Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
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Strong, Dick
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Richard (Dick) Allen Strong was born 26 September 1930 in Chardon, Ohio to Harold Theodore Strong and Hellen (née Quiggle). He graduated from Chardon High School in 1948 and served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Germany from 1951 to 1953. He obtained his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Ohio State University in 1957 and then went on to study at Harvard University where he graduated with a Master of Landscape Architecture in 1959.
Following his graduation, Strong moved to Toronto at the behest of the Canadian landscape architect Maclin Hancock who invited him to join his firm Project Planning Associates, which was responsible for the design of the community of Don Mills. From 1959 to 1961, Strong worked at John B. Parkin Associates in Toronto where he was director of site planning and worked alongside his future close friend Australian architect John Andrews. In 1961 Strong formed a partnership with Hideo Sasaki, the major American landscape architect and Strong’s former professor at Harvard University. From 1961-1965 Sasaki, Strong and Associates was the Canadian branch of Sasaki’s expansive firm with Richard Strong at the helm of operations in Toronto. In 1965 Strong established his own practice, Richard Strong Associates (1965-1970), which was renamed Strong Moorhead Sigsby (1970-1974) with the additions of Steven Moorhead and Australian Donald Guy Sigsby, and then Richard Strong - Steven Moorhead Associates (1974-1977) following the departure of Sigsby. In 1978 Strong left Toronto for Calgary and established Richard Strong Associates (1978-1983). Between 1983 and 1986, Strong worked as Director of Design and Development for the Expo86 Corporation in Vancouver. From 1987 to 1991, Strong relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he worked as a consultant in landscape architecture and urban design for government and private businesses. He returned to Canada in 1991, settling in Lethbridge and establishing Richard Strong Design Consultant (1991-1996) before returning to Ontario in 1997 living in Brockville and Toronto and practicing under the name Richard Strong Design (1997-2012).
Strong joined the faculty of the University of Toronto School of Architecture as an assistant professor in 1964 and was the first chairman of the university’s Landscape Architecture program, which he co-founded with Michael Hough in 1967. Strong remained with the faculty at the UofT until 1977 when he left Toronto for Calgary. Over the course of his teaching career, Strong was visiting lecturer and critic at over twenty-five universities across Canada, the United States, and Australia.
Strong was responsible for numerous national and provincial parks, university campuses, housing developments, as well as corporate and industrial landscape design work. Among his many notable landscape design projects are Expo ’67 (La Ronde, Netherlands and Ontario Pavilions), Nathan Philips Square, Queen’s Park, Devonian Square, McMaster University, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, York University, Trent University, Waterloo University, the Niagara Falls area master plan, Brock University, Moss Park, Alexandra Park, Toronto International Airport, Ashbridge’s Bay, Laurentian University, Gros Morne National Park, Fathom Five Provincial Park, Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, Point Pelee National Park, Old Fort William Historic Park, University of Regina, NOVA Building Garden Court and Eau Claire Estates in Calgary, and several key projects in collaboration with architect John Andrews, including the Port of Miami Passenger Terminal, Harvard University Gund Hall, Belconnen Town Centre, and the Intelsat Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Strong received a number of awards and accolades for his work from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA), the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He is a Fellow of the CSLA and Emeritus member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Strong served on the Governing Council of the CSLA and on numerous committees in the field of landscape architecture. In the 1970s he was elected to serve as a counsellor for the Township of Eromosa (1975-1977) and he served on the City of Guelph Planning Board (1975-1976).
Richard Strong died on April 22, 2019.