Placemaking for Cultural Heritage LandscapesArt Bar +Projects, 1873 Granville St
Tuesday, November 13, 1:00pm
Using six cultural heritage landscapes as examples, John deWolf (BDes 1992) will illustrate how interventions in the built and natural environment can be used to tell narratives of past and current day. From signage to branding, from interpretive panels to evocative elements in the landscape, there are many ways to communicate a history of place.
Using the Landscape of Grand Pré as an example, John will look at brand assets (logos) and signage as a means to communicate culture and heritage for this living artifact. Our work for the Town of Lunenburg will investigate a question that faces so many heritage towns: how do you add anything to a community—like signage, a modern necessity—and respect the past while being relevant to the present? The town of Red Bay faced another challenge: how align expectation and experience. A visit to this town reveals very little of its five-century history, but does deliver a rugged outdoor experience. Our work for Batoche is an example of post-truth and reconciliation actions: using the land as a character to tell the story of a thriving Métis culture, while expanding upon the rebellion of the 19th century. Robinson Islands looks interpretation in the natural environment, exploring different approaches to text and panel interpretation. Finally, our work for Fort Needham Memorial Park explores ways to convey tragic events without the use of text and imagery, and instead through the use of evocative elements in the landscape.