Laurie Lamb Wagner

Biography

Laurie Lamb was born and raised in northern Manitoba in a family of bush pilots and adventurers. She chose a different path and attended the University of Manitoba with plans to become an architect. After receiving her Bachelor of Environmental Studies in 1974, she headed back north and worked in Churchill for a summer building playgrounds. She was a Planning Assistant in Thompson for the Province of Manitoba Municipal Planning Branch from 1974-1976. Lamb then returned to the University of Manitoba graduating in 1982 with a Masters of Landscape Architecture. She worked as a junior landscape architect for the firm Hilderman Feir Witty until 1983. She then did a brief stint with the Selo Ukraina Design Group.

In 1981 Lamb married fellow landscape architect David Wagner. Lamb Wagner joined the firm David Wagner Associates Inc. (DWA) in 1985, where she became a partner and Principal Landscape Architect. While raising a family of three children, the Wagners built a successful Landscape Architectural consulting business. They practiced together for over 40 years until their daughter Elizabeth Christiansen, partnering with Scott Rosin, took over as DWAsitework Inc.

Lamb Wagner has expertise in a variety of Landscape Architectural areas, including urban design, civic parks, community planning and residential gardens. She is happy to have worked in all phases of project development including conceptual sketches, detail design, working drawings by hand and computer, writing of specifications and contracts, and, her favourite, site grading plans. Her work has been recognized as sustainable and of high quality in terms of design, materials, functionality and contract administration.

Over her career Lamb Wagner has left her mark on close to 100 City parks and playgrounds throughout every Winnipeg neighbourhood. She has done master plans and designs for new public spaces such as Lindsey Wilson Park in Island Lakes, renovated small play areas such as Westminster Tot Lot in Wolseley, created sports fields such as those at the Optimist Baseball Park for the St James Assiniboia Baseball Association, and many other specialty facilities. As trends changed, Lamb Wagner developed expertise in skateboard parks, starting with The Sargeant Park Skatepark and going on to do skateparks at the Freight House, Jacob Penner Park, and the Manitoba communities of Selkirk and Thompson. As spray parks became popular, she developed successful spray pads at Westdale Community Centre (C.C.), Freight House, Gateway C.C., Old Ex, Mackray and recently collaborated on the spray parks at Crescentwood and Champlain C.C. Lamb Wagner has worked on two animal habitats and exhibits in Manitoba. In Winnipeg she designed the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Camel, Yak and Zebra Habitat and in Thompson she developed the Boreal Discovery Centre’s Wolf Habitat and Exhibit.

Lamb Wagner joined David Wagner in his special interest for memorial gardens and military memorials. She has developed memorial gardens in a number of cemeteries including St Vital, Brooklands, Transcona and Elmwood. With the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the Wagners were engaged to upgrade the historic Vimy Ridge monument at Vimy Ridge Memorial Park. The project expanded over various phases and Winnipeg’s second oldest park now has entrances and a notable presence along Portage Avenue, as well as upgraded and new memorials set in a lovely garden environment. The park hosts numerous remembrance events throughout the year.

Over her career Lamb Wagner has followed her passion for residential design including many residential gardens of various scales. She has been fortunate to have clients with significant properties in Winnipeg’s Tuxedo Neighbourhood, Assiniboine Landing and at the Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Her work expanded to include building additions, outbuildings, façade designs, and cottage design. Her love for plants has carried into her retirement with her own gardens.

Lamb Wagner has expressed that her goal is to create environments that are engaging and gratifying to people of all ages. She strongly believes an environment should go beyond functionality and be attractive and unique to every situation. She has been cognisant of accessibility issues long before they became required. In 2007 the firm was awarded the City of Winnipeg Accessibility Award for the playground in St Vital Park. The playground was also named one of the best playgrounds in Winnipeg by ADAPT Manitoba (Association for Developmental Autism Programs and Therapies). In 2015, the firm was a finalist for the City of Winnipeg Accessibility Award for Central C.C. Freight House. Lamb Wagner designed the playground, skatepark and spray pad on a brown site, which required all development be built above the existing abandoned railyards and therefore above surrounding grades.

Lamb Wagner has been the recipient of three Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) awards. The first she received, along with David Wagner, was for the extension to Central Park in Winnipeg. The extension to the Park was conceived as a linear and passive park and its design sought to link the many architectural styles seen within the neighbourhood. The park did not withstand the political winds and has since been redeveloped. The Wagners also won First Place in the Memorial Park Design Competition. In 2012, Lamb Wagner was awarded the Manitoba Planning Excellence Honorable Mention for the Parc Carillon in St Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba. The master plan features a picnic area, baseball and soccer fields, a wedding pavilion, a frog pond, a campground and more. The Park is host to competitions, fairs, and numerous community events.

Lamb Wagner has been a Member of the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects since the 1982 (Lifetime Member) and in 2009 she was made a Fellow of the CSLA.