Notable Graduate

New Horizon Development Group has kicked off 2023 with an ambitious redevelopment proposal on the east side of Hamilton that would see the residential conversion of the historic Delta Collegiate Institute (DCI) building, coupled with a site-wide intensification effort. Designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects , the proposal contemplates the construction of three separate mid-rise buildings of 14 storeys, with four blocks of townhouses at three or four storeys surrounding the site’s perimeter. All together, the redevelopment would offer 975 new dwelling units with a significant rental component in an area with emerging transit infrastructure.

Inspired Landscape Architecture The City of Markham takes the Burr Oak seriously. As the city’s official tree, its leaf and acorn appear on all park signs. Consequently, a large Burr Oak on a section of the former York Downs Golf & Country Club that’s being redeveloped into Union Village, a master-planned community by Minto Communities and Metropia, presented a unique landscape design opportunity. NAK Design Strategies’ associate landscape architect Naz Hiyate and his team, working with the municipality and developers, decided to use the tree as the centrepiece of a park, where it would become a signature feature for the 412-acre development. Landscape design is a key component in establishing a development’s identity and creating a place where people want to live, work and play. With outdoor spaces and connections to nature important to homebuyers and municipalities increasingly concerned with sustainability, landscape architects and designers are key members of any development team. Landscape architect Jackie VanderVelde of Land Art Design, a firm that has worked with developers such as Daniels, Liberty, Minto Communities, Centrecourt and Fengate, says her studio is involved from the early planning stages. The developer has to show the municipality what’s going to be built, while the city wants to ensure that both the quality and size of the landscaped space are acceptable. “If it’s a greenfield site, only part of it may have had a building or parking lot and there’s lots of extra space. Of if land sits undeveloped, it naturalizes and a habitat is created,” adds Le’Ann Seely, landscape architect and principal at Whitehouse Urban Design, a studio that works on new multi-residential projects and redevelopment properties throughout Ontario. “We can help navigate the process as to what can and cannot be preserved and help a builder understand that.” A municipality often wants an inventory of trees on a site, as there may be endangered species, says Seely. It may specify which trees can be removed and how many new ones have to be planted. VanderVelde is typically in Zoom meetings with 20 to 30 people as planning begins. “It has a domino effect. I might say ‘I want to do this,’ then the engineer says he’ll need to do this, then you have to mix in city approvals. There’s a great deal of coordination, and the consultants have to work together like a Swiss watch.” VanderVelde says the average time from when her studio gets involved to when residents move in is five years, with three years spent determining how all the pieces will fit. And what inspires a landscape design? It can be derived from a multitude of sources, she says: the site’s history, the project’s name or, in one case, Group of Seven paintings. “Landscape designers are constantly monitoring the design world,” VanderVelde says. “We try to bring that into landscape design without being too trendy.” The finished product must have a timeless quality so as to still be relevant in five, 10 and 20 years,” she says. “We try to create magic with everything we design, but pair it with reality, which is the budget.” SEEING GREEN Finding an easy site to work with is becoming more difficult, however, with greenfield land becoming scarce in the 416 and 905 regions. “We’re developing further afield or redeveloping older neighbourhoods,” notes NAK’s Hiyate. That means looking for alternatives, such as Union Village, which involved a golf course redevelopment. The project’s landscape plan will incorporate some golf course elements such as woodlots, valleys and cart paths, the latter of which will become walkways. A creek will be preserved and a walkway created around an existing pond. Trails will provide connection between Union Village and surrounding neighbourhoods. The community park with the Burr Oak tree will be a major feature.