Walter Hood, “When Memory Is Not Enough”
Walter Hood, Creative Director and Founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California, creates urban spaces that resonate with and enrich the lives of current residents while also honoring communal histories. Hood melds architectural and fine arts expertise with a commitment to designing ecologically sustainable public spaces that empower marginalized communities. Over his career, he has transformed traffic islands, vacant lots, and freeway underpasses into spaces that challenge the legacy of neglect of urban neighborhoods. Through engagement with community members, he teases out the natural and social histories as well as current residents’ shared patterns and practices of use and aspirations for a place. Walter talks about his practice in this Harvard GSD Senior Loeb Scholar Lecture.
