Cornelia Hahn Oberlander (20 June 1921 – 22 May 2021) was a German-born Canadian

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

. Her firm, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Landscape Architects, was founded in 1953, when she moved to Vancouver. During her career she contributed to the designs of many high-profile buildings in both Canada and the United States, including the

Robson Square Robson Square is a landmark civic centre and public plaza, located in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the site of the Provincial Law Courts, UBC Robson Square, government office buildings, and public space connecting the newer dev ...

and the Law Courts Complex in Vancouver, the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

, the Canadian Chancery in Washington D.C., the Library Square at the

Vancouver Public Library Vancouver Public Library (VPL) is the public library system for the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2013, VPL had more than 6.9 million visits with patrons borrowing nearly 9.5 million items including: books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs, video game ...

, the

Museum of Anthropology This is a list of museums with major collections in ethnography and anthropology. It is sorted by descending number of objects listed. # Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada #: 3.75 million artifacts # Musée du quai Branly, Pa ...

at the University of British Columbia, and Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly Building in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

Family and early life

Oberlander was born at Muelheim-Ruhr, Germany, on 20 June 1921, the daughter of Beate (Jastrow) and Franz Hahn. She was the niece of educationalist

Kurt Hahn Kurt Matthias Robert Martin Hahn (5 June 1886, Berlin – 14 December 1974, Hermannsberg) was a German educator. He was decisive in founding, among other organizations and initiatives, Stiftung Louisenlund, Schule Schloss Salem, Gordonstou ...

, the founder of Schule Schloss Salem in Germany,

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is locate ...

in Scotland, and UWC Atlantic College in the UK; as well as the niece of

Elisabeth Jastrow Elisabeth Jastrow (October 7, 1890 – September 1981) was a German-born American classical archaeologist. Her research focus included arulae (small altars). Early life and education Elisabeth Anna Marie Jastrow (nickname, "Ebit" or "Ebith") was ...

, the German-born American classical archaeologist. A horticulturist who wrote gardening books for children, Beate Hahn fostered in her daughter a deep love and appreciation for nature from a young age. Since she had a garden bed when she was four years old and planted peas and corn, she knew the joy of growing. In an interview with Mechtild Manus, tracing the roots of her interests in landscape architecture, Oberlander stated "At the age of eleven... I studied a mural in the artist's studio showing the

river Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and an imaginary town. When I asked the artist about the green spaces in this mural, she told me that these were parks. When I came home, I told my mother 'I want to make parks'. From there all my education was directed towards becoming a landscape architect." When Oberlander was 18, being Jewish, her sister, her mother, and she escaped Nazi persecution after the "''

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...

''" (Night of Broken Glass)

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

in 1938 by fleeing to England. They emigrated to the United States in 1939. Her mother had a truck farm in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

during the war, which Oberlander worked on. She had come to America with the hopes of exploring the professional educational opportunities that involved the creation of parks and green spaces, and pursued that objective in American colleges.

Higher education and later life

In 1944 Oberlander was awarded a BA degree from

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

and, in 1947, she was among the first class of women awarded degrees in landscape architecture by Harvard. In her interview with Jenny Hall she stated, "When I went to Smith, women who wanted to become landscape architects went to the Cambridge School, a part of Harvard University, because at that time, women could not attend Harvard. But with the war that changed, and in 1943 I was one of the very first women to be admitted to the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

." She met her future husband, Peter Oberlander at a class picnic. Born in Vienna, he also had fled with his family from the Nazis in 1938. He was awarded a Ph.D. in regional planning from Harvard. Oberlander began work with

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

and

Oscar Stonorov Oscar Gregory Stonorov (December 2, 1905 – May 9, 1970) was a modernist architect and architectural writer, historian and archivist who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1929. His first name is often spelled "Oskar". Early life Sto ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and then with landscape architect

Dan Kiley Daniel Urban Kiley (2 September 1912 – 21 February 2004) was an American landscape architect, who worked in the style of modern architecture. Kiley designed over one-thousand landscape projects including Gateway Arch National Park in St. Lou ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

