Cornelia
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Name and credentials:
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, O.C, L.L.D. (HON), FCSLA, BCSLA, FASLA
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City and country of birth:
Mülheim / Ruhr, Germany
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Education:
Smith College, B.A., 1944
Harvard Graduate School of Design, B.L.Arch., 1947
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Achievements:
1992
Order of Canada
(The only landscape architect to receive this distinction.)2009
Officer of the Order of Canada
(For her influence and contributions as a landscape architect who sets new standards of excellence through her environmentally responsible landscape designs.)
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A few of my favourite things:
DSc, hon. causa. McGill University, Montreal (2008)
LLD. Hon. causa. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (2008)
Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (2006)
LHD. Hon. causa Smith College, Northampton, Ma. (2003)
LLD hon. causa Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (2002)
Honorary Life Membership B.C.Society of Landscape Architects (2001)
Honorary Member, Architectural Institute of British Columbia (1997)
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Medal (1995)
Fellow American Society of Landscape Architects (1992)
LLD hon. causa University of British Columbia (1991)
Member of the Order of Canada (1990)
Fellow Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (1981)
Sunshine
Nature
Being surrounded by my family & friends
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Tell us about your practice as a landscape architect.
Fleeing Nazi Germany, in 1939 I landed in New York aboard the Queen Mary wanting nothing more than to blend into American life.
In 1940 I was admitted by Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts which offered an interdepartmental major in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. This was a preparatory program for the Harvard School of Design which admitted women in 1943. The Graduate School of Design was directed by Walter Gropius formerly of the Bauhaus in Germany. Under his direction we were taught in the International Style.
After graduating from Harvard my first job was with James Rose Landscape Architect in New York, who was among the first North American designers to reject Beaux Arts notions in favour of Bauhaus modernism. My first project was to implement “Modular Gardens” which he had designed for the Ladies Home Journal. The kit consisted of 3 birch trees, a hedge, 2’x2’ pavers, a bench and trellis and flowerbeds which I planted dutifully for the show garden. I later worked for the New York Regional Plan Association and the Citizen’s Council on City Planning in Philadelphia. Later I worked for Louis I. Kahn and Oscar Stonorov. It was during this time that I realized that landscape architects must collaborate with architects.
In 1953 I married my husband, whom I met in 1945 at the GSD school picnic at Walden Pond. He was in Vancouver to establish the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at UBC. I moved to Vancouver and we lived in a tiny illegal apartment where I had to cook on the stair landing with a hotplate near UBC. My first commission was given to me by Fred Laserre, Head of Architecture at UBC. It was a garden for the Friedman Residence. The garden still exists and the Friedmans (now in their nineties) still take very good care of it. This project is considered one of the first modern gardens in Vancouver. The next project was the Faculty Club at UBC.
In 1954 we moved back east so my husband could complete a PhD. In Urban and Regional Planning at Harvard. We returned to Vancouver 1955. In December 1956 our first daughter was born, a son in 1958 and another daughter in 1960. We lived in a WestEnd in a walkup apartment. I had an English pram that I somehow managed to get up and down the stairs. I received the commission to do the landscape for the McLean Park Housing followed by the Skeena Terrace low-cost housing projects. With help at home to look after the children, I could work only on one project at a time.
In 1964 I received the commission to design the playground for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo ’67 in Montreal. The playground was a new concept with hills and dales, water, sand and a boat. This project led to 70 other playground commissions in the following years.
In 1974 my eldest daughter left for college and I was interviewed to design the landscape for Robson Square. I won the commission. Other projects followed.
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What landscape architectural work are you most proud of?
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Robson Square, Vancouver
Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver
C.K. Choi Institute of Asian Research, UBC
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What was it that brought you to landscape architecture?
Since I was 11 years old I wanted nothing else but to become a landscape architect. I grew up in a big garden where I was given my own 3’x3’ plot to tend as well as a homing pigeon house. (The pigeons were not good at finding home so I would have to go out on my bicycle to find them). My mother was a horticulturist who wrote gardening books for mothers and children. (Her books had to be printed in Switzerland because the Nazi regime in Germany deemed them unsuitable). My father was an engineer. So I came to this profession naturally.
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How many children (grandchildren) do you have? Ages?
I have 2 daughters and one son ages 49 to 53. With 3 granddaughters ages 16 to 6 and one grandson age 6. My late husband of 56 years minus seven days was founder of the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), professor, architect, urban planner, citizenship court judge as well as ‘father of UN Human Settlements.
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How do (did) you manage to practice landscape architecture while raising children and running a household? (participation in office culture, hours worked, children’s sick days, ability to network, drop offs and pick ups from day care and schools, childcare costs, housework, cooking, single parenting, etc.)
You have to be organized. I have worked from a studio In my home. When the children were pre-school age we had au pairs from Switzerland to lend a hand with the children, I could only work 2 hours a day.
Once the oldest was 3 years she could go to a very good pre-school.. At the ages of 4 and 5 the children attended the Child Study Centre at UBC. Once the children were in school I was able to work from 9:30 to 2:30. When the kids came home from school we would sit at the kitchen table and visit, kids need to be able to talk about their day.
We have always had a housekeeper come in one day a week, however, I did all of the grocery shopping, chauffeuring of kids to various after school activities and cooking. My husband always wanted to have dinner at home, but he didn’t cook. Over 56 years of marriage minus seven days I have cooked 143,000 meals!
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Can you recall an instance where the dual responsibilities of being a parent and an architect came to a head? Please share.
In 1974 I was interviewed by Bing Thom and Arthur Erickson to collaborate on the landscape for Robson Square. They gave me only one day to prepare my proposal. I proposed turning the site into an urban oasis by using roof top planting and light-weight growing media (an approach unheard of at that time). Once I was awarded the contract I had to inform them that I was available from 9:30 to 2:30 pm only because of my parenting and household responsibilities.
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Do you think that being a parent has actually influenced your approach to landscape architecture?
Observing my own children at play became the inspiration for the design at the Childrens’ Creative Centre at the Canadian Pavilion for Expo’67. This was a playground that relied on art and self-motivated play rather than play equipment. Hills, dales, water, sand and a true Nova Scotia dory which rocked in the canal made for a successful playground. Watching my son play with a small boat on Lake Okanagan was particularly influential. I designed 70 other playgrounds after Expo ’67.
- “There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.”
- Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise, 1938
What do you think about this quote?
If you are a good artist you are an artist your whole life whether it is rearing children or creating landscapes.
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What is the best piece of advice you would give to a would-be parent/architect?
Not to think that she can practice the whole gamut. If you are married with children, you can do only one project a year. Once they have grown up then you can take off as the opportunities occur.
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Architects are visionary people. If you could change public policy that impacts on child-rearing, what would that be?
Childcare needs to be available for everyone.
There should be more inspired daycares, they often aren’t creative enough. After-school care is essential.