Walter Hood's Landscape Architecture Transforms Contested Sites Through Historical Excavation and Abstraction

Walter Hood, a landscape architect born in 1958 in Charlotte, North Carolina, established Hood Design Studio in Oakland in 1992. After obtaining dual master's degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, he joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1993. As the United States nears its 250th anniversary, Hood focuses on transforming public spaces into community-centric areas, prioritizing truth, empathy, and inclusion. His prominent works feature the 2005 de Young Museum gardens in San Francisco and the 2023 International African American Museum at Gadsden's Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina. Hood's projects, which include the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, Manhattan's Lincoln Center, and Macon Yards in Georgia, aim to highlight environmental histories and cultural memory, making marginalized communities more visible.