Landscape Architecture Is More People Than Plants, Says UC Berkeley Professor

Watch landscape architect Walter Hood explain how he tells community stories through his designs.

It might sound surprising, but landscape designer Walter Hood didn’t get into his field because he loves plants or trees. As he explains in this video about his work for UC Berkeley News, it was people — and their stories about how they have used, shaped and been changed by the land — that spurred his career.

“I wanted to engage with people who come from different walks of life,” he says. “Here at Berkeley, we really focus on the public realm. And the public realm as a public university is a landscape in which we all share.”

Hood serves as the Chair of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department at UC Berkeley and is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland. He has been recognized with numerous accolades, including a MacArthur fellowship, for his elegant and community-centered designs, which examine and reflect the many uses of a space over time.

For example, take his work at the International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, which honors the history of “hush harbors,” where enslaved Africans could secretly meet, talk and keep traditions alive.

“Landscapes are palimpsest,” says Hood in the video. “It’s this relationship between the past, the present and the future, which creates this kaleidoscope of opportunities to design. But more importantly, to tell different stories.”

This video is part of a new series from Berkeley News called “101 in 101,” which challenges professors and researchers from across the campus to distill the basics of their work, like an introductory 101 course, in just 101 seconds. Watch a previous installment featuring Berkeley psychology professor Alison Gopnik here.