Year: 2004

Client: Canadian War Museum in collaboration with Moryama Teshima Architects

Awards: 2005: Award of Excellence Public Places & Civic Spaces Ottawa Urban Design Awards

2005: Royal Institute of British Architects International Award

This project is characterized by a seamless integration with its surroundings: building and landscape become one. In this case, the ground literally rises gradually to the roof level of the building forming a sloped hill. Weeds and poppies cover most of the building’s green roof. The “Traverse”, which consists of a footpath connecting the sidewalk to the roof of the museum, evokes the path taken by soldiers during battle, a sort of open trench. Grassy knolls and hollows are reminiscent of bombed terrain where nature has begun to heal the landscape.

Year: 2003

Client: Mountain Equipment Co-op in collaboration with Duchesnes & Fish and Vouli

The use of recycled materials was one of the guiding landscaping principles for the Mountain Equipment Co-op site. Natural rocks were installed as benches near the main entrance. They came from local sources to reduce pollution and transportation costs.

Planting was an important element of the site’s design, not only on the ground, but also on a portion of the roof, where a rooftop garden was built for the staff. In addition to beautifying the site, planting played an important role in climate protection. During the summer months, deciduous trees protect the building and its users from the heat of the sun, but allow the sun’s rays to penetrate and warm up the building come winter. Native, drought resistant plants were used throughout the site because of their minimum maintenance and water requirements. In addition, an onsite water management system was built to collect rainwater used to water plants in times of drought.

Year: 1992

Client: City of Montreal

Awards: 1992: National Citation and Regional Honour Awards from the Canadian Association or Landscape Architects (CSLA)

The Montreal Biodome, housed in the city’s Olympic Velodrome, is a unique ecological museum and stimulating learning centre. WAA helped transform the former sporting facility into four artificial ecosystems: the Costa Rican rainforest, the Boreal Forest of Quebec, the St. Lawrence River Valley, as well as the North and South Poles. In contrast to a typical zoo environment, WAA designed spaces for the resident wildlife population which closely resemble their natural habitats by replicating local geology, topography, vegetation, and temperature.

Year: 2006

Client: Fairway Group

Westmount One is a luxury retirement condominium tower with breathtaking views of the city. WAA was hired to design the landscaping for the building’s entrance, ground floor surroundings and roof terrace. The roof terrace is divided into both public and private space with the help of planted delimitations in the form of winding shrubs and perennials. The public space is dotted with comically oversized terra cotta planters large enough to accommodate small trees. Residents can sit and enjoy the view under the shade of a large umbrella at one of the many tables scattered across the terrace.

Year: 2007

Client: Shanghai Dijie Real Estate Co. Ltd.

Located in Shanghai, Dijie is a new planned community developed around the site’s existing features. Dijie’s natural water features provided the base for the design of the community. The existing water courses were used to define the extensive public community green spaces located throughout the site. Through a landscaping concept that evolved from one lot to the other, distinctive environments were created for each living quarter.

Year: 1987

Client: Industrial Alliance

Awards: 1987: National Citation and Regional Merit Awards from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA)

Located on prestigious McGill Avenue in downtown of Montreal, the Industrial Life Plaza is a modern and classic landscaping development. Lush trees and floors, modern urban street furniture, sculptures, and fountains provide a welcoming space for the employees who work in the building as well as passersby. Apple trees, flowering bushes and perennials create a spectacle of colours from spring until fall.

Year: Ongoing

Client: Mosaïcultures internationales de Montréal

Under the theme of Land of Hope, based on biodiversity and sustainable development, Mosaïcultures International 2013 will be held in the arboretum of Montreal’s Botanical Gardens. WAA is currently working on the landscape design for the future MIM2013 site. Landscaped paths will ensure smooth traffic flow throughout the site while and will create strong areas of interest along different themes punctuated with large mosaïculture sculptures.

Year: 2008

Client: Biosphere

The landscaping of the Solar House is designed to show visitors how they can create inexpensive gardens using indigenous or hardy plants that require little to no maintenance or watering. Despite its experimental and environmental component, the landscaping is also designed to provide visitors with an aesthetically pleasing and neat surrounding. Thus, the garden demonstrates that sustainable development and aesthetics are two compatible criteria in Quebec’s landscape, and that one does not preclude the other.

Year: 2005

Client: Shui On Properties Ltd.

The design strategy for this central avenue allows perfectly harmonized architectural rhythms that differ from building to building while providing a unified approach to the streetscape. The generic landscape is the urban fabric created by the walkways along University Avenue. The structure of the space is created by the placement of trees on using a 6 meter grid. This green structure complements the architecture and creates a human scale for people. Differences found from one building to the other or differences resulting from different road alignments can be accounted for in the design of the sidewalks paving patterns by segregating the tree alignment from buildings.

Year: 2002

Client: SLADI & River Breeze

WAA participated in a competition to design a new mixed-use residential community in Shanghai. The design concept envisioned River Breeze as a model neighbourhood based on the principles of New Urbanism.

A modern and sustainable community, River Breeze integrates an urban core that services its residents with all sorts of amenities within walking distance, including shops, bars, restaurants, entertainment and cultural facilities, as well as recreational spaces. The town centre is sure to become the local gathering place of choice and create a strong collective community identity.

The residential areas will be lush and park like: the houses will be surrounded by green spaces which will form a continuous greenway linked to the town’s central park. Many homes will also back onto a peaceful river promenade.