Walter Hood
Walter Hood is professor and former
chair of the Landscape Architecture
and Environmental Planning Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the principal of Hood Design. Founded in 1999, the firm is well known for its projects tied to urban redevelopment and the revitalization of underserved communities.
In his practice, his key interest lies in the ability of landscape architecture to link the parts of the city into a cohesive whole in such a way that the inhabitants feel free to “improvise” their futures. Hood is particularly concerned with making truly social landscapes, breaking down the divide between functionality and artistry. Hood was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in landscape architecture. His work was recently featured in Open, New Designs for Public Space, sponsored by the Van Alen Institute, as well as in the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, 2000 in New York City.
Hood also participated in the San Francisco Museum of Art’s 2003-2004 Revelatory Landscapes exhibition. Walter Hood’s published monographs: Urban Diaries and Blues & Jazz Landscape Improvisations won him an ASLA research award and he is currently writing a new book entitled Urban Landscapes: American Landscape Typologies. In addition to teaching and writing, Hood is presently in charge of landscape design for the new De Young Museum in San Francisco, California.