Walter J. Hood
2025 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalist in Architecture Public Talk
Renowned multidisciplinary designer and educator who founded the award-winning cultural practice, Hood Design Studio, Walter J. Hood, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture.
Hood will give a public talk to mark the occasion on April 11 at 3:30 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall’s auditorium. This is not a ticketed event, and is free and open to all.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals – sponsored jointly by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the nonprofit organization that owns and operates Monticello – are awarded each year to recognize the achievements of those who embrace endeavors in which Jefferson – author of the Declaration of Independence, third U.S. president and founder of the University of Virginia – excelled and held in high regard. The architecture medal and its counterparts in law, citizen leadership, and global innovation are UVA’s highest external honors.
Hood joins a distinguished list of past recipients of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, Toyo Ito, Zaha Hadid, Francis Kéré, Andrew Freear, and Kate Orff.
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| (Photo credit: Adrienne Eberhardt, courtesy of Hood Design Studio) | |
About the Medalist
Globally recognized as a pre-eminent multidisciplinary designer, best known for his work in the public realm and urban environments, Walter J. Hood founded the award-winning cultural practice Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California, in 1992. Over three decades later, he now leads the studio as its creative director executing a wide range of projects from large-scale landscapes and urban masterplans to neighborhood-scaled design interventions and site-specific public artworks. For each project, Hood takes an approach that responds to context, using design to uncover the complex layers of ecological, cultural and material meaning within a place. His passion for landscape and urbanism emerges from its broad, democratic scope, allowing experiences beyond architectural constraints.
Born into a military family in Charlotte, North Carolina, Hood spent his early years in the 1960s abroad, steeped in global cultures—an experience that shaped his perception of society and his place in it. He began his academic journey at North Carolina A&T State University in architectural engineering and then transitioned to their pioneering landscape architecture program, graduating first in its class in 1981. Further graduate studies in architecture and landscape architecture led him to the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Hood is currently Chair and Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Urban Design at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design.
About the Talk
Join Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalist Walter Hood for a public talk "Exploring the Lowcountry" on the design of the African Ancestors Memorial Garden at the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, South Carolina. This lecture will explore the rich heritage of the Phillips Gullah Geechee community and its profound connection to the low country landscape—a history deeply intertwined with the sacred site at Gadsden's Wharf, where many enslaved Africans first arrived from West Africa. Hood will discuss how the memorial garden honors this cultural legacy within the broader narrative of African American experiences and contributions in the region.
The lecture is presented with Walter Hood's exhibition Native(s) in the Campbell Elmaleh Gallery, February 3–April 13. The exhibition is supported by the UVA School of Architecture's Office of the Dean, the Thaler Endowment, UVA Arts, the Office of the Provost, and the Vice Provost for the Arts.