Growing Leadership — Partnership and Promotions

Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture Expands Partnership to Include Four Principals

Leadership of the acclaimed Cambridge-based design practice, founded by Douglas Reed and Gary Hilderbrand, now includes six partners and four associate principals

Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture today announces the expansion of its leadership through the elevation of four new partners: John Grove, ASLA; John Kett, ASLA; Eric Kramer, ASLA; and John Christopher Moyles, ASLA. Each principal has contributed to the enrichment and growth of the award-winning practice founded by Douglas Reed, FASLA, and Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA. The newly elevated partners have worked with the firm since 2000 or earlier. The six partners and four associate principals, leading Reed Hilderbrand’s staff of forty-three landscape architects and designers, are engaged on diverse commissions across the United States, Europe, and in South America.

Founding principal Douglas Reed, FASLA, who is also a board member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, said of the partnership, “In the pursuit of design, we have nothing if not each other — the friendships, the mentors, the colleagues. To bring our most experienced and senior staff into the partnership is a great privilege, the fulfillment of the potential we saw in them as younger designers and project managers. John, John, Eric, and Chris have made an incredible contribution to our firm and to the field. I am looking forward to seeing where they will lead us next.”

Reed Hilderbrand’s landscape works are recognized by a coherent, expressive modernism able to evoke the phenomena of nature as well as the underlying patterns of culture. Notable Boston-area projects recently completed by Reed Hilderbrand include the Clark Art Institute of Williamstown, MA; the Boston Public Library Central Library’s Philip Johnson Building Renewal on Boylston Street; and the Seaport Commons/Massachusetts Fallen Heroes Memorial. The practice is noted also for its work on many private residences and the campuses of Harvard Business School, MIT, Brandeis University, Duke University, and elsewhere. Current commissions include master planning for Vanderbilt University and Louisiana State University; the expansion of Tanglewood Music Institute of Stockbridge, MA; the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center in New York City; and the public realm master plan for a revitalized urban waterfront district of 53 acres in Tampa, FL, envisioned to conform to the WELL Standard for human health and wellbeing in cities.

The backgrounds and accomplishments of the new partners reflect Reed Hilderbrand’s impact on the discipline of landscape architecture over the past two decades:

John Grove, ASLA, joined Reed Hilderbrand after previous experience at SWA Group, Child Associates, and Hargreaves Associates. Originally from Charlottesville, VA, and a graduate of the University of Virginia, Grove served as project manager for the firm’s renewal of the Beck House in Dallas, TX, among many other private residences. Grove is the principal-in-charge for a new quadrangle at Yale University, the redevelopment of Cambridge’s Volpe Center by MITIMCO, and the landscape renewal of the Breakers Mansions of Newport, RI.

John Kett, ASLA, a native of Charlottesville, VA earned a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia. Responsible for Reed Hilderbrand’s work on the Clyfford Still Museum of Denver, CO; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; and numerous projects at Brandeis University, Kett today leads design of the expansion of the Sydney and Walda Bestoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at UVA School of Architecture.

Philadelphia native Eric Kramer, ASLA, earned degrees from Amherst College and Harvard Graduate School of Design before traveling to study built landscapes in Europe and Asia. Kramer led projects for the Clark Art Institute, Duke University, and the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts of Kansas City, MO. Kramer now leads Reed Hilderbrand’s design for the renewal of the plaza surrounding Boston City Hall at Government Center. Kramer teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design, recently received an ASLA Honor Award for research on urban soils, and serves on the editorial advisory board of Landscape Architecture Magazine.

John Christopher Moyles, ASLA, originally from Williamsburg, VA, is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia. Moyles is responsible for the realization of Long Dock Park, recent recipient of the 2015 ASLA Award of Excellence for Design, as well as the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, IL, and the Parrish Art Museum of Water Mill, NY. Moyles leads design of the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park in Austin, TX, and multiple projects within the emerging Waterfront District of Tampa, FL. Earlier this year the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA), the nation’s first chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, elected Chris Moyles to be its next president.

In addition to the founders and newly elevated partners, Reed Hilderbrand’s leadership includes four senior staff members: Associate Principals Adrian Nial, ASLA; Beka Sturges, ASLA; Joseph James, ASLA; and Kristin Frederickson ASLA. The firm’s Associate Principals are responsible for client relationships, project management, interdisciplinary thought leadership, and the practice’s design culture.

Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, who was named one of Design Intelligence’s 25 Most Admired Educators for 2016 and is the recipient of the 2017 ASLA Design Medal, says, “Our principals have long demonstrated creative leadership in the practice and in the field at large. From very different corners, they help strengthen our collective design voice in a time when our commissions embody significant challenges to our coastlines and countryside, our treasured heritage sites, and the very nature of our cities. We’re motivated in facing these challenges by the principals’ unbending commitment to landscape architecture’s social and cultural relevance.”