PFS Studio submitted the winning entry in an international design competition for a new urban waterfront park at Ottawa’s historic Lansdowne Park.
The plan recomposed the entire Lansdowne site, turning asphalt into green; renovating, relocating and repurposing a remarkable historic building for community use; and wrapping a refurbished sports stadium with an undulating topography and landscape. The project scope included consideration of the interface with the Capital parkway system, the development of a public art strategy and a programming strategy that would identify partners and facilities to animate the park with events and festivals. In addition, PFS Studio was charged with coordinating public realm guidelines for the retail mixed-use development on site.
The park features a Great Lawn, a new site for the Ottawa Farmers’ Market on Aberdeen square, a series of grand allees and terraces, new topography and intimate greens, civic gardens and orchards, a playground and water play, and two significant public art pieces by Jill Anholt. The park design integrates sustainable objectives in the form of storm water infiltration and cisterns, a much-expanded tree canopy for pollution mitigation and habitat creation, and urban agriculture. PFS Studio went on to fully implement its vision with the Park’s final completion in 2015 through 2017.