. She married her husband in 1953. They moved to Vancouver and had three children. Her husband's professional career was as an architect and as Canada's first professor of Urban and Regional Planning. She founded a small landscape architecture firm in Vancouver. Oberlander then became interested in the modern art movement led by

B. C. Binning Bertram Charles Binning (10 February 1909 in Medicine Hat, Alberta – 16 March 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia), popularly known as B. C. Binning, was best known for his drawings until 1946 when he first exhibited his witty s ...

and Ned Pratt, which combined art and architecture to address the connections between urbanism and surrounding natural settings. The early years of Oberlander's independent practice were dedicated to designing landscapes for low-income housing projects and playgrounds, the most famous of which is the Canadian Government Pavilion, Children's Creative Centre and play area for

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

in Montreal.Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Fonds
Retrieved 14 April 2020. Her first playground, for a 1951 public housing project for architect

, included a vegetable garden and a fruit tree. For public housing in Maclean Park, she designed a playground. On Skeena Terrace, on the

Lougheed Highway Lougheed is an Irish variant of a surname of Scottish origins, meaning ''head of the lake''. Lougheed or Loughead may refer to: Places * Lougheed, Alberta, a Canadian village * Lougheed Island, Nunavut, Canada * Lougheed Highway, part of British ...

, she included vegetable gardens. She later practiced on a more commercial scale, working with architects and other professionals from various disciplines to create aesthetic solutions for challenging projects. Before beginning a project she researched it thoroughly to ensure that her innovative schemes would be practical and long-lasting. Oberlander always approached a project from an environmental standpoint. In her Convocation Address for the acceptance of an honorary degree from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

she stated:

I dream of Green Cities with Green Buildings where rural and urban activities live in harmony... "Achieving a fit" between the built form and the land has been my dictum. This can only be done if all our design-related professions collaborate and thereby demonstrate co-operatively their relevance in meeting the enormous developmental challenges facing our increasingly crowded urban regions.

Her concern for the environment and for people in general, was further exemplified by her involvement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on

Mount Scopus Mount Scopus ( he, הַר הַצּוֹפִים ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ar, جبل المشارف ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or ) is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Je ...

. Oberlander and her husband, Peter, visited Israel for a congress with the International Federation of Landscape Architects in 1962. According to the ''Jewish Independent'', the Oberlanders were in Israel to study irrigation systems, but they "fell more deeply in love with the land and its people". The Oberlanders engaged in and spearheaded many activities to benefit the university from 1979 on, including: setting up a Canadian Studies Program, bringing boxes of Canadian textbooks to Israel for donation to the university, developing a botanical garden, working with a team of planners to assist the community of Ashkalon in accommodating settlers from North Africa and Georgia, and advocating for the restoration of historic buildings on the campus. The Oberlanders were honored for their contributions by the Vancouver chapter of Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2004 and they visited Israel many times in their philanthropic efforts. Oberlander received the "rare and exceptional honour" of being elected to both the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects' College of Fellows (in 1981) and the American Society of Landscape Architects' Council of Fellows (in 1992). In 1999–2000, she contributed her expertise to the Vancouver Art Gallery for its "Out of This Century" exhibition, guiding patrons through the selection of visual art pieces that were chosen from the permanent collection of the gallery (by Oberlander and five other Vancouverites) to reflect and represent the city art scene through the decades. Peter Oberlander died on 27 December 2008.

Death

Cornelia Oberlander died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

on 22 May 2021 during the

COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia The COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia forms part of an ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On January 28, 202 ...

, one month shy of her 100th birthday.

Awards and honours

* 1981, Fellow, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects * 1990 Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

* 1991 Honorary law degree,

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

* 1992, Fellow,

American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowshi ...

