Claude Cormier Honoured with 2024 Governor General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture

The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) has announced that Claude Cormier, C.Q., AAPQ, FCSLA, FRAIC, is the 2024 recipient of the Governor General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture.

The Governor General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture (GGMLA) is the highest honour that is bestowed on a landscape architect by the CSLA. The biennial medal aims to honour exceptional landscape architects whose lifetime achievements and contributions to the profession have had an impact on Canadian society.

Cormier died on September 15, 2023, at his Montreal, Quebec, home at the age of 63. The cause of death was complications from Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that predisposes carriers to multiple cancers.

Cormier’s first and one of his last projects, Les Pruches in 1990, and The Ring in 2023 respectively, were CSLA award-winners, along with 22 others in between. Other Canadian awards include National Urban Design Awards for Sugar Beach in 2012, Berczy Park and 18 Shades of Gay in 2020, Azure Awards for Pink Balls in 2018 and The Ring in 2023, and dozens of other Canadian accolades throughout the span of his 30-year career.

“Claude Cormier, a Fellow of the CSLA, Honourary Fellow of RAIC, and Chevalier of the Order of Québec epitomizes the spirit of the Governor General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture: honouring exceptional landscape architects whose lifetime achievements and contributions to the profession have had a unique and lasting impact on Canadian society. Claude had reached national and international acclaim through his impact on placemaking,” said the jury statement.

“He used his unique voice to highlight diversity, address hostile environments, and make simple, powerful, artistic and scientific-based designs that are infused with joy. The concept of joy also guided Claude’s life and legacy. Throughout his career, Claude faced many challenges. Despite that, he inspired, supported and influenced a generation of landscape architects. He built and sustained powerful teams and developed an important network to create awareness about the profession. Through his work and his words, he engaged with the public by introducing playfulness in the landscapes. Though he left us too soon, Claude Cormier’s generous spirit, playful, impactful work will be forever imprinted on our landscapes and in our hearts.”

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