A NATIONAL STUDIO PROJECT | UN PROJET NATIONAL D'ATELIERS
University of Guelph
Karen Landman, Professor of Landscape Architecture
SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN + RURAL DEVELOPMENT
MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM
LARC 6030 | MLA STUDIO III
WINTER 2020
STUDIO BRIEF
This project focuses on the development of a master plan of a portion of the Cowbell Brewery site in Blyth, ON, with an accompanying smaller detailed planting plan. The studio project took place over 4 weeks, including an initial site visit to Cowbell and a subsequent presentation at the Cowbell Brewery with the business owners, the restaurant chef and the events planner.
Cowbell Brewing Co. is a destination craft brewery and restaurant in Huron County, Ontario. The surrounding landscape is significant both locally and internationally for agricultural production - the heart of Ontario's breadbasket. The Cowbell site is located on 120 acres of former farm fields and is just south of the historic village of Blyth, long famous as a destination for the Blyth Festival Theatre.
The words of inspiration provided to the students were: Rural, Local, Sustainable, Experience. The students were asked to convert an old field into a food experience for visitors to Cowbell, and to consider possible connections to the brewers' and the chefs' work at this facility. While the students were to consider how the landscape provides us with food, they were also asked to think about how the project could make a contribution to pollinator habitat and forage.