How do we explain the Holocaust? How do we remember it? These were among the thorniest philosophical questions of the 20th century. They are no easier today in Canada when we are separated from those unspeakable events by an ocean and, nearly, a lifetime.

And yet some of us keep trying. Last week, six teams of architects, artists, landscape architects and thinkers unveiled their plans for Canadas first National Holocaust Monument planned for Ottawa, in sight of Parliament, close to the Canadian War Museum.

The six proposals range from broad symbolism to more abstract gestures. The jury will have to choose between these two extremes, and has several powerful options from which to choose. In one camp are proposals from the teams led by architects Daniel Libeskind and Les Klein; on the other, designs led by Montreals Gilles Saucier and by David Adjaye and Ron Arad.

But first: What is the purpose of such a place? It is to honour Canadian victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as to, in the words of Foreign Minister John Baird, educate visitors of all faiths and traditions about the causes and risks of hate.

A monument can do very little teaching. But it can offer a place to come together and discuss; this one will bring the experience of the Holocaust, still felt so deeply by Canadas Jewish population in particular, onto Ottawas official landscape altering the national conversation at a time when survivors are well into old age.

Its a complex set of tasks, to produce art and architecture of the most sombre import. Each proposal accomplishes these tasks with plazas or gathering places; in several cases these are enveloped by landforms or dug into the earth, a marker of regeneration or rootedness.

Consider Libeskinds proposal. He has designed a complex structure out of his trademark crystalline forms, which he first employed with the Jewish Museum in Berlin and has since made his toolkit for other museums (including Torontos Royal Ontario Museum). Visitors would walk into a sunken plaza, as into the depths of history, and then back up again on a stair pointed at the Peace Tower. It is well thought out and freighted with visual cues, including a railway track across the floor. Too many cues, I think; it is both too flashy and too didactic.

A subtler variation comes from the team led by Toronto architect Klein and landscape architect Jeff Craft of SWA Group. It consists of two curving and arching stone forms, one carrying the weight of a birch forest (a symbolic link between Eastern Europe and Canada, as well as a symbol of regeneration). Along with an architectural theme of light-and-dark, it includes audio and video installations the latter, by the prominent artist Yael Bertana, a projection of symbols and objects of Jewish life before the war. I have not seen a monument or memorial that relies so strongly on audiovisual components; it might work very well. But otherwise is familiar aesthetic ground.

Many Holocaust memorials descend into the ground, as does Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the 1963 Memorial to the Martyrs of Deportation in Paris. The resulting tension, being constrained by the earth with a (narrow) view up to the sky, evokes a range of historical and emotional states: terror and hope, death and rebirth, destruction of a society and its reconstruction.

But to make a place that has a lasting power demands economy and simplicity of gestures. The most notable Holocaust memorial of the past generation, Peter Eisenmans Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in central Berlin, is a field of 2,711 concrete rectangles, unmarked, free of text or explicit symbolism. All this reflects the central conundrum of trying with stone or concrete to say something about the industrialized killing of six million.

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Designing a Holocaust memorial for a new generation

The Menil Collection in Houston announced this month that it is planning to build the Menil Drawing Institute to exhibit and store modern and contemporary drawings. A design by Los Angeles-based firm Johnston Marklee was unveiled for the 30,150-square-foot, $40 million institute, which will be one block south of Renzo Pianos main Menil Collection building, near the Cy Twombly Gallery. An apartment complex is now on the proposed site for the Menil Drawing Institute, and construction is expected to begin in early 2015.

David Chipperfield Architects developed a site plan in 2009 for the Menil Collection, and Michael Van Valkenburgh was subsequently selected as landscape architect for the Menil campus. Johnston Marklee was chosen as architect for the Menil Drawing Institute in June 2012.

Johnston Marklee, led by founders and partners Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, described the design of the Menil Drawing Institute: The design of the Menil Drawing Institute honors the legacy of intimacy and direct engagement with art that underlies the domestic and the institutional character of the neighborhood of the Menil campus. Situated in a park-like setting, the new building assumes the scale of both a house and a museum, with a low-lying, elongated profile that blends with the architecture of the historic campus while signaling a new dimension for the future growth of the neighborhood of art.

