News
‘Bono’ of Landscape Architecture on UK Tour
18th May 2006
Leading US landscape architect Professor Walter Hood of the University of California, Berkeley, will be visiting the UK next week (commencing May 22) on a lecture tour organised by the Landscape Institute.
Walter Hood has been described as landscape architecture’s answer to Bono, ‘exuding star quality and moral rectitude’. Professor Hood has an international reputation for designing landscapes that value ecological health and local communities.
He has recently designed 5 acres of landscape for the prestigious de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. One of his best known projects is Splash Pad Park in Oakland, once a forgotten corner of the city beneath a highway flyover and now a vibrant neighbourhood public space with an eclectic character and a broad range of users.
Highlight of Professor Hood’s UK tour is a public lecture hosted jointly by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and the Landscape Institute on Wednesday, May 24. Professor Hood will give the RSA’s Reflection Riding lecture as part of their national lecture programme which encourages people to broaden their horizons with thought-provoking discussion of challenging ideas His talk will explore how to design public landscapes paying particular attention to cultural conditions and the needs of mixed communities.
On Tuesday May 23, Professor Hood will be in conversation with one of the UK’s leading landscape architects at the Landscape Institute. LI Council member, Dominic Cole MLI, is the masterplanner and landscape designer for the Eden Project in Cornwall. Dominic is a leading authority on the UK’s historic landscapes and chair of the Garden History Society.
On Thursday, May 25 Professor Hood will give a public lecture at Queen’s University, Belfast as the guest of the Landscape Institute’s Northern Ireland branch. His talk there is expected to have particular relevance for how creating public landscapes can contribute to community renewal and collaborations.
Professor Kathryn Moore, President of the Landscape Institute, said: “Walter Hood is a leading figure in putting landscape architecture forward as the environment and design profession for the 21st century. He always has stimulating things to say about urban typologies, citizen participation and how his design work is influenced as much by the behaviour it encourages as by aesthetic or form. We are delighted to be in a position to ensure, through the Institute’s partnership with the RSA, that more people in Britain get to hear about landscape architecture’s role in society.”
Events:
Tuesday 23 May, Landscape Institute Open Day, 33 Great Portland Street, London W1W 8QG
Professor Walter Hood and Dominic Cole in conversation from 6.30pm.
Wednesday 24 May, RSA and LI Lecture, 8 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6EZ
Lecture at 6pm. Attendance is free, contact RSA lectures on 020 7451 6868 to book.
Thursday 25 May, Landscape Institute Northern Ireland Lecture, Queen’s University, Belfast
Lecture at 6.30pm.
Source: Landscape Institute
