rdaner
Senior Member
ccxa.ca
Yup, I'm so glad that we have that event to look back on, the whole thing from the packed public ceremony for the opening, to the time with him at the pub afterwards. (I think Marc Hallé and Yannick Roberge from the firm came to that too, no?) Claude had this kind of perpetual combination of enthusiasm and nonchalance with which he presented himself, and it was disarming as ever.RIP. I met him at the grand opening of Berczy Park (with some UT folks). Afterwards, we went to the pub at the Flatiron Building. I sat next to him and we chatted about his life and career. He was very friendly and humble. After dinner we took some pictures in front of the lit up fountain.
His works will live on as a testament to his genius, creativity and whimsicality. All the best to CCxA and may they continue to design great parks in Toronto and beyond.
So yup, I learned about this today when @ProjectEnd passed @AlexBozikovic's tweet to me at 11.38 AM... and I knew we had to drop everything to put something up to just start to express our appreciation for Claude, and to express our loss.@interchange42 was obviously at work on the front page story right away.
As one is now up:
Celebrated Landscape Architect Claude Cormier Passes at 63 | UrbanToronto
Claude Cormier, one of Canada's greatest landscape architects, has passed away following a battle with cancer. Cormier and his Montreal-based firm CCxA have been responsible for dozens of celebrated park and green space designs, especially in his home town and in Toronto.urbantoronto.ca
I'll encourage people to read the thoughtful and appropriately laudatory piece above by following the link.
But I will bring forward from that piece a list of his completed, in progress, and pending works in Toronto:
"Completed spaces in Toronto can be found at The Selby, Backstage on the Esplanade, River City, 300 Front, Daniels Waterfront, King Portland Centre, and others. Local spaces partially complete or still to come include Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, The Well, 88 Queen East, Scrivener Court, Maple Hose at Canary Landing, 25 St Mary, Leslie Slip Lookout Park, 5207 Dundas West, St Clair Place and more"
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I will also bring forward this tidbit which many UT'ers may not know, and which I think speaks so well of Claude as a human being:
"You could tell he simply loved people, and loved to create spaces that would bring joy. Following the opening ceremonies of Berczy Park, Cormier joined UrbanToronto staff and Forum members for a get-together at the pub in the Flatiron Building just beside the park. Cormier was happy to chat about anything, and revelled in people's reactions to his work. When you told him how much you loved some aspect of whatever he was doing, he also made sure to tell you that it wasn't all just him, and spread the love around to his colleagues at the firm."
"Hi Craig! Matias did a great job!Please thank him for us! The photos that he has selected are very good, the text is clear and well written!Thousand thank you for continuous great support .Claude "
If you have worked with Claude Cormier over the years and would like to say something, but you post anonymously here on the Forum and would like to go on the record publicly, then please send me a note at craig@urbantoronto.ca and we'll try to add it into the article.
Yes, I believe they were there.Yup, I'm so glad that we have that event to look back on, the whole thing from the packed public ceremony for the opening, to the time with him at the pub afterwards. (I think Marc Hallé and Yannick Roberge from the firm came to that too, no?) Claude's had this kind of perpetual combination of enthusiasm and nonchalance with which he presented himself, and it was disarming as ever.
He really expressed his appreciation for our community's support of him that day, and he never forgot it either. I have quite a bit of correspondence with him from over the years, and that appreciation continued up to the opening day of Love Park, which I couldn't make myself, unfortunately, but I'll include Claude's last note to me about our story that day;
"Hi Craig! Matias did a great job!Please thank him for us! The photos that he has selected are very good, the text is clear and well written!Thousand thank you for continuous great support .Claude "
So yup, I learned about this today when @ProjectEnd passed @AlexBozikovic's tweet to me at 11.38 AM... and I knew we had to drop everything to put something up to just start to express our appreciation for Claude, and to express our loss.
Claude will no doubt be lauded over the next while by every voice in Canada's city-building realm, and you'll get to see far more detailed and extensive reports than we've had time to do. I'll look forward to the Boz's piece in The Globe, and I assume Stefan Novakovic will be writing in Azure. In the meantime, I have added into our front page story a short tribute from Jennifer Keesmaat that she provided for us, and we may continue to add more.
If you have worked with Claude Cormier over the years and would like to say something, but you post anonymously here on the Forum and would like to go on the record publicly, then please send me a note at craig@urbantoronto.ca and we'll try to add it into the article.
So, still processing my own shock over this...
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