The graduate program in Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba was Canada’s first of its kind. It resulted from the vision of the late Dean of Architecture, John A. Russell. Its establishment was facilitated by the appointment of Alexander Rattray as Head of the program in July 1969. The initial three-year graduate course of study was offered through the University’s Natural Resource Institute in 1970. The Master of Landscape Architecture program was formally accepted by the Province of Manitoba in 1972. In the fall of 2022, the MLA program graduated more than 440 students. Students have originated from all regions of Canada and many other countries.

HOMECOMING – HARNESS SYNERGIES

Fall is the time to plant bulbs. A horticultural happening preludes the homecoming event that will take place in the evening of Friday, September 23^rd, during Homecoming Week 2022. The idea is to insert 10,000 bulbs into the grassland in front of the John A. Russell Building. Homecoming guests are invited to get their hands dirty before they start mingling and celebrating. In case guests are afraid of digging in Winnipeg clay, everyone is invited to watch, observe, take pictures, have a conversation, meet old friends or make new connections. After the work is done that day, the bulbs hibernate before they show off next spring. It is anticipated that anybody involved will enthusiastically wait for spring 2023. People will come back full of curiosity and excited expectations; taking pictures, trying to identify ‘their’ bulbs which turned into beautiful flowers, and full of pride to be part of this project. Bumblebees, wild bees, beetles and flies benefit from the early pollens produced by the bulbs. Their party starts in spring 2023.

To stay up-to-date with all 50th Anniversary events visit here: https://umanitoba.ca/architecture/LA50

MAKING FLOWERS MAKING WAVES – TURNING BULBS INTO A STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

The lots of bulbs project is intended to be a catalyst for funding an MLA 50^th Anniversary Student Scholarship. Winters are long in our prairie climate, summers get humid and hot, falls are golden, and springtime always feels too short. An MLA 50^thAnniversary bulb mixture will be created. Colours, textures, and aromas are essential aspects, but the selection of different species may extend the dish for pollinators and the eyes of the beholders after a long winter. Packages of the MLA 50^thAnniversary bulb mixture will be for sale, the flowers can feed pollinators all across Canada and beyond, and the revenue will feed the MLA 50^th Anniversary Students Scholarship.

Bulb Order Form

Update your contact information, and you will be kept in the loop about the MLA 50th Anniversary program and the best time to order your bulbs.

https://umanitoba.ca/community/alumni/alumni-update-your-contact-information

Text was previously published in:  Landscapes Paysages, Landscape Architecture in Canada, L’Architecture de Paysage au Canada, 24(2), 17.

Enclosure

“Pure” space is an attempt to depict the (intellectual) construct of human space creation pictorially: space as a self-sufficient, inward-looking structure, characterized by equal, continuously closed boundary walls and a uniform, level surface. Space as a unit. And we are in the middle of it.                                                      (Loidl & Bernard, 2003, p.55)

Francis Ching (1996) observes that “The degree of enclosure of a space … has a significant impact on our perception of its form and orientation” (p.168). I have chosen the word “enclosure” to describe our state of being since March 13^th 2020, when the University of Manitoba executed the shift to on-line learning. In the days and weeks and months hence, we, as a community of scholarship and learning, have experienced many different degrees of enclosure. Some of us already had home offices, but others had to adapt domestic spaces to learning spaces – to studios and classrooms. As rotating degrees of lockdown affected the breadth of our contacts, our communities were reduced to “bubbles” – which suggests connectivity – but for some, only variable access to internet provided a crucial tether to loved ones.

In design we enhance the qualities of enclosure through manipulating and punctuating planes, but in lockdown there were times at which enclosure led to a sense of constraint and confinement. “Complete closure with boundary walls produces the most independent but also the most insulated space… (Loidl & Bernard, 2002, p. 51). The outdoor world became a place of escape for many; parks and open spaces were activated as locations for expansion and for gathering in small groups. During the winter, the rivers became the most dynamic of public spaces, filled with artistic installations, ice gardens and recreational activities such as toboggan runs, walking trails and ice rinks. This was the local setting, but our learning community is international and with many students unable to come to Winnipeg to study, these scenes were repeated in a range of diverse locations and conditions.

“People and space are inseparably linked” (p. 52). There are many ways to alter the experience of enclosure. One can elevate, depress or punctuate planes, materiality can introduce variety through texture and pattern, repetition of elements can produce continuity; in the 2020-2021 academic year, our enclosures were perforated by the digital realm. Except for a brief interlude of in-person teaching, our community of learning existed through the internet. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, UMLearn, Miro, DISCORD, Social Pinpoint – these were the places for the exchange of ideas, the acquisition of knowledge, the fostering of creativity and a passion for design. You may hate the word “pivot,” but this word very concisely captures the rapid adaptation of our community to new forms of communication for sharing ideas and building a culture of design.

For several years, we have gathered at the end of term to rejoice. The Year End Exhibition has always been an event of celebration and pride for our students and educators. It was also the best party in town. While we may mourn our inability to gather, independent of our individual enclosures, the digital platform for the Year End Exhibition means you can visit the exhibition often. You can revel in the amazing creativity fostered within unprecedent conditions. In their confinement, our students and educators invoked new means of advancing design as a solution to the wicked problems we face in the world today. Celebrate and enjoy. Join us online www.yearendexhibition.com

References
Ching, F.D.K. (1996). Architecture: Form, space, and order (2^nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Loidl, H., & Bernard, S. (2002). Opening spaces: Design as Landscape Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser.