Red River Corridor

“Master plans are living documents that evolve over time,” said Ryan Wakshinski, Fellow of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.  Today, “Winnipeg is The Forks and The Forks is Winnipeg.”

Learn The Forks’ story

For the better part of a century, Manitoba’s historic Red and Assiniboine river corridors were largely ignored. True, these transcontinental trade routes had shaped settlement patterns in the Winnipeg region, but by the mid-1900s, the rivers’ worth was rarely acknowledged, its cultural and historic values unrecognized. In this, Manitobans were not alone.  By the 1970s, choice heritage properties had become increasingly vulnerable to rampant development everywhere across the country.

In response, the Federal Government introduced the “Agreements for Recreation and Conservation (ARC) Program” in 1973.  ARC offered a coordinated federal/provincial approach, intended to boost conservation and outdoor recreation planning in areas rich in heritage resources.

To tap into this program, Manitoba commissioned Garry Hilderman to establish a baseline for re-engagement with these waterways. His multi-volume study (1975) convinced ARC to engage Hilderman Feir Witty and Associates (now HTFC Planning and Design), to prepare a master plan for the Red River Corridor.

It was then that the first willful pioneers like Hilderman planted the roots for a sweeping, world-class transformation of the corridor, culminating at The Forks. Even then, landscape architects, planners and architects knew The Forks would become the city’s calling card, its ancient and ongoing role as a gathering place revived and renewed.  But the 60 km corridor, with its wealth of nominated sites, would become a much-touted model for regeneration of waterfronts across the country.

In the 1980s, less than a decade after the Red River Corridor masterplan, Winnipeg’s attention had firmly turned to its long-neglected rivers. There was a palpable excitement in the city: a “river renaissance” was well underway.

The Masterplan pointed the way to engagement with 60 kilometers of waterfront landscapes within the corridor. The potential was enormous, engaging teams of landscape architects, ecologists, engineers, historians, recreation experts, Parks Canada staff and heritage conservation experts. Of the 18 projects recommended in the Red River Corridor master plan, Manitoba would implement 16.

While it was rare in the 70s for a landscape architectural firm to lead a project of such scale and importance, the reach and complexity of the plan’s vision spurred new creative energy. Hilderman’s firm served as technical advisors to the ARC Management group, and also designed several award-winning projects including at both Upper Fort Garry and the Forks National Historic Site of Canada.

Today, the masterplan is still influencing new work in the river corridor including the St. Andrews Rectory Feasibility Study, multiple projects at The Forks and along the Forks waterfront, restoration of the Alexander Docks, and a national urban park centered on the river at Point Douglas.

Over the decades, the urban resurgence continued. Investors and developers paid attention. Dozens of initiatives took shape, from the remarkable Human Rights Museum which overlooks The Forks, to the wildly successful Warming Huts competition, which prompted international design teams to add their hut to the inventive winter structures on Winnipeg’s winter rivers.  Winnipeg’s new-found pride in its rivers inspired and created wholly new opportunities for LA firms and countless others to participate in high-profile projects within the river corridors and well beyond.