Garth Balls

Biography

Garth Balls received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Utah State University in 1976, also receiving the ASLA’s Certificate of Merit that year. He accepted an offer to work in Calgary, Alberta for the summer and has lived there ever since. Garth is owner and principal of Landplan Associates Ltd., a 10-12 person landscape architectural firm practicing in western Canada. His professional focus has been site planning and design. The firm has received numerous CSLA awards since Garth became a principal—most recently receiving a National Honor Award for Shaw Millennium Park, a dynamic addition to Calgary’s open space system that is home to the world’s largest outdoor skate park. Other notable projects include Kananaskis Village, site of the 2002 G-8 Summit; the Banff Downtown Enhancement Plan; SMED International Corporate Headquarters; Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology; and the Calgary Urban Parks Master Plan. In July 2002, Landplan entered into a design alliance with Design Workshop, some of whose partners are Garth’s classmates from USU, Garth is a member of the CSLA, the ASLA, and is currently serving on the Organizing Committee for the 2003 IFLA World Congress to be held in Calgary in May, 2003.