The Menil Drawing Institute is composed of a series of buildings and courtyards unified by a white steel-plate roof that extends and hovers over the landscape, rather like a folded sheet of paper. The roof defines two entry courtyards to the east and west. Within the courtyards, the underlying folds of the roof place embrace the tree canopies, creating a shaded, contemplative atmosphere in and around the Menil Drawing Institute. Within the building, the public spaces receive diffuse natural light, which is sculpted by the folds in the roof plane and complemented by concealed artificial light sources in the creases of the walls and ceilings.

Josef Helfenstein, director of the Menil Collection, said in a statement: With a design that is at once serene and revolutionary, Johnston Marklee has enabled the Menil to make its drawings a more active and public part of the collection than ever before. Beautifully rational and open, the building is also innovative in making the modulated presence of natural light possible within a building dedicated to fragile works on paperan achievement that previously had seemed as impossible as squaring a circle.

Partial view of the Living Room and Scholar's Cloister, the Menil Drawing Institute.

The Menil Drawing Institute at dusk, looking past the west entrance courtyard.

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Johnston Marklee Design for Menil Drawing Institute Unveiled

20 Allenby Street, Spring Hill
Spacious Character home in superb CBD position . Central location within walking distance of the Grammar schools St Josephs College, Wickham Terrace and th...

By: Jonzun Lee

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20 Allenby Street, Spring Hill - Video

ABILENE, Texas -

Trees began to bud thanks to recent warm weather, but the freezing temps put a stop to it.

But was it enough to do some real damage?

George Williams, a landscape architect with Extreme Exteriors, thinks not.

"It might make them a little slower coming out, once they finally do come out but most of the trees around here are used to this type of weather and they'll survive" Williams said.

If your landscape has a tropical touch, like palm trees, you'll need to give them a little more care.

Theyre the most vulnerable to cold weather, we wrap the trunks with burlap or some other type of material, cloth or plastic, Williams said.

Warmer weather is in the forecast for the next few days but spring wont actually start until after mid-March.

Protecting your plants against future freezes is as simple as making sure theyre watered.

Ice tends to insulate the roots so they dont dry out, Williams said.

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Budding trees face added stress as winter weather returns

Just for the sake of argument, imagine a very different street-level downtown than the one we have in San Jose today, one designed for lingering rather than quick passage.

As you stroll underneath Highway 280 on First Street, you look up and see an underpass decorated like Lego bricks. On Almaden Boulevard, you see people stopping at exercise hubs, roller-skating, or biking on green lanes.

At the corner of San Carlos and Market streets, you spot a two-story mural designed to resemble a forest. You stop to plug your laptop into a mobile solar energy post. Then you cross the street on a blue crosswalk etched with markings that resemble teeth.

A new plan for downtown by CMG Landscape Architecture suggests brightly colored sidewalks and murals. ( CMG Landscape Architecture )

When you finally turn left on Santa Clara Street toward the SAP Center, you see a huge sculpture in the middle of the street, maybe even a shark crushing a hockey stick.

If there's one word to describe all this, it might be playfulness. The notion is to infuse life into downtown's streets by giving people things to do and see and enjoy.

A 191-page booklet prepared by San Francisco landscape architectural firm of CMG, the guys who were also picked to help Facebook, turns San Jose's conventions on their head.

The original planners of downtown's rebirth 30 years ago wanted a well-mannered center city. These guys embrace thoughtful clutter (see the plan at http://sjdowntown.com/groundwerx)

Filling space

At a recent meeting of the San Jose Downtown Association, which commissioned the study, landscape architect Willett Moss, a likeable man in his early 40s, explained that the idea, in its most basic sense, was to fill up San Jose's empty spaces.

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A plan to transform downtown San Jose's street life with mural, huge sculpture, exercise hubs

Dyffryn Gardens from the air. F450 FPV flight
Filmed from a DJI F450 with a GoPro Hero3 Dyffryn Gardens are an exceptional example of Edwardian garden design, covering more than 55 acres featuring a stun...

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Dyffryn Gardens from the air. F450 FPV flight - Video

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Controverski: Sochi, gay rights & Russia-bashing - Video

It #39;s (not) about landscape architecture: Mary Scipioni at TEDxRochester
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It's (not) about landscape architecture: Mary Scipioni at TEDxRochester - Video

Landscapes for Living
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Landscapes for Living - Video

Prepping Landscaping is Essential After Harsh Winter
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Prepping Landscaping is Essential After Harsh Winter - Video