Architect and designer Walter Hood spoke to a crowd at the North Dakota Museum of Art this past Thursday. Photo courtesy of www.post-gazette.com

Imaginative, innovative and brilliant. These are just a few of the adjectives some people would use to describe renowned designer and architect Walter Hood.

Hood is a well-established professor and former chairman of landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently the chief of Hood Design in Oakland, California, and is best known for his unique, tangible and
community-based design ideas and projects.

Hood has worked on landscape, urban design and art installation projects since 1992, including the award-winning gardens at the new De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Last Thursday evening, Hood was hosted by the North Dakota Museum of Art as he gave his lecture called, “Art. Constructing. Museums.” The event was free and open to the public.

Hood’s lecture focused on previous projects he has worked on, and also offered design tips and new ideas that could be implemented in the Grand Forks community.

Laurel Reuter, the director at the NDMOA was enthusiastic about the insight Hood provided for both the campus and the community.

“Walter Hood is a star in the landscape world right now. He believes in turning a space into something people can use and interact with,” Reuter said. “I wanted Walter to come in and talk about how to take our
spaces here in Grand Forks and turn them into something people can love and use.”

The hope that Reuter and the museum have following this event is that both university and Grand Forks city personnel can walk away from Hood’s talk with innovative ideas towards advancing to the future.

In addition to embracing new ideas, Hood’s lecture stressed the importance of transforming spaces in the community, especially spaces most people would never consider using.

“It’s important to get people to see the world around them,” Hood said. “Most people don’t look around and see where they live.”

Hood also attempted to emphasize a hands-on approach to design and continuously makes an effort in his work to end the stigma of art and design being unapproachable.

“Kids need to be able to put their hands on something. Touching the designs allows for people to interact with their environment,” Hood said.

Hood mentioned that getting people involved with community projects encourages them to understand that any place can be diverse and
different.

After Hood’s lecture, some members of the community were eager to see how architects from Grand Forks will implement new designs in their own practices within the city. The NDMOA also hopes students walked away from Hood’s lecture inspired.

“Walter is a revolutionary thinker.” Reuter said, “I hope that people walked away with big ideas. New ideas.”

Amanda Hefner is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]