Celebrating Claude Cormier in Montreal with lectures, excursions and a new documentary

Excerpt of announcement from TCLF :

“On June 27-28, 2024, Claude Cormier (1960-2023) and his built legacy in Montreal will be the subject of several events, including the premiere showing of the new video oral history at the Canadian Center of Architecture that examines Cormier’s life and career, followed by a daylong excursion to six extraordinary landscapes.

Claude Cormier’s impact on the profession of landscape architecture and the built environment is undeniably substantial. Cormier was independent, audacious, visionary, an artist, outrageous, declarative, principled, mischievous, inventive, gay, entertaining, and persistent, among his many qualities and attributes. As his firm’s website notes: “A great lover of the city, of culture, and of art, Claude truly blazed a new trail in landscape architecture with poetic, inspiring, and uplifting work that challenged the modernist orthodoxy of public space, all the while remaining practical and appreciated in a popular context. He invited people to laugh, to come together, to see things differently.”

A month before Cormier passed away on September 15, 2023, at age 63, Charles A. Birnbaum, President and CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), spent several days interviewing him at his home and office in Montreal. On a subsequent trip, videographer Barrett Doherty (who videotaped the Montreal interview) recorded important projects in Toronto. The results are featured in a riveting, entertaining, and revelatory new video oral history about Cormier’s life, design philosophy, and significant built works.

On Thursday, June 27 at the Canadian Center for Architecture, TCLF will premiere excerpts from the full oral history. Attendees for the excursion will also be afforded admission to the premiere.”

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