Nature and accessibility are key elements of designs that are meant to encourage the public to envisage the future of Cornwall’s waterfront.
The city is seeking input on Carleton University architecture students’ visions of housing development along the shore of the St. Lawrence River after releasing the outcome of a design challenge issued to second-year undergraduate architecture students at the university in Ottawa. They were asked to take into account a number of factors in their design, including heritage, business, industry, density, view corridors, time and seasons, people and diversity, the environment, transportation, and seasonality.
The designs, by students Angelina Crea, Evan Berkes, Nashia Williams and Victoria Lee, accentuate a blend of flora, fauna and urbanization, while promoting multi-use outdoor areas and accessibility for people of all ages. The plans, which can be viewed on the city’s web site, include more pathways, green spaces and buildings that would be located between the busiest sidewalks and main roads.
The urban forest at Lamoureux Park is recognized as a hub, with the students suggesting that it be extended further along the waterfront.
Evan Berkes observes that Cornwall’s nature is a largely untapped resource. Although it has marsh and woodlands, much of the natural landscape has been taken away with most of the city poorly integrated with the natural world, the student writes. Berkes’ design calls for manicured and unmanicured green spaces. Manicured spaces would be multi-use sport courts and fields for lacrosse, hockey, and basketball. A goal of the unmanicured green space was to create an area where the wetland could reclaim part of the land allowing for an increase of biodiversity inside the city. At the same time, the pond would be the focal point of gathering places.
“Cornwall’s waterfront is central to the past, present and future of our community,” says Mayor Justin Towndale. “We invited budding professionals to dream for us entirely new ways of imagining these important spaces and provide more housing options for families – an exciting prospect as we continue to negotiate these lands’ transfer to the City from Transport Canada.”
“Cornwall is an exciting location for a project because it is the right size for an undergraduate project: it has all the expected services of a city, and wonderful opportunities for design exploration,” says Associate Professor Johan Voordouw at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton. “In particular we were excited about the opportunity of working along the canal and river and it was also exciting for the students to move to a new community outside of Ottawa.”
Redevelopment of Cornwall’s waterfront is a long-term project that will be guided by all relevant planning and zoning processes. Any future redevelopment will complement existing riverfront park spaces and preserve public access to waterfront pathways, the city says.
Students were not bound by the existing waterfront plan. Instead, these projects bring to light new ideas.
“The waterfront is where Cornwall and Ontario began. And it will be central to the future we are building together,” says CAO Mathieu Fleury. “These designs are conceptual and functional – students get credit for their work while Cornwall residents get to think about our shared future.”
No less than 77 recommendations were contained in the existing waterfront master plan that was updated in 2019.
Cornwall’s entire waterfront area covers approximately 16 kilometres from Guindon Park in the west to Gray’s Creek Conservation Area in the east.
