The City of Ottawa announced that a winning design has been selected for the new urban park at Lansdowne, concluding a competition that attracted some of the top landscape designers in the world. The successful firm is Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, of Vancouver, creator of Design B, as it was known during the competition.

A seven-member jury deliberated on five proposed urban park designs for the open space at Lansdowne. Five design teams were shortlisted from 21 qualified competitors.

The design competition was anonymous. With the jury verdict rendered, all five teams can now be formally given credit for their designs. The five teams taking part in the design competition were:

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates – Cambridge, Massachusetts – Design APhillips Farevaag Smallenberg – Vancouver, British Columbia – Design BThe SWA Group – Sausalito, California – Design CWilliams, Asselin, Ackaoui & Associates Inc. (WAA) – Montreal, Quebec – Design DWest 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture – Toronto, Ontario – Design E

The urban park’s development is being overseen by the City of Ottawa in cooperation with the National Capital Commission, which owns greenspace nearby and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, and Parks Canada Agency, which owns the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, Rideau Canal National Historic Site of Canada. The winning design will now be presented to City Council, the NCC’s Board of Directors and Parks Canada for endorsement.

The winning urban park design team will work with the architects designing the rest of the Lansdowne redevelopment to integrate the designs.

Reports on various elements of the Lansdowne redevelopment, including the park design competition, were presented to City Council. Public delegations will be heard on June 24 and June 25. The Council debate and vote on the project is scheduled for June 28.