Sue Sirrs
Sue Sirrs is founding principal at Outside! Landscape Architects Inc., an international award-winning firm dedicated to innovative landscape design with a focus on creating amazing outdoor spaces. Sue is a year-round outdoor enthusiast and avid traveler and her projects reflect her sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. The firm is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Areas of practice include design for public places and cultural facilities, living walls & green roofs, landscape restoration and residential design. Projects are infused with a sense of character that respect the site, creating contemporary outdoor environments, often with a playful twist on traditional design. Sue blends innovative design ideas, landscape architecture and environmental planning skills to create bold, dynamic spaces that enhance the world around her.
Sue has an undergraduate degree in Environment and Resource Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from Guelph University. She spent a year studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and loved it. Sue is passionate about connecting people to nature and sharing the importance of landscape to human health and wellbeing.
Statement: I was fortunate to attend the ceremony in May 2008 when Cornelia received her honorary law degree from Dalhousie University and gave the convocation address. Her words to the graduating class live on in my memory and I often think of the acronym she shared: VIM – Vision, Imagination & Motivation. In her words, “The planet needs peacemakers, healers and restorers: people with moral courage and technical skills who can make our cities more livable and who are willing to take risks in achieving it.” We need VIM now more than ever and I’m honored to contribute to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Prize in Landscape Architecture and elevate the profession on the global stage.