* 1992 Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada * 1995 Allied Medal,

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) is a not-for-profit, national organization that has represented architects and architecture for over 100 years, in existence since 1907. The RAIC is the leading voice for excellence in the built ...

* 1997 - Granted an honorary membership in the

Architectural Institute of British Columbia The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) is the regulatory body responsible for registering and licensing all architects in the Province of British Columbia in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces a ...

* 2001 Honorary law degree,

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

* 2002 Honorary law degree,

* 2004 Honoree of Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem fundraising gala * 2005 Honorary law degree,

* 2006 - The

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street ...

held an exhibition ''Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Ecological Landscapes'', which featured material from the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Archive at the CCA and photographs by Etta Gerdes. * 2008 Honorary law degree,

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

* 2008 Honorary law degree,

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offer ...

* 2009 Officer of the

* 2011 Awarded the Sir

Geoffrey Jellicoe Sir Geoffrey Allan Jellicoe (8 October 1900 – 17 July 1996) was an English architect, town planner, landscape architect, garden designer, landscape and garden historian, lecturer and author. His strongest interest was in landscape and garden ...

Award of the

International Federation of Landscape Architects The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) is an organisation which represents the landscape architectural profession globally. It aims to provide leadership and networks to support the development of the profession and its effe ...

* 2012 Awarded the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal * 2014 Honorary law degree,

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being inst ...

* 2015 Margolese National Design for Living Prize * 2015 - Included in Chatelaine Magazine's ''Women of the year: 30 Canadians who rocked 2015'' listing. * 2016 Inaugural recipient of the Governor General's Medal in Landscape Architecture * 2016 Member of the Order of British Columbia * 2017 Companion of the Order of Canada * 2017 LAF Medal of the Landscape Architecture Foundation * 2018 - Profiled in the 2018 documentary film, ''

City Dreamers ''City Dreamers'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Joseph Hillel and released in 2018. The film focuses on Phyllis Lambert, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Blanche Lemco van Ginkel (14 December 1923 – 20 October 2022) was a British-born ...

'', alongside

Phyllis Lambert Phyllis Barbara Lambert, (née Bronfman; born January 24, 1927) is a Canadian architect, philanthropist, and member of the Bronfman family. Life Born in Montreal, Quebec, she studied at The Study, a premier independent school for girls, and wa ...

, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, and

Denise Scott Brown Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski; born October 3, 1931) is an American architect, planner, writer, educator, and principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates in Philadelphia. Scott Brown and her husband and partner, Robert Venturi, ...

, as women who shaped the world we live in. * 2021 - First award of The Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, created by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) to honor the works of Cornelia and her dedication to the profession of Landscape Architecture. Additionally, the TCLF named this prize in Oberlander's name to recognize her efforts to address social, environmental, and ecological issues through her design work. This prize will be awarded every other year. This is the only award in the profession of Landscape Architecture that includes a $100,000.00 prize.

Important works

Oberlander produced landscape designs for private residences, playgrounds, urban parks, and other public spaces, as well as major projects including landscaping for: * 70 playgrounds in Canada and helping to establish the National Task Force on Play * 18th and Bigler Street playground, Philadelphia * Cherokee Apartments, Philadelphia * Philadelphia International Airport landscape *

Master Plan, 1997 * Ottawa City Hall, with Moshe Safdie, 1989-1994 *

Vancouver Park Board The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, commonly referred to as the Vancouver Park Board, is the elected board with exclusive possession, jurisdiction and control over public parks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established by sect ...

natural log seating on Vancouver beaches, 1964 * New York Times Building atrium that includes an evergreen carpet of sedges, ferns, and several birch trees with architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ...

and H M White Site Architects, 2002 * Hebrew University of Jerusalem botanical garden, 2004 * "green rooftop" on the Canadian embassy in Berlin, with Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, 1999-2005 * C. K. Choi Building for the Institute of Asian Research at UBC, with Matsuzaki Wright Architects, 1996 *

, with Moshe Safdie Architects, 1995 *

Vancouver General Hospital Vancouver General Hospital (locally known as VGH, or Vancouver General) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilit ...

burn unit garden *

Northwest Territories Legislative Building The Northwest Territories Legislative Building is the home of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The territory's legislature has used many permanent and temporary facilities throughout it ...

