Glen Valentine approaches landscape architecture by celebrating regional ecologies, reinterpreting forgotten histories, and advancing sustainable design.

 
At Reed Hilderbrand and now Stimson, Valentine has for thirty years demonstrated exquisite command of and respect for the tools and tectonics of the profession, including his notable planting design.

Across scales, on campuses, and in the public realm, his award-winning work is created for access and enjoyment while advancing ecological design.

Valentine's work with Boston College beginning in 2006 has transformed several quadrangles by redefining circulation arteries and, drawing from the 1912 plan of the historic core, he reestablished a tree canopy and planted perennials and shrubs around the quadrangle, creating small-scale spaces designed for individual or small group study.

Working with structural engineers, Valentine reimagined the MIT Hayden Library Lipchitz rooftop courtyard over an existing mid-century structure by balancing a nine-square grid of new trees enclosed by a sculptural bench and raised garden beds as well as an outdoor sculpture gallery.

The expansive courtyard is now used frequently as a public gathering place that provides a multisensory experience with a diverse collection of native azaleas, early blooming perennials, bulbs, and evergreen ground covers. In the first park built over the buried I-93, the Mary Soo Hoo Park in Boston's densely populated Chinatown, Valentine celebrates the eponymous activist in a series of granite mounds that double as a climbing structure, paying homage to the seven mountains of Chinese mythology. Valentine's multi-layered planting plan reduced the urban heat island effect and transformed the site's local ecology.