Toronto-based PLANT Architect’s has received the highest honour – the National Honour Award – given by the CSLA (Canadian Society of Landscape Architects), for its Dublin Grounds of Remembrance Veteran’s Project. The new Dublin Veterans Park (in Dublin, Ohio) was awarded to PLANT after an invited international two-stage competition.
The Grounds of Remembrance is organized into a Walk, Loggia and Grove, all surrounding a historical 1840s cemetery. Together they define the limits of the grounds and guide movement through the site on days of significance, including Memorial Day and Veterans Day, as well as for everyday visits. The grounds will be activated by both collective and individual ritual experience.
The collective ritual centres on the parade ceremony, which culminates in a space framed by the Loggia, a sloped grassy Grove of Sycamores, a bench-high inscribed stone wall where wreaths can be laid, and a flagpole. The Loggia is a ceremonial backdrop and shelter for this collective pause – it is a panoramic window into this special site from the Road. Die-cut through the bronze end wall of the Loggia, is an excerpt from Emerson’s “Concord Hymn,” originally written for Concord’s centennial celebration of the start of the Revolutionary War – making an ancestral connection between the original fight for independence as a necessity for freedom, and all veterans that have followed.
The project promotes a daily and individual ritual journey choreographed through the grounds. The Walk is a journey from Dublin Road, through the Grove, along the perimeter of the cemetery wall, and then weaving down a ramping walk into an area of seclusion, for pause and reflection in the rugged ravine that overlooks Indian Run. The Memory Wall marks the end of the walk: a brass tube-perforated stone wall designed to receive personal and private messages.
The Walk is calibrated to pace movement with the textures of limestone screenings and paving. The sound of the crunching underfoot, the wear on the path, and the feel of the Guide Rail reinforce the physical and mental remembrance that generates personal meaning for the site. The Walk is edged by the bronze Guide Rail, which guides movement and quietly marks the site boundary. The handrail’s shape invites touching, while providing support and registering the passage of visitors by polishing through usage.
The Sycamore Grove stands as the natural canopy for the collective gathering space and the natural colonnade along the individual journey into the valley. Sycamores are symbolic of memory and rebirth – in addition to their riverside habit, Symbols of longevity, renewal and shelter, sycamores are literally ancient – their roots go back in Ohio over 130 million years. They shelter with their canopies and sometimes trunks; their shedding bark mixes young and old on the trunk (it is literally inter-generational); and their branches are striking white, giving them a strong winter aspect when Veteran’s Day events occur.
Toronto-based PLANT Architect’s has received the highest honour – the National Honour Award – given by the CSLA (Canadian Society of Landscape Architects), for its Dublin Grounds of Remembrance Veteran’s Project. The new Dublin Veterans Park (in Dublin, Ohio) was awarded to PLANT after an invited international two-stage competition.
The Grounds of Remembrance is organized into a Walk, Loggia and Grove, all surrounding a historical 1840s cemetery. Together they define the limits of the grounds and guide movement through the site on days of significance, including Memorial Day and Veterans Day, as well as for everyday visits. The grounds will be activated by both collective and individual ritual experience.
The collective ritual centres on the parade ceremony, which culminates in a space framed by the Loggia, a sloped grassy Grove of Sycamores, a bench-high inscribed stone wall where wreaths can be laid, and a flagpole. The Loggia is a ceremonial backdrop and shelter for this collective pause – it is a panoramic window into this special site from the Road. Die-cut through the bronze end wall of the Loggia, is an excerpt from Emerson’s “Concord Hymn,” originally written for Concord’s centennial celebration of the start of the Revolutionary War – making an ancestral connection between the original fight for independence as a necessity for freedom, and all veterans that have followed.
The project promotes a daily and individual ritual journey choreographed through the grounds. The Walk is a journey from Dublin Road, through the Grove, along the perimeter of the cemetery wall, and then weaving down a ramping walk into an area of seclusion, for pause and reflection in the rugged ravine that overlooks Indian Run. The Memory Wall marks the end of the walk: a brass tube–perforated stone wall designed to receive personal and private messages.
The Walk is calibrated to pace movement with the textures of limestone screenings and paving. The sound of the crunching underfoot, the wear on the path, and the feel of the Guide Rail reinforce the physical and mental remembrance that generates personal meaning for the site. The Walk is edged by the bronze Guide Rail, which guides movement and quietly marks the site boundary. The handrail’s shape invites touching, while providing support and registering the passage of visitors by polishing through usage.
The Sycamore Grove stands as the natural canopy for the collective gathering space and the natural colonnade along the individual journey into the valley. Sycamores are symbolic of memory and rebirth – in addition to their riverside habit, Symbols of longevity, renewal and shelter, sycamores are literally ancient – their roots go back in Ohio over 130 million years. They shelter with their canopies and sometimes trunks; their shedding bark mixes young and old on the trunk (it is literally inter-generational); and their branches are striking white, giving them a strong winter aspect when Veteran’s Day events occur.