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OBERLANDER, Cornelia Hahn

Born
Muelheim-Ruhr, Germany, 1921
Died
Vancouver, B.C., 2021
Biography synopsis
In 1939, Cornelia Oberlander (nee Hahn) emigrated with her family to the United States. She obtained a B.A. from Smiths College in 1944, and in 1947 was the first woman landscape architect to graduate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she studied under Walter Gropius among others. In the 1950s Oberlander worked with Louis Kahn and Oscar Stonorov in Philadelphia where she was a community planner for the city, working on public housing projects. She also worked with landscape architect Dan Kiley in Vermont before moving with her husband to Vancouver in 1953. She founded a small landscape architecture firm in 1960. Oberlander designed the Children's Creative Center for Expo 67 in Montreal; her participation led to the design of seventy playgrounds across Canada. She was among the early adopters of modernist ideas that encouraged collaboration across disciplines. She collaborated for over thirty-five years with Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, on numerous projects in Vancouver, as well as with other architects including Bing Thom, Moshe Safdie (National Gallery of Canada) and Renzo Piano (New York Times Building). She was the recipient of numerous awards including among others: the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal (2012), and the Margolese National Design for Living (2015) granted by UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) named Oberlander the first recipient of the Governor General's Medal in Landscape Architecture (2016). In 2020, The Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C. created the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize to be granted every other year beginning in 2021.
Media used
Landscape architecture
Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design (under Walter Gropius)
Smith College
Memberships
Order of Canada
British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects, Vancouver
File & Archive locations
Canadian Centre for Architecture, QC - Library
University of Guelph, ON - Archival & Special Collections
University of Calgary Library, AB
University of British Columbia Archives
Vancouver Historical Society
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Landscape Architect." Perspectives in Landscape Design 18.2 (Spring 2001): 1-3
"The Gentle Touch [St. Andrew's Hospice, Airdrie, Scotland]." Building Design 846 (1987 July 24): 10
Birnbaum, Charles A.. "Moss in Wonderland." Garden Design 152 (May 2008): 20
Calvelli, Amery and Hilary Letwin. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Genius Loci Edmonton Alberta: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2021
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Ottawa, ON: Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, 2016
http://www.csla-aapc.ca/awards/cornelia-hahn-oberlander-2016
Carney, Pat. "Queen of Green Just Keeps Sowing; at 93, Green-space Pioneer Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Continues to Transform Public Places." The Vancouver Sun 28 Jun 2014: C5
Cavell, Richard. Friedman House Novato, Cal: ORO, 2017
Cohen, Susan. "Cornelia Hahn Oberlander : VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre, Vancouver, Canada." The Inspired Landscape: Twenty-one Leading Landscape Architects Explore the Creative Process Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2015
Ditmars, Hadani. "Orange Trees in Vancouver? How Elitist." Maclean's 21 Apr. 2014: 60.
Doiron, Gabrielle. Play on Display: Tracing Encounters with Cornelia Hahn Oberlander's Expo 67 Playground MA Thesis: Concordia University, 2017
http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/982431/1/Doiron_MA_S2017.pdf
Gold, K.. "Marine Gardens Gently Fades Away." The Globe and Mail 23 May 2015
Gournay, Isabelle and Jane Loeffler. "Washington and Ottawa: A Tale of Two Embassies." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 61.4 (Dec 2002): 480-507
Hampson, Sarah. "At 93, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander is Still One of Canada's Most Beloved Landscape Architects." Globe and Mail 25 Jul 2014
Hanson, Sarah. "Still Raising the Roof, One Garden at a Time." The Globe and Mail. 26 Jul 2014: L.9.
Herrington, Susan. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Making the Modern Landscape Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,, 2014
Herrington, Susan. "Beauty Past and Future." Landscape Research 41.4 (Apr 2016): 441-449
Herrington, Susan. "Cornelia Hahn Oberlander." The Canadian Architect 60.8 (2015): 42
Herrington, Susan. "Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: A Model Modern." Women, Modernity, and Landscape Architecture. Edited by Sonja Dampelmann, John Beardsley New York: Routledge, 2015: 185-202
Herrington, Susan. "Designing with Water Above the Arctic Circle: East Three School." Journal of Landscape Architecture 8.2 (2013): 44-51
Herrington, Susan. "EXPO 67 Revisited." Landscapes/Paysages 7.2 (Spring 2005): 12-14
Herrington, Susan. "Restoring a Modern Landscape in the Anthropocene: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander." APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology Vol. 47, No. 2/3 47. 2/3 (2016): 23-28
Hillel, Joseph. City Dreamers/Reveuses de Villes Montreal, QC: Couzin Films, 2018
Hollingsworth, F., Pei, IM & Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn, et a. "Results of the National Gallery Competition." Canadian Architect 22 4 (1977): 54-62
Oberdorf, C.. "Ottawa Taiga Reveals Canadas Soul." The Toronto Star. Jul 1996: H2
Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn, and Jane Elizabeth Hutton. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander on Pedagogical Playgrounds Montreal, QC: Concordia University Press: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2023
Olin, Laurie. et al.. "Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and Coastal California." Site Lines; Spring2012, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p3-14 7.2 (Spring 2012): 3-14
Robb, P.. "'I Grew Up Having a Feeling for the Soil'; Cornelia Hahn Oberlander to be Honoured for Distinguished Career as Landscape Architect." The Ottawa Citizen 17 Sep 2016
Scott, Sarah. "Queen of Green." Canadian Geographic 127.5 (Sep/Oct 2007): 86-94
Stinson, Kathy. Love Every Leaf: the Life of Landscape Architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Toronto: Tundra Books, 2008
Williams, Ron. Landscape Architecture in Canada Montreal; Kingston: Mcgill-Queen's University Press, 2014

Writings by
Oberlander, Cornelia H. and Elisabeth Whitelaw. "Invisible Mending: Nestling Native Plants into a Boreal Site." View 11 (Summer 2011): 13-16
http://lalh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/VEW2011_forWebsite.pdf
Oberlander, Cornelia H. and Elisabeth Whitelaw. "New York Times Building: A Garden at Its Heart." Landscapes/Paysages 10.2 (2008): 20-22.
http://www.csla-aapc.ca/sites/csla-aapc.ca/files/Landscape%20Paysages/Spring2008.PDF
Oberlander, Cornelia H., et al. Green Roofs A Design Guide and Review of the Relevant Technologies Ottawa, Ontario: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002
Oberlander, Cornelia H., et al.. "Inuvik Northwest Territories Integrating Design with a Climate of Extremes, a Fragile Ecology, and Cultural Complexities." Sitelines (Feb 2010): 14-15
Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn. Playgrounds: A Plea for Utopia or the Re-cycled Empty Lot Ottawa, ON: Health and Welfare Canada 1974, 1974
Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn. Trees in the City New York: Pergamon Press, 1977
Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn. "A Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver," City & Country Home 7.4 (May 1988): 131-136.
Oberlander, Cornelia Hahn and H. Peter Oberlander. "The Spirit of Architecture in the Canadian Northwest." Progressive Architecture 1958 (Feb):120-32

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