The School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia has named landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander the winner of the 2015 Margolese National Design for Living Prize. This unrestricted $50,000 annual prize recognizes a Canadian who has made and continues to make outstanding contributions to the development or improvement of living environments for Canadians of all economic classes. It was created by a generous estate gift to the University by Leonard Herbert Margolese.

This award recognizes Oberlander as one of the world’s leading landscape architects who, over the past 60 years, has collaborated with internationally acclaimed architects on a wide range of projects around the world. She devoted her early professional years to designing landscapes for low-cost housing projects and playgrounds throughout Canada. She has also designed the iconic landscapes of the UBC Museum of Anthropology, Robson Square in Vancouver and Ottawa’s National Gallery.

Oberlander was chosen for her “breathtaking, poetic, unforgettable, charged with meaning, and above all, Modernist” designs that have made “outstanding contributions to the development or improvement of living environments for Canadians of all economic classes.”

In addition to the Margolese Prize, she has been recognized with 12 honorary degrees and was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 2009. She was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Medal in 1995, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in 2006, the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award (the International Federation of Landscape Architects’ premier award) in 2011, and the ASLA Medal (the most prestigious award by the American Society of Landscape Architects) in 2012.

Oberlander plans to use the Margolese Prize to further her work greening the city.