Strategic Design Review and Advisory PanelCouncil voted on November 16, 2009, to establish a Strategic Design Review and Advisory Panel for the development of a Master Site Plan for the Lansdowne revitalization. The Lansdowne Strategic Design Review and Advisory Panel will include three nationally renowned design professionals with experience and expertise in the revitalization of unique urban places. The members of the panel were selected in consultation with George Dark and approved by the Councillor Peter Hume, Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee and Councillor Rob Jellett, Chair of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee. The panel consists of:
This panel plays a critical role in defining the urban design objectives for the three primary components of the Lansdowne revitalization:
The panel will ensure that the master plan and architectural plans to be developed will meet the highest possible design standards to help ensure Lansdowne is transformed into a unique and dynamic urban space that is integrated with and works well with its heritage features and the surrounding communities. The role of the Strategic Design Review and Advisory Panel is to:
George DarkStrategic Design Review and Advisory Panel Chair FCSLA, ASLA, Partner, Urban Strategies Inc. George Dark is an urban designer, landscape architect and Fellow with the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. George has over 30 years of professional experience and since joining the firm in 1987 has led a variety of projects including new community plans, urban regeneration strategies, campus master plans, open space master plans, streetscape designs, design guidelines and public policy documents. George’s work focuses on the quality of urban environments and he regularly coordinates large groups of diverse professionals and excels at guiding projects through complex approval and consultation processes. George has directed numerous new community master plan projects for communities in Oakville, Markham, and Windsor, Ontario as well as Providence, Rhode Island, and Sarasota County, Florida. George directed the award winning University of Toronto Open Space Master Plan. He led the Downtown Ottawa Urban Design Strategy 20/20 and the Downtown Hamilton Design Strategy, which include frameworks for community improvement, targets for site-specific and precinct-wide actions as well as design guidelines to evaluate future developments. He completed the Bridgepoint Health Neighbourhood Redevelopment Plan and the Master Plan for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Both are large institutional sites in the center of Toronto, to be redeveloped as complete neighbourhoods while re-integrating their current uses into the existing urban communities. George is renowned for his unique style and skill at facilitation and the ability to forge consensus among various stakeholders. He recently led a series of successful visioning exercises, design charrettes and other consultation events for such projects as the Fort York Neighbourhood Master Plan, the Markham Centre and the King Street West Precinct, in Toronto, the Town Centre Master Plan in Stratford, PEI, the Youngstown, Ohio Civic Vision Plan and as part of the North Moncton, NB, Development Vision team. George recently completed the Cornell University’s Comprehensive Campus Master Plan, the Public Space Framework for Toronto’s Central Waterfront, and an update of the Master Plan for the University of Ottawa, and has provided consulting services to the University of Minnesota. George also recently completed the Central Corridor Development Strategy for the new LRT in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is working on 7 station area plans along the line. Additional transit related work includes LRT station area plans for the communities of Lions Park, Brentwoopd and Banff Trail in Calgary. George is a Board Member of the Toronto Parks Foundation; Chairman of the Board of the Evergreen Foundation, on the Honour Roll of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and a Member of the City of Ottawa Design Review Panel. Eric (Rick) HaldenbyFRAIC, University of Waterloo School of Architecture Eric Haldenby is Associate Professor and Director of the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture in Cambridge. Born in Toronto, received his architectural education at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture, where he has been a faculty member since 1976 and Director since 1988. Working with colleagues, civic officials and community leaders has completed the relocation of the School of Architecture from the main campus of the University to unique new facilities in Cambridge, Ontario. The project has won seven design awards including the Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Award in 2004 as the outstanding adaptive re-use of a brownfield site. It has been presented across Canada as an extraordinarily successful example of urban redevelopment through the introduction of post-secondary education in an urban core. In 1979 Prof. Haldenby founded the School of Architecture’s program of studies in Rome that, in the year 2000, celebrated its 20th anniversary with the ROMA XX show at BCE Place, the largest architectural exhibition ever to occur in Toronto. Also in 2000 the programme won the Scotiabank/Association of University and Colleges of Canada Award for Excellence in Internationalization. In 2004 the Rome Studio expanded, incorporating the former Canada Council Prix de Rome Apartment, and now operates throughout the year with both graduate and undergraduate programs. Haldenby won the University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award in 1982 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2006. He