Michael R. Van Valkenburgh
Professor in Practice
Department of Landscape Architecture

 

 

Curriculum Vitae


Education:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MLA, 1977
Cornell University, College of Agriculture, BS, 1973
Boston Museum School, Photography, 1974-75
Harvard University, A.M. (hon.), 1989


Professional Experience:
1982 - Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA
1979-82 Carr, Lynch Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA
1977-79 Carol R. Johnson and Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA
1973-75 Moriece and Gary, Inc., Cambridge, MA
1972 Sylvia Crowe and Associates, London, England

Academic Experience:
1996 - Charles Eliot Professor of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1991-96 Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1993- Professor of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1990-93 Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1988-90 Professor of Landscape Architecture with tenure, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1987-89 Director, Landscape Architecture Program, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1985-88 Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1982-85 Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
1979-83 Instructor, Radcliffe Seminars in Landscape Architecture, Cambridge, MA
1978-79 Visiting Critic, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1975-77 Instructor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Honors and Awards:
2006 ASLA Professional Awards, General Design Award of Excellence
From Brownfield to Greenfield: A New Working Landscape for Wellesley College Wrenched from its Toxic Past, Wellesley, Massachusetts
  ASLA Professional Awards, General Design Award of Honor
Small is Beautiful, Millburn, New Jersey
2003 National Design Award, Environment Design, Smithsonian Institution's Copper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
1998 ASLA Merit Award, for Vera List Courtyard, New York City
1997 Citation, Progressive Architecture Awards, for Allegheny Riverfront Park, Pittsburgh
1996 Radcliff Ice Walls, included with Light Architecture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, by Terrence Riley, Curator
1995 Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, for 50 Avenue Montaigne Garden, Paris
1994 Honor Award, National Trust for Historic Preservation, for Harvard Yard Restoration, Cambridge
1993 Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, for Mill Race Park, Columbus, Indiana and for Harvard Yard Master Plan, Cambridge
1993 Planning & Urban Design Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for Harvard Yard Landscape Master Plan, Cambridge
1993 Keynote Speaker, LABASH, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
1992 Design Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, for Pucker Garden, Brookline
1990 First Finalist, President's Consultation, Restoration of le Jardin des Tuileries, Paris
1990 Design Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for Black Granite Garden, Los Angeles
1989 A.M. (hon.), Harvard University
1989 Designer Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for the Regis Gardens, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, with Barbara Stauffacher Solomon
1988 Finalist, international design competition, one of three gardens selected to be built at the University of California Arboretum at Davis
1988 Advanced Fellow, American Academy in Rome
1987 First Award, West Hollywood Civic Center Competition, Chang and Sherman, Architects
1987 Design Fellowship, Massachusetts Artists Foundation
1986 Massachusetts Governor's Design Award for the Entrance Plazas of the Lowell Heritage State Park
1985 Design Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects with Carr, Lynch Associates, Inc., for the design of the Entrance Plazas of the Lowell Heritage State Park
1985 Design Communication Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for Garden Design, with Lake Douglas, et al.
1985 Senior Design Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Design Arts Program
1984 Graham Foundation grant "For a Typology of Planted Forms", to study planted forms as part of landscape architecture
1984 Design Communication Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for curative Built Landscapes: Gardens in the Northeast
1983 Design Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, for the Conne Garden, Somerville, MA

Competitions
1990 Redesign of le Jardin des Tuileries, invited President's Competition, Paris. First Finalist.
1988 Davis Arboretum Garden Competition, Davis, CA. One of three gardens selected for construction.
1987 West Hollywood Civic Center Competition, West Hollywood, CA. First Award, with Chang and Sherman, Architects.
1986 Pershing Square, Los Angeles, CA. Honorable Mention. One of eighteen awards from over 275 entries; with Alistair McIntosh and William Rawn.
1985 St. Paul Cityscape, St. Paul, MN. Honorable Mention. One of twelve awards from 185 entries; William Rawn, cafe architect.
1984 Copley Square, Boston, MA. Director of the team awarded out of five finalists selected from 309 entries; with Peter Schaudt, John Whiteman and Krisan Osterby-Benson and Sippican Consultants International
1983 Spectacle Island, Boston, MA. Design Citation; with Douglas Findlay.
1981 Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, Washington, D.C. Entry included in Boston Architecture Center's exhibition of selected New England entries.

Funded Research
1992 NEA Design Research: "Sustainable Fountains for the Arid United States."
1989 The Bank of Boston and the NEA Design Arts Program: "Gertrude Jekyll, A Vision of Garden and Wood." Exhibition co-principal curator with Judith Tankard.
1987 NEA Design Research: "Design and Technical Issues of Ice-Water Walls." Principal investigator.
1986 The Graham Foundation and The Hubbard Trust: "Transforming the American Garden: Twelve New Landscape Designs."
1985 NEA Design Arts Program: "A Pilot Study for Computer-aided Simulations of Designs with Herbaceous Perennials." Principal investigator.
1985 NEA Design Arts Program: Originator of the exhibition "Transforming the American Garden: Twelve New Landscape Designs."
1983 NEA Design Arts Program: Curator for the Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center of "Built Landscapes: Gardens in the Northeast," an exhibition of twentieth century works by five American landscape architects.