Civitas Receives Canadian Landscape Architecture Award for Calgary Project
Words: Bronzella Cleveland
Civitas co-leads team with W Architecture to transform St. Patrick’s Island
Currently under construction, the proposed amphitheater and sun deck for the award-winning St. Patrick’s Island project have been located on previously disturbed areas and provide sweeping views of the restored wetland channel. (Image courtesy of Civitas)
Denver-based urban design studio and landscape architecture firm Civitas Inc. has received a 2015 Regional Merit Award in the landscape management category from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) for its transformation of the 30-acre St. Patrick’s Island in Calgary, Alberta.
Civitas is working in collaboration with New York-based W Architecture and IBI Group of Toronto – both also named on the award – co-leading a multi-disciplinary, international team for the design of this urban island park. The plan, which will return a vital downtown Calgary landscape in the scenic Bow River to active public use, also was honored in the urban design category in the 2014 AIA NY Design Awards. The St. Patrick’s Island project, slated for completion in October 2015, will “restore the island’s ecology and increase biodiversity while providing new enticements for visitors to interact in a natural public park setting,” says Civitas Project Manager Scott Jordan.
With a core purpose of “creating healthier cities,” Civitas is an idea-based practice of urban designers, architects, and landscape architects engaged in strategic planning for urban change and project design for built works. A consultancy and a design studio, Civitas advises on a wide range of strategies for re-imagining urban life and places.