Leonard Novak is proud of his heritage, born in 1941 in a pioneer farming family from the Regina area of Saskatchewan.
Leonard graduated with the five-year professional degree in landscape architecture in 1969 from North Carolina State University School of Design; its program prominent in ecologically-based land planning.
He brought that interest to his first employment in Calgary, Alberta, with the planning division of Underwood McLellan Associates.
In 1973 he established his individual practice which has represented the traditional and contemporary scope of landscape architecture: site planning, park design and regional landscape resource planning. Specializations developed in naturalized landscapes and the conservation of historical landscapes.
His most valued clients, projects and working experiences include Siksika First Nation (Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park); Alberta Historic Sites (Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village landscape, Reynolds Alberta Museum park); Litchfield Plantation, South Carolina; Petro Canada/Inglewood Community, Calgary (Inglewood Wildlands) and Calgary Parks (conservation planning for five historic parks).
He was honored to be appointed in 2004 and serve for 14 years as Landscape Adviser to Wascana Centre/Provincial Capital Commission, and thus work in his prairie “home” landscape, the Regina plain.
Leonard Novak was president of the AALA 1983 - ’84 and of the CSLA 1985 – ’86. He has served the CSLA on University Accreditation and as adjunct professor with the Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary.
He was made a CSLA Fellow in 1986 and a member Emeritus of the AALA in 2015.
