In his own telling, Cameron Man admits that he did not discover “the excitement of architecture” early in his life. He had enrolled in Winnipeg’s United College, fully intending to become a doctor. But in a year, he’d shifted gears, and by 1959, he had earned his BArch from the University of Manitoba.
Cameron Robert James Man was born in Russell, Manitoba and schooled in Winnipeg. During college summers and after graduation, he worked in the Provincial Architect’s Office; then in 1960, he headed to Jamaica to join McMorris, Sibley & Robinson for a year.
Back in Winnipeg, he recognized that architecture was no longer his first passion; he had become increasingly landscape oriented. And by 1962, he’d followed the trail of so many other western graduates to the MLA program at the University of California. At Berkeley, the renowned Garrett Eckbo became his advisor. It was, Man has said, one of the greatest experiences of his life.
In 1964, Man began work in San Francisco for the giant firm, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Then once again, he defied expectations. He came home to Winnipeg for Christmas, and decided to stay. By 1966, he had tracked down his old Berkeley classmate James Taylor and two engineering friends to form the multi-disciplinary firm of Man Taylor Muret and Urquhart.
The firm prospered, and major projects drew them westward: the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), Maple Ridge Golf course and Prince’s Island (Calgary), Cataracts Territorial Park (Yellowknife). By 1969, the firm was a multi-city, multi-dimensional operation, bringing together talented teams of professionals from resource analysts to environmental planners. Then in Vancouver, the firm combined forces with John Lantzius. (The firm’s name changed over time, ultimately becoming Lombard North Planning Ltd.)
Cameron Man left the firm in 1971 to become a full-time educator, first heading the landscape architecture program at California Polytechnic State University. In 1975, he moved to the University of Guelph to chair the LA program for 14 years, and then to Mississippi State University in 1989, until his retirement in 2006.
Man became widely recognized as a distinguished and influential educator, whose achievements have been greatly honoured. Over the decades, he has taught and graduated well over 1200 students. He has been president of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), and of the CELA Foundation. In Canada, he has served as president of the BCSLA, the MALA, and the LACF. He is a past-president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and an ASLA Fellow. Notably, in 2006, the ASLA awarded him the ASLA Medal, their highest honour.
The Lombard North Collection is housed in the Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary.
Read the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation's Profile of this Landscape Architect
Sources
- Linda LeGeyt, Changing the Face of Canada. Ottawa: CSLA, 1998.
- Ron Williams. Landscape Architecture in Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.
- Catherine Macdonald. Making a Place: A History of Landscape Architects and Landscape Architecture in Manitoba. Read online: www.winnipegarchitecture.ca
- Lombard North Collection, Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary. caa@ucalgary.ca
Image Sources
Images 1-5: Courtesy Lombard North Collection, Archives and Special Collections Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary. caa@ucalgary.ca.
1 Detailed plans of Winnipeg’s Westdale Subdivision, Man Taylor Muret, 1967. The design features more lots and fewer roads, increasing the developer’s profit. While townhouses are densely packed, privacy is maintained through staggered placement of units and buffer plantings.
2 Golf Course Architecture, Lombard North Group Ltd., circa 1969. Cover.
3 University of Saskatchewan
4 Master Plan for Prince’s Island and the Bow River Banks, 1967. Calgary Alberta.
5 Proposed View, Bow River Banks study.
6 View to downtown Calgary from Prince’s Island Park in the Bow River, the result of the long term beautification plan begun by Man Taylor Muret in 1968. Photo by Ron Williams.
