Marc halle claude cormier associates

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The redesign of Breakwater Park now has a plan, but it still needs $4.2 million to make the facelift a reality.

On Tuesday, city council approved a proposed redesign for the lakefront park, following approval by Parks and Recreation on May 23. The $4.2-million budget will be taken to council for approval later in the year.

The design, developed by Claude Cormier and Associates, a landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Montreal, will feature four-metre-wide walkways, concrete bleachers on the water’s edge, an over-water passageway connecting a new sand beach to the pier, as well as new lights and more trees.

The portion of the waterfront that will be developed into a seating area will also be accessible via wheelchair, the firm said. The seating area will also serve as a safe swimming area, as the steps descend into the water.

The park was selected by the urban design firm 8-80 Cities in February of last year as part of a provincewide effort to promote physical activity and accessibility in public parks.

After the selection, 8-80 Cities surveyed the park during the winter and summer. It also hosted three public consultation meetings, prior to releasing a report recommending changes to the area.

The report, which was released last fall, states that community members consulted wanted better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, improved maintenance and more greenery, as well as safety.

The $4.2-million request for the project won’t be brought to council until the 2014 budget is reviewed.

A potential revitalization was first considered in the 2010 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which recommended measures to improve the quality of life in Kingston.

Claude Cormier was contracted by the city to envision a redesign for the park last June after consultation had wrapped u

Marc Hallé, an invited FIU Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design Cejas Scholar, served as professional design advisor and critic to the Graduate Design 2 studio in collaboration with Associate in Design Marta Canavés, during the 2016 spring semester.

The semester studio began with a critical review of the proposed Field Operations Lincoln Road masterplan and proceeded to challenge first year Graduate Design 2 students “to conceive small urban spaces based on a conceptual project narrative to serve as a design framework for addressing contextual fit, scale, site specificity, and [to make] design decisions about material, pattern, planting, urban elements, and program.”

Marc Hallé is a senior associate at Claude Cormier et Associés and is also a lecturer of Landscape Architecture at the McGill University School of Architecture. Trained in both Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as Landscape Architecture, Marc completed his MLA at the University of Toronto in 2005.  Marc’s background enables him to carry out an artful execution of technique that is grounded in first principles and a priority for public spaces that are generous and relevant.

This article was written by Marta Canavés.

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Five years after the initial idea of a Berczy Park revitalization took hold, Berczy Park celebrated a lively grand re-opening event on June 28, 2017. The event, hosted by The City of Toronto, St Lawrence Market Neighbourhood BIA, Friends of Berczy Park and other community partners, drew well over 500 attendees to unveil the beautiful new $7.2 million park.

Following live music, children’s face-painting and storytelling – and a unique performance art appearance by Les Moutons, actors dressed as shepherd and sheep in the new park green space – speeches were made by Deputy Mayor and Councillor Pam McConnell, Mayor John Tory, and park designers Claude Cormier and Marc Halle of Claude Cormier et associes of Montreal. The crowd gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony by the whimsical cast iron fountain with 27 dog sculptures (& one cat).

If you missed the event, or want to re-live some of the highlights, enjoy our slideshow below. Thank you to all the photographers who shared these photos on Twitter and Instagram,  including Jon from EstatePhotoArt.

As CCxA co-president and partner, Marc has spearheaded some of the studio’s best-loved public spaces. Marc is known for his ability to use design narrative to bring together vision, complex design teams and stakeholders to achieve designs of uncommon quality and clarity. Marc’s role is to focus the raison d’etre of the design, with an innate optimism that makes him the keeper of a project’s positive momentum. Marc’s unique strengths include a gift for writing, design rigour, and commitment to landscape architecture as a practical, creative art. He balances acumen for managing complex teams and projects with the invisible skills of the landscape architect: social inclusiveness, sustainability, water and infrastructure management.

With over 20 years of experience on award and competition-winning projects and public realms across the country, Marc’s experience includes all facets of landscape architecture: urban parks, plazas, waterfronts, master plans, brownfield development, streetscapes and large-scale residential/mixed use communities. He is partner-in-charge of recent projects that include Love Park, Berczy Park, Breakwater Park, and Leslie Lookout Park. He has acted as project manager and team lead on several of the studio’s best-loved landscapes: the competition-winning Sugar Beach, Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto Four Seasons Hotel and Residences, and Blue Tree, California.

Marc joined CCxA (previously named Claude Cormier et Associés) in 2003 as one of founder Claude Cormier’s longest standing team members. He became a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture in 2021, graduating from the University of Toronto with a Masters of Landscape Architecture in 2004. Marc grew up in Saskatchewan, completing an undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Saskatchewan before pivoting into landscape design. Marc is a mentor for younger colleagues within the studio and frequent visiting lecturer/critic in the US and Canada.