The Grand Dame of Green Design

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander is this country's pre-eminent landscape architect. She is often referred to as a national treasure and her love of nature and respect for the environment has guided and inspired her work. Even if you don't recognize her name, you probably have enjoyed one of her green designs.  Her work has been internationally acclaimed, from her green roof on the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, to the atrium of the New York Times building, to the grounds surrounding the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. IDEAS producer Yvonne Gall profiles the 91-year-old icon, whose career spans over six decades and is still going strong.

Most recent Awards:

American Society of Landscape Architects bestowed its highest honour to Cornelia Hahn Oberlander on October 1st, 2012.  The award was "in recognition of her unfaltering leadership and award-winning work in postwar landscape architecture in Canada and the United States.  She is the embodiment of the multi-disciplinary landscape architect who perpetually pursues aesthetic, ecological and technical possibilities to achieve worldwide community well-being".

International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) named Cornelia Hahn Oberlander as their 2011 winner of the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award.  This award is the highest honour that the IFLA can bestow upon a landscape architect.  The Award recognizes a living landscape architect whose lifetime achievement and contributions have had a unique and lasting impact on the welfare of society and the environment and on of the promotion of the profession of landscape architecture.

Order of Canada, November 18, 2010.  Cornelia Hahn Oberlander was recognized "as one of the world's leading landscape architects and for having demonstrated a life long commitment to promoting the harmonious fusion of building and site.  A fearless innovator, she has set new standards of excellence through her socially conscious and environmentally responsible landscape designs.  Grounded in extensive research, her work has made use of local plants and natural settings to help reduce our ecological footprint and environmental degradation of our urban milieu.  Through countless projects undertaken both in Canada and abroad, she has inspired and challenged the public to view future developments and growth from the  perspective of ecological sustainability."

Reading list:

Love Every Leaf: The life of landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, by Kathy Stinson. Published in Canada by Tundra Books.  2008.

Bilder kanadisher Landschaftsarchitektur/Picturing Lanscjape Architecture.  Projects of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander as seen by Etta Gerdes.  Munchen:Callwey, 2006.

Releated Websites:

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander

Corenelia Hahn Oberlander - Dexigner