These leadership roles strengthen design culture, build capacity to deliver complex projects, and advance research initiatives across the award-winning landscape architecture practice.
The work Reed Hilderbrand creates reflects a design culture that has been curated and nourished over 25 years. Earlier this month firm’s partnership announced the appointment of three new directors responsible for advancing facets of that culture that merit greater visibility and strategic investment in the years ahead: Claire Fellman to Research Director, Geoff Fritz to Director of Practice, and Jeremy Martin to Technical Director. These promotions reflect years of leadership in their respective areas of focus, both within projects and broadly across the firm. Cross-sectional teams will support each director in their initiatives, and there are important overlaps and opportunities for cross-pollination. Together with the Director of Finance and Administration and Director of Marketing and Communications, these roles operationalize a vision for the firm’s future set by the partners, including a commitment to the climate action agenda set by the American Society of Landscapes Architects.
“We are placing three great designers and charismatic leaders at the heart of our culture,” said managing principal John Kett. “These roles reinforce our commitment to strong business operations as fundamental to a healthy design culture. We are excited to see them build tools and systems that will help move our practice and our field forward.”
Claire Fellman, Research Director
A culture of curiosity and inquiry promotes innovation in design at Reed Hilderbrand. Now is the time to foster the practice’s research—rooted in practice and fieldwork, grounded in long-term relationships with the land—into a set of new initiatives. Claire Fellman will cultivate networks for local and reclaimed materials; and will strengthen partnerships with academic institutions, foundations, and industry to broaden the reach of research. Reed Hilderbrand will pursue performance assessments of built landscapes, enabling the firm to fold these insights back into design. Together, these efforts will also support and accelerate the changes in practice necessary to meet goals to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030. Fellman is an associate principal at Reed Hilderbrand. She is leading ongoing work for The Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago and for the Buffalo Bayou Partnership in Houston.
Geoff Fritz, Director of Practice
Reed Hilderbrand’s design culture embodies who they are and what they do—it communicates their values, demonstrates professional expertise, and sustains their collective exploration. This means cultivating and sharing culture in ways that elevate joy, togetherness, and rigor in everything they do. Making Reed Hilderbrand’s particular design process visible engages us all in the responsibility of the practice, while expanding the collective intelligence. Geoff Fritz is an associate principal at Reed Hilderbrand. He is leading multiple projects at the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jeremy Martin, Technical Director
Reed Hilderbrand creates meaningful landscapes in no small part because of the craft and care taken in their development and execution. Jeremy Martin understands that a pursuit of innovation and durability begins at the earliest phases of design and continues through the last days of construction, so maintaining technical rigor in both how they work and the documents Reed Hilderbrand produce is paramount to the success of the practice. They will target ambitious standards across increasingly complex projects, including new commitments made to de-carbonize Reed Hilderbrand’s work and way of working, by building capacities to continue training new generations of designers. Jeremy is an Associate Principal at Reed Hilderbrand. He recently completed the $250 million expansion of Longwood Gardens, Longwood Reimagined, that includes a new Mediterranean-inspired garden under glass and the reconstruction of Roberto Burle Marx’s Cascade Garden.
About Reed Hilderbrand
Reed Hilderbrand is the award-winning landscape architecture practice based in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and New Haven, Connecticut, responsible for major landscapes at Longwood Gardens, Storm King Art Center, and the grounds of the Clark Art Institute. They have shaped the public realms and parks of New York City, Boston, Houston, Tampa, and New Orleans. They are authors of transformative planning projects for Boston’s Franklin Park and Cambridge’s urban forest as well as climate adaptation strategy for complex sites like the Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin. Founded around a winning competition entry for the Leventritt Shrub & Vine Garden at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, Reed Hilderbrand works extensively with institutions dedicated to horticultural knowledge and botanical research, including Chicago’s Morton Arboretum, the University of Pennsylvania’s Morris Arboretum, Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, and San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
Recipients of more than one hundred design awards, Reed Hilderbrand is recognized regularly by professional peers and media. A private residence in England, a resilient waterfront park in the Hudson Valley, and the Franklin Park Action Plan for the City of Boston have earned ASLA’s Awards of Excellence. The Architectural League of New York named Reed Hilderbrand one of North America’s “Emerging Voices” and the American Society of Landscape Architects recognized Reed Hilderbrand with their Firm Award.
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