is Principal Investigator in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funded Community/University Research Alliance (CURA) involving Architecture, Planning, Geography and Environment and Resource Studies and partners representing the Cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the Region of Waterloo. The partnership also includes community organizations, the design professions, developers, business groups and the media. This Centre for Core Area Research and Design supports innovative research and design in core areas in mid-sized Canadian cities. It builds on a long tradition of collaboration with local groups in areas of Heritage, downtown redevelopment, environmental sustainability and design of public space. The Waterloo CURA has produced some 31 separate research projects. Haldenby completed the Master Plan for the Heritage Park at Ta’ Cenc, Malta which was the outcome of a complex process of mapping the geology, ecology, archaeology, traditional use, landscape and visual character of the largest undeveloped area in the Maltese archipelago. The plan was adopted by the Maltese government, but collapsed when a new owner proposed to place a golf course on the 2600 year old agricultural terracing. Haldenby also works in the area of archaeology and architectural history. He is co-author with Prof. Lorenzo Pignatti of the book Il Progetto del Antico, a study of the relationship between architecture and archaeology. Haldenby has two archaeological projects: a computer assisted study of the urban topography of Roman Carthage and a study and reconstruction of the Villa at S. Giovanni di Ruoti. A 1:50 reconstruction of the latter, recently completed using the facilities of the Integrated Centre for Visualization Design and Manufacturing at the School of Architecture, is now the centerpiece of an exhibit on the S.Giovanni in the National Archaeological Museum in Muro Lucano (PZ) Italy. Funding for these projects came from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts. He currently serves on the Board of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and Chairs the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture. He previously sat on the Board of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the Canadian Architectural Certification Board. In Cambridge Haldenby serves on the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee, Steering Committee for the Civic Administration Centre, Site Selection Committee for the Drayton Festival Theatre and the Environment Committee for the Cambridge and North Dumfries Community Foundation. In Kitchener he presently serves on the Culture Plan II Implementation Committee, the Centre Block Evaluation Committee and is deeply involved in Kitchener’s application for the Cultural Capitals Program. Marianne McKennaOAA, OAQ, FRAIC, Founding Partner, KPMB Architects Marianne McKenna was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated at Swarthmore College (B.A. 1972) and Yale University (M. Arch. 1976). Marianne is a founding partner of KPMB Architects (1987) and has since established a reputation for making innovative architecture that generates community and contributes to the public realm. In 2008 she received the Judy Elder Alumna Award from The Study in Montreal, which recognizes alumnae who have pursued excellence and achieved success in their chosen field. She developed two award-winning iterations of a Master Plan for the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in 1991 and 2006 respectively. That vision was recently realized in built form with the opening of the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning in September 2009. This project includes Koerner Hall, a critically-acclaimed 1135-seat concert venue designed to showcase the talents of students of the RCM and to attract performers from around the world. Marianne is the partner-in-charge of the Le Quartier Concordia* project in Montreal which comprises new facilities for Engineering/Computer Science and Visual Arts, and the John Molson School of Business. She was also partner-in-charge for KPMB of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre*, for which she realized a contemporary structure within the historic precinct of the McGill University campus that combines state-of-the-art research laboratories and interactive social spaces for five distinct research entities. She also led the team for an award-winning Master Plan for Ryerson University. Her internationally-acclaimed projects include Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which was chosen to represent Canada at the 2002 Green Building Challenge in Oslo, Norway and which has been described as a ‘watershed’ project for demonstrating that a building can be architecturally ambitious while being a real [energy] performer’. Other projects include the Torys LLP offices in downtown Toronto, which was the cover feature of the August 2008 issue of Interior Design (New York) and has attracted attention in both the business and art communities. Currently she is the partner-in-charge of the Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo, the Rotman School of Management expansion project at the University of Toronto and a renovation of Minnesota Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Marianne has taught at McGill University's Faculty of Architecture, L'Université de Montréal and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, both as a thesis advisor and as an adjunct professor, redesigning the professional practice course. She has also lectured and acted as guest critic at Yale University, Dalhousie and Carleton Universities. * In joint venture with Fichten Soiferman et Associés, Architectes |
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