Walter Hood

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Walter Hood (born 1958, Charlotte, NC) is Professor and former Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and principal of Hood Design in Oakland, CA.

Career

Hood has worked in a variety of settings including architecture, landscape architecture, art, community and urban design, and planning and research.

Early life

Hood grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has spent more than 20 years living and working in the heart of Oakland, California, and draws on his strong connection to the black community in his work. He has chosen to work almost exclusively in the public realm and urban environments.[1] He went to school in North Carolina A&T State University receiving bachelor degree in Architecture in 1981. He has received both Master of Architecture and Master of landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. He also received his Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013 in studio arts and sculpture, exploring the role of sculpture and urbanism.[2]

Career

Hood established Hood Design in Oakland, California in 2003. Hood's work spans the range from local, community-based projects-such as Splash Pad Park, a converted traffic island alongside Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, to large-scale garden designs like the grounds for the new M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron (2005). Hood's innovative public spaces are known for the way they embrace the essence of urban environments and for their links to urban redevelopment and neighborhood revitalization.[3] He is currently designing the landscape for the Autry National Center Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, designing an archeological garden within the context of the South Lawn Project at the University of Virginia, and developing a set of monuments and markers for a six mile waterfront trail in Oakland, CA.

Hood's published monographs Urban Diaries (Spacemaker Press, 1997) and Blues & Jazz Landscape Improvisations (Poltroon Press, 1993) illustrate his approach to the design of urban landscapes. These works won an ASLA Research award in 1996. His essay "Macon Memories" is included in Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001).

Hood has been praised as a "community whisperer," creating spaces that have elements the residents want before they even know it: "Through his pioneering work as an 'urbanist,' Hood has integrated architectural features such as playgrounds, plazas and squares into city sites whose pasts are vibrant but forgotten. By reflecting the shifting cultural composition and respecting the evolving nature of neighborhoods throughout San Francisco and Oakland, he has created an oasis in these areas, and through his close involvement with the local communities, he developed tailored solutions for Bay Area based parks while retaining a cohesive artistic vision. Near Chinatown in Oakland, he created a communal square for women's tai chi practice while adults and children gather year round to take advantage of their newly revived local park."[4] He is the winner of a public art competition to design the 1.1 megawatt solar array that will be constructed by New York Power Authority this year on the University at Buffalo's North Campus.[5]

In 2013, Hood served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.[6]

Awards and recognition

In 1997, Hood was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture.[7] His work was featured in the 2006 exhibit "The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation," at the Van Alen Institute in New York.[8] Hood was the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Design and has exhibited and lectured on his professional projects and theoretical works nationally and abroad.[citation needed]

Projects

  • Foster Homestead and Burial Ground, South Lawn, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA, 2008
  • Coleman Ave Gateway, San Jose Airport, San Jose Public Art Program, 2007
  • West Oakland Historic Train Depot Plaza, Oakland CA, 2008
  • Phillip Lifeways Plan, Charleston, SC, Spoleto Art Program, 2006
  • Autry National Center Southwest Museum Landscape, Los Angeles CA, 2008
  • East Bay Waterfront Trail, Oakland, California,with EDAW and Associates,City of Oakland, California, 2002-
  • M. H. de Young Museum Landscape Design, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, with Herzog & de Meuron Architects, 2005
  • Lion Creek Crossing Park, Oakland, CA, EBALC, 2006
  • Poplar Street, City of Macon, Georgia, 2005
  • Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial, w/ Ann Chamberlain, Embarcadero, San Francisco CA, 2007
  • Yerba Buena Lane, San Francisco, CA.with the Office of Cheryl Barton, 2005
  • Splash Pad Park Renovation and Streetscape Improvement Project, City of Oakland, California 2004

Awards

  • Virginia Key Beach Museum Competition, Miami Fl/1st Prize w/Huff and Gooden Architects 2005/Merit Award, ASLA, Northern Chapter
  • Oakland Waterfront 2005/Top Honor Award, Excellence on the Waterfront
  • Waterfront Center Award, Oakland Waterfront, October 2004/APWA 2004 Distinguished Project of the Year Award
  • Splash Pad Park/Mayor's Proclamation, "Walter Hood Day",Pioneering Achievements in Urban Landscape Design,City of Oakland, April 24, 2004/National Award of Honor American Society of Landscape Architecture, 2003
  • Project: Baldwin Hills Master Plan 2001/Best of the Best, California Park and Recreation Society 2002
  • Project: Lafayette Square Park/Merit Award, ASLA Southern California Chapter
  • Project: Baldwin Hills Master Plan 2001/Place Design Award, EDRA/Places, Third Annual Award 1999.
  • Project: Lafayette Square Park. Poplar Street Civic Design Competition, First Prize. Macon, Georgia. Jan. 1998
  • Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture, The American Academy in Rome, 1996-1997.
  • "Urban Diaries" and "Jazz and Blues Landscape Improvisations," American Society of Landscape Architecture National Award of Merit: Research, 1994
  • Mount Vernon Riverfront Plan, Community Development Award State of Washington, 1988

Design Arts Competition, Merit Award, 1988

  • University of California Arboretum at Davis/ASLA Certificate For Excellence in the study of Landscape Design, 1987
  • Thomas Church Design Award for Excellence in Landscape Design/Department of Landscape Architecture at Berkeley, 1987

Publications

  • Design Culture Now, National Design Triennial, Princeton Architectural Press, NY, 2000
  • Everyday Urbanism, Urban Diaries: Improvisation in West Oakland, CA. Monacelli Press, Inc., 1999. ISBN

References

  1. ↑ "He Measures Oakland's Beat, And Parks Bloom in Return," New York Times, March 21, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/us/he-measures-oakland-s-beat-and-parks-bloom-in-return.html?scp=1&sq=walter%20hood%20oakland&st=cse
  2. ↑ http://www.wjhooddesign.com/Walterresume.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.larch.umd.edu/news/PDFs/2007_pdfs/Walter_Hood_lecture.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/149/this-land-is-your-land.html
  5. ↑ "Electric Landscape," Architect's Newspaper, April 22, 2010. http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4449
  6. ↑ http://brunerfoundation.org/rba/index.php?page=committees&sidebar=1
  7. ↑ http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/ced/people/LAEP_query.php?id=58&dept=LAEP&title=all&first=Walter&last=Hood&ced&berkeley
  8. ↑ http://www.vanalen.org/projects/exhibitions/02_060708_GoodLife

External links

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