, Yellowknife, with Matsuzaki/Wright Architects, 1995 * Canadian Chancery in Washington, D.C., with Arthur Erickson Architects, 1989 *

in Ottawa, with

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible des ...

Architects, 1988 * Co-authored ''Trees in the City'', with Ira Bruce Nadel and Lesley R. Bohm, 1977 *

Museum of Anthropology at UBC The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. As well as ...

, Vancouver, landscapes including its rear reflection pool, with

Arthur Erickson Arthur Charles Erickson (June 14, 1924 – May 20, 2009) was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Engineering at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is known ...

Architects and Stantec Architecture, 1976 and from 2003 * Peacekeeping Monument, ''Reconciliation'', 1992 *

landscape architecture and stramps and the Law Courts government complex in Vancouver, with Arthur Erickson Architects, 1974–1983 and from 2003 *

VanDusen Botanical Garden VanDusen Botanical Garden is a botanical garden situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, in its Shaughnessy neighborhood. It is located at the northwest corner of 37th Avenue and Oak Street. It is named for local lumberman and philanthropist Whitf ...

, with architect

Peter Busby Peter Busby (born 1952) is an architect and Managing Director at Perkins & Will Architects, with a background in philosophy and a history of advancing sustainable design. Throughout his career, he has advocated for sustainable building strateg ...

, Visitors Center project, with

Perkins and Will Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006. History The firm was estab ...

, 2011

Exhibitions

* Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Ecological Landscapes,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

(2006) * Canadian Megaform,

(2014-2015) *New Ways of Living: Jewish Architects in Vancouver 1955-1975 (online), The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia,

(2016) *Bauhaus (Canada) 101, University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

(2020)

References

Sources

* Susan Herrington. ''Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Making the Modern Landscape.'' Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2014. * Charles A. Birnbaum and Stephanie S. Foell. ''Shaping the American Landscape: New Profiles from the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project.'' Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009. . *

Kathy Stinson Kathy Stinson (born 1952) is a Canadian children's writer. Life Stinson was born in Toronto, taught elementary school there and studied at the University of Toronto. She lives in Rockwood, Ontario with her partner Peter Carver, a retired ...

. ''Love Every Leaf: The Life of Landscape Architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander''. Toronto: Tundra, 2008. * Mechtild Manus, Lisa Rochon. ''Picturing Landscape Architecture: Projects of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander as seen by Etta Gerdes''. Munich: Callwey / Montreal: Goethe-Institute, 2006
Oberlander
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

, 2020 * Katharine Hamer
"A home fit for King David: Architects created a space tailored to Jewish independent school"
''Jewish Independent'', 17 February 2006
Cornelia Oberlander to present new park design April 1
, City of Toronto, 21 March 2003.
Waterfall Building Green Roof Case Study
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, January 2002 (pdf)

new link to BCSLA Web Atlas October 2013
Library Square Building aerial viewCharles Birnbaum "Oral history of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander" on August 3-5, 2008, Cultural History ProjectAnnounces Oberlander PrizeVancouver Heritage
*

Hahn Oberlander visiting the town of her childhood, 2012.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (''WAZ'') is a commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by Funke Mediengruppe. History and profile ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April 1 ...

, Der Westen, 12 August 2012, by Margitta Ulbricht * *

External links

* *
Finding aid for the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Fonds
at the

digitized items
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberlander, Cornelia 1921 births 2021 deaths Women landscape architects American landscape architects American people of German-Jewish descent Canadian landscape architects Canadian people of German-Jewish descent Canadian architects People from Mülheim German emigrants to the United States German emigrants to Canada Jewish architects Smith College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni People from Vancouver Canadian Jews Companions of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of British Columbia Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada