Walter Hood, a multidisciplinary designer from Charlotte, North Carolina, is globally recognized for his contributions to art, landscape architecture, urbanism, and research. He founded Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California, in 1992 and currently serves as its creative director. Hood’s academic journey began at North Carolina A&T State University, where he studied architectural engineering before transitioning to its pioneering landscape architecture program, graduating in the program’s first class in 1981. He later pursued advanced studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Hood’s passion for landscape and urbanism stems from the field’s broad, democratic scope, which allows for experiences beyond the constraints of architecture alone. By infusing African American cultural arts into his design philosophy, he has established a distinctive voice that reshapes spaces to meet contemporary needs while honoring their layered histories. A former professor at UC Berkeley and a former Harvard educator, Hood is the author of Black Landscapes Matter (University of Virginia Press, 2020) and has received numerous accolades, including the 2019 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2024 Vincent Scully Prize, and, most recently, the 2025 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture.