Claude Cormier

Claude Cormier, CQ, born in Quebec on June 22, 1960, is a landscape architect in Canada.

Cormier’s early life had a singular impact on his career path. He grew up on a farm — a natural environment to be sure, but when one is immersed in it day after day, it can also become exceedingly dull and contrast starkly to the pastoral and romantic ideal of so many urbanites. In Cormier’s eyes, nature offered itself as a resource, not as a sublime experience. And at no time did the nature he knew offer him a means of escape.

Upon reaching adulthood, Cormier chose to study agronomy at the University of Guelph in Ontario. He went with the intention of creating a new flower through crossbreeding. However, upon earning his Bachelor’s degree, he realized that it was not plant genetics that fascinated him, but rather the prospect of rendering nature more playful. His study of the sciences, which focused on the possibilities of inventing new “breeds,” would prove useful to him later in his career when he began to apply his knowledge of crossbreeding and hybridization to the urban landscape. His new interest took him to the University of Toronto, where he studied landscape architecture. A second degree in hand, he worked for a time with various landscape architecture firms, including Gerrard & Mackars. Cormier then made a decision to return to Quebec and live in Montreal, where he joined Groupe Lestage, an architecture and urban design firm that took advantage of his arrival to expand its practice to include landscape architecture services.

When Cormier was 33, a combination of circumstances brought him to Harvard University, where he completed a Master’s degree in History and Theory of Design. But he was also drawn to this institution by a person: Martha Schwartz, his long-time mentor and a leading landscape architect. Throughout his studies at Harvard, Cormier worked at Schwartz’s offices, exploring and clarifying the ideas and concepts he had long reflected upon and that would soon take shape. In fact, after leaving Harvard in 1995, he returned to Montreal to found his own firm: Claude Cormier Landscape Architects Inc.

Cormier belongs to the second generation of landscape architects, known as “conceptualists;” Schwartz is widely considered as leader of this movement. Having emerged concurrent with postmodern architecture and on the heels of the conceptual art movement, this approach is distinguished by the predominance accorded the concept or governing idea that spurs a project and defines its every detail, from start to finish. This conceptualist viewpoint differs radically from the functionalist imperatives of modernism. Within this camp itself, the practice of Cormier and his team is distinguished by his insistence to peel back the historic, economic, botanical, ecological and socio-cultural strata (whether hidden or manifest) that make up the sites on and with which they work. In fact, each project is woven from a complex network of meaning, yet remains startlingly clear. This “weave” is constructed from the joining, or intersecting, of various conceptual, material and historical elements. From the exercise emerges a semantic density that sets the team’s achievements apart. Cormier draws his inspiration from both contemporary art and his submersion in a city’s energy. Of greatest importance to him is that he open himself up to the context before him, that he immerse himself in the site’s history (and indeed its memory) to extract from it the elements he needs to create a narrative. And while this narrative may not always be apparent in the final work, it nevertheless remains the thread that runs through the project’s conception and production.

A single formula stands as the most concise definition of Cormier’s philosophy: Artificial, not fake. What he seeks first and foremost is authenticity—a “true fake.” In other words, he strives to display the constructed nature of landscape in its truest form. The finished project must emerge as a hymn to life, fashioned using a palette of exuberant colours and artificial materials with which Cormier innovates through decontextualization. Among his many realizations, those that have contributed most to raising the profile and reputation of the firm are Lipstick Forest (1999-2002), a copse of pink concrete trees; the surprising installations Blue Stick Garden (1999-2000) and Blue Tree (2004); and HtO beach (2003-2007), an urban design project on the Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto. A playful, spirited and indeed sometimes caustic humour is exuded by the projects and has in many ways become their trademark. Not only does Cormier toy with nature, he dupes it by presenting and in fact representing it in a completely original way. And this may be his credo. Conceptual landscape architects target boldness and audacity in an effort to stimulate, seduce and entertain, all the while playing with our perceptions. They appropriate what we’ve long taken for granted and reveal it to us in a brand new light. Their creations often act as identity markers, while transforming the personality of both a site and city. By reinventing urban landscapes, Cormier seeks to stir emotions and give meaning in order to invigorate public space by blurring the boundaries between design and art, natural and artificial, and real and surreal.

In 2009, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

Projects

• 300 Front Street (2007-2010), Toronto (Ontario), Canada
• Hôtel Quatre saisons et résidences - Bay/Yorkville (2006-2010), Toronto, (Ontario), Canada
• Evergreen/Brick Works (2006-2009), Toronto (Ontario), Canada
• Blue Stick Garden (2006), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Pergola (2006), Le Havre (Normandie), France
• Jackie Gleason Theatre (2005-2009), South Beach, Miami (Floride), États-Unis
• Roslyn Robertson Herb and Scent Garden (2005-2006), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Église St-James (2004-2006), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Blue Tree (2004), Sonoma (Californie), États-Unis
• Blue Stick Garden (2004), Taunton (Somerset), Angleterre
• HTO - Urban Beach (2003-2007), Toronto (Ontario), Canada
• Complexe des sciences Pierre-Dansereau de l'UQAM (2003-2005), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Camouflage Park/Commissioners Park (2003), Toronto (Ontario), Canada
• Solange (2003), Lyon, France
• Blue Forest (2003-2007), Détroit (Michigan), États-Unis
• Bassin de la Place des Arts (2002), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Blue Stick Garden (2002), Toronto (Ontario), Canada
• Parc du pont Jacques-Cartier (2002), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Échangeur du Parc/des Pins (2001-2004), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Square Dorchester - Place du Canada (2000-2002), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Falaise Sainte-Geneviève (1999-2008), Québec (Québec), Canada
• Esplanade du Palais des congrès de Montréal (1999-2002), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Lipstick Forest (Nature légère) (1999-2002), Montréal (Québec), Canada (situé dans le Palais des congrès de Montréal)
• Blue Stick Garden (1999-2000), Métis-sur-Mer (Québec), Canada
• Jardin privé au Lac Nominingue (1999-2000), Lac Nominingue (Québec), Canada
• Jardin de Montréal à Shanguaï (1999-2000), Shanghai, Chine
• Benny Farm (1999-2007), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Place d'Youville (1997-2008), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Blue Lawn (Pelouse bleue) (1996-1997), Montréal (Québec), Canada
• Square Phillips (1996-1997), Montréal (Québec), Canada

External links

• Official web site

Notes and references

Jacques Perron,2008

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Name	Cormier, Claude
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Date of birth	1960
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