goal is to celebrate landscape history, hydrology, and harmony through incorporating fluid movement patterns, site naturalization, and moments in reflection in order to prepare communities adjacent to the Bow River for a 1:100-year flood.
Therefore, I aimed to achieve my goals through incorporating five consecutive sites into the Bow River Pathway. Synthesis is an important factor in my design, leading me to look at how each site exists within its own space, as well as in conjunction with adjacent areas. I wanted to ensure that each site: Rinse, Reflect, Repose, Runoff, and Riparian, all reinforced the idea of Retreat. Each individual site works with existing site elements, while updating new goals and requirements, such as flood protection and public space inclusion.
Rosalyn Estoque
Patterns of Connection and Movement Along the Bow River
The north side of the Bow River between 14th, Street and Centre Street, experience a variation in movement, whether it be someone speeding through on their bike or a mother slowly walking by with her baby stroller. However, it is a rare occurrence to see someone stop for long periods of time along the river. And in addition to this, there is the constant vehicular traffic along Memorial Drive.
Some may say the north side of the river is a corridor, allowing people to pass through at their own pace, however, what happens if we interrupt this constant movement and prolong our experiences along the river?
The design of my five spaces is divided into three separate elements to move fast, slow down, and to pause. Each element has a corresponding set of rules, some of which include, the faster traffic to be at the highest elevation with more formal planting and linear trail alignment The slower pedestrian traffic to be at existing grade, in a fragmented space with more naturalized planting And lastly, for areas of pause to encompass the largest surface, on an extended walkway of perforated sheet metal, integrated as part of the natural (un-maintained) rivers edge As elevation changes from high to low, traffic slows down, the layout of space gets more geometric, and the planting plan becomes more un-tamed.
The design of my five spaces will enhance entries into the site, by being located at either a crosswalk or bridge connection The design will provide access to the natural environment of the river, by providing areas to pause and interact with the rivers edge The rivers edge will be brought to life by inoculating the riprap with native/riparian plant species The spaces are designed to protect itself and its users from future flooding and adjacent traffic, through the design of a flood berm and flood gates at the portals.
Ultimately, the design of my five spaces will bring you safely from point A to B, but yet will have the ability to slow you down, pause, and be one with your surroundings.
Shuo Yu
Bow Riverside + Sunnyside Beach
The Bow Riverside is currently facing the problem of flooding and lacking activity. The project focuses on the goal of vitality and flood control and shows respect to the existing memorial function. Strategy includes three parts, inserting activities, resolving conflict, especially between cyclists and pedestrians, and building connections with nearby neighbourhoods. In terms of flood control, a new berm will be constructed in the space created by the removal of two lanes of Memorial dr. Each moment has a main characteristic described as active or passive, determined by the type of activity inserted. It follows a pattern of alternation among the 5 moments, which compose a rhythm when walking along the riverside. All the moments follow a similar design language, the application of flowing curves.
The riparian park next to Poppy Plaza functions as a place of memorial and recreation. With the opportunity of the forest, a series of overhead boardwalks are introduced, with a beach on the river edge.
Peace Bridge attracts many people as a city landmark. A plaza with decorative trees is introduced to resolve the circulation.
Sunnyside Beach, with the slope, woodland and a creek running inside, has a great opportunity for layers of experiences. An axis is introduced, connecting two levels of pathway to the river edge. A beach is also added to provide water-related activities.
The transitional slice is introduced between moments. It’s replicable and flexible, consisting of a bike lane, the berm, a pathway, and a boardwalk close to the water.
At the end of the Bow River Pathway, a playground, a café, and a climbing wall are introduced in the space created by the removal of two lanes of Memorial Drive. The shape of the playground is adapted to the characteristic of this site, integrated with the language of flowing curves.
Tracey-Ann Berg
Anastomose
Anastomose is a river story that explores the intersections and cross connections between community and waterway. It is a synthesis of function and memory of the land adjacent to the Bow River.
Central to the project are three goals of (a) facilitating human and ecological flows, (b) providing an inclusive defense mechanism, and (c) telling the river story through visual cues, landscape narratives and moments of pause. The composition of interventions is inspired by river morphology – forks and fluctuations, channels and currents, places of collection. Streams of pedestrian and vehicular traffic twine with riverfront ecologies along a continuous thread of flood mitigation infrastructure. The riparian corridor is transected at critical junctions by rigid anthropogenic axes, the linear connections by which the community reaches out beyond the barrier and touches the Bow.
Rather than ebb at the edge, human-hydrological intersections are celebrated as moments of reflection and redirection. Movement is slowed to a meander as visitors are compelled to circulate each encounter, absorbing trickles of the river story as the cultural surface is exposed. But just as the river divides and reunites around a stone, relentless flows wrap and reconnect before carrying on downstream, anastomosing along an undisclosed journey.
Vy Vu
Along the Bow River
Being adjacent to the Bow river, the Sunnyside neighborhood has a long history of having to put up with floods, and the most recent one was the historical flood in 2013 which caused one citizen’s life and 6 billion financial lost. It is predicted that the flood levels is only going to rise up over the coming years, posing threats to the safety and life quality of the people. Therefore, it is of great importance that every possible resources are utilized to create protection against the future floods. One of the possible solutions to address the issue is through landscape design.
The site of this project is located along the Bow River, more specifically the North bank, from 14th St NW to Centre St Calgary. Through site analysis techniques such as site visit, research online, observing and interviewing the users, main design objectives are set. As mentioned above, the first objective is flood mitigation. The second objective is to encourage interaction with the water front and lastly, to activate the space.
To achieve this, the existing flood berm would be raised by 1.6m to ensure protection against future floods. Various infrastructures are implemented to give direct access to the waterfront. These include viewing decks, sets of stairs, ramps and a combination of both. Certain locations along the site that holds emotional values and meanings or has potential to draw people in are enhanced. The overall design language and material will be an extension of the Poppy Plaza existing on site to ensure coherence and aesthetic unity. Five specific moments along the site that best represents this concept are chosen to be studied and presented in a more detailed and in-depth manner.
Overall, the proposed design is a series of places alternating between exciting, dynamic space for get-togethers and nooks and crannies for those who seek a more contemplative, solitude experience.
