Eric Kramer
Principal
FASLA
Eric’s work focuses on questions of what landscapes communicate to and about their communities—whether cherished memories, bold aspirations or contested histories. A writer, teacher, and thought leader within the discipline, Eric’s approach to practice is rooted equally in basic research and applied design thinking. He leads commissions with the understanding that they are cultural spaces speaking for the societies who build them and speaking to future generations. Through two decades working within consequential landscapes across the United States, he has guided the renewal and enrichment of numerous campuses, cultural institutions, and urban districts. He has been responsible for major works within the practice’s career: The Clark Art Institute, Boston’s Central Wharf, Duke University’s student life precinct, and a comprehensive interpretive plan for The Alamo in San Antonio. Notable current projects under Eric's leadership include work at MIT and Harvard’s new Enterprise Research Campus, Longwood Gardens’ new conservatory complex, and a framework plan for the University of Pennsylvania’s Morris Arboretum. Eric edited Visible Invisible: The Landscape Works of Reed Hilderbrand, the firm’s award-winning monograph. His leadership continues to shape the firm’s evolving purpose and culture. Eric is an adjunct professor in the Rhode Island School of Design’s Landscape Architecture Program, where he loves to help students understand the lessons and enduring relevance of history. Eric has lectured at numerous universities, landscape history and design forums, and professional symposia across disciplines. Growing up in Philadelphia, a city rich in garden history, Eric learned a love of the designed landscape. At Amherst College, he studied American Studies and was the editor of the student newspaper. After graduation, Eric traveled on a year-long Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, primarily to Japan, where he worked as a gardener’s assistant, and England, where he worked at Stourhead and Painshill Park, both 18th century picturesque estates. He earned an MLA—and Charles Eliot Fellowship—from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked at Keith LeBlanc Landscape Architecture before coming to Reed Hilderbrand in 2000. These days, when not focused on firm projects, he tends his own garden and is intently trying to build his skills in the woodshop, building small furniture pieces with wood reclaimed from his own trees.
Selected projects
Alamo Plaza Interpretive Master Plan
San Antonio, TexasBoston Harbor Islands Pavilion and Carousel
Boston, MACambridge Urban Forest Master Plan
Cambridge, MassachussettsCentral Wharf Plaza
Boston, MAClark Art Institute
Williamstown, MACranbrook 2030 Master Plan
Bloomfield Hills MIDallas Museum of Art
Dallas, TXHarvard Allston Expansion & Harvard Business School
Boston, MALongwood Gardens Reimagined
Kennett Square, PALongwood Gardens West Conservatory
Kennett Square, PennsylvaniaMIT Outfinite
Cambridge, MANational Mall Tidal Basin Ideas Lab
Washington, D.C.Pier 4
Boston, MAWilliams College Landscape Framework Plan
Williamstown, MAAwards & Honors
International Architecture Award for Public Space
Longwood Gardens Reimagined 2024This Garden Was Named the Most Beautiful in the U.S. — and It Just Underwent a $250 Million Expansion
Longwood Gardens Reimagined 2024America’s Most Spectacular Gilded Age Gardens Bloom Anew, Thanks to a $250 Million Renovation
Longwood Gardens Reimagined 2024Light, nature and modernist architecture: welcome to the reimagined Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens Reimagined 2024Four Must-See Parks This Fall Herald a New Golden Age
Longwood Gardens Reimagined 2024Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hilderbrand find new solutions for old problems at Longwood Gardens’ West Conservatory
Longwood Gardens West Conservatory 20242023 SCUP Merit Award for Landscape Architecture
MIT Outfinite 20232022 Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Pier 4 20222022 Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
MIT Outfinite 20222021 Analysis and Planning Excellence Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Cambridge Urban Forest Master Plan 2021Trying to dish up a friendlier waterfront park
Pier 4 2019"Shadow Works: Transforming a Vision into Physical Space at the Clark Art Museum" — Beka Sturges, The Ecological Landscape Alliance Conference, March 2017
Clark Art Institute 2017In Detail: Clark Art Institute Water System
Clark Art Institute 2015Gary Hilderbrand at the Clark
Clark Art Institute 2015Best Landscape, The Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Awards, 2015
Clark Art Institute 2015Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape, 2015
Clark Art Institute 2015Honor Award for Design, American Society of Landscape Architects, 2015
Clark Art Institute 2015Striving for Grand-Scale Intimacy
Clark Art Institute 2014Visitor Center, The Clark Art Institute
Clark Art Institute 2014"A Place of Serene Excitement, Inside and Out," by Roberta Smith, The New York Times, July 11, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"At One With Nature: Transformed Clark Museum Meshes With Rural Landscape," Robert Campbell, The Boston Globe, June 29, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"After Extensive Renovations, a Transformed Clark," by Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe, May 18, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"From Divergence, a Thoughtful Calm," by Ted Loos, The New York Times, March 30, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014Opening Announcement of The Clark, The New York Times, March 20, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"After Extensive Renovations, a Transformed Clark," by Sebastian Smee, Boston Sunday Globe, May 18, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"Sense and Sensitivity," by Julie V. Iovine, The Wall Street Journal, December 26, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"The Vanguard of Museum Design," by Ellen Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"A Classic Remastered," by Wendy Moonan, Architectural Record, August 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014"A Transformed Clark Institute from Tadao Ando and Annabelle Selldorf," by Tom McKeough, Architectural Digest, July 1, 2014
Clark Art Institute 2014Merit Award for Parks, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion and Carousel 2013The American Architecture Award, The Chicago Athenaeum & The European Centre
Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion and Carousel 2012"Reciprocal Acts," by Gary R. Hilderbrand, Topos, Culturescapes, 2012
Central Wharf Plaza 2012Honor Award for Design, American Society of Landscape Architects
Central Wharf Plaza 2011Merit Award for Design, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Clark Art Institute 2011Honor Award for Design Excellence, Boston Society of Architects
Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion and Carousel 2011"A Museum for Shelter for Art— and Snowshoers," by Jane Roy Brown, Boston Sunday Globe, November 15, 2009
Clark Art Institute 2009Honor Award for Design, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Central Wharf Plaza 2008"This Tadao Ando Project Is a Berkshires Rental," by Lee Rosenbaum, The Wall Street Journal Online, July 9, 2008
Clark Art Institute 2008"Minimalism in the Mountains, A Prize-Winning Architect Adds To a Museum in the Bershires," by Kelly Crow, The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2008
Clark Art Institute 2008"Tadao Ando's Elegant Simplicity," by Richard Lacayo, Time Magazine, June 19, 2008
Clark Art Institute 2008"Soft and Poetic: Whisperlike Brushstrokes on Canvas," by Ken Johnson, The New York Times, June 20, 2008
Clark Art Institute 2008"An Art Center Worth the Climb," by Robert Campbell, The Boston Globe, June 22, 2008
Clark Art Institute 2008ART IN NATURE Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Williamstown
Clark Art Institute 2003LINE MOVEMENT PASSAGE
Clark Art Institute 2003"American Pastoral, Reinterpreting a Classic Country Aesthetic for Today's Living," by Annette Tapert, Waccabuc Residence, Waccabuc, NY, Architectural Digest, June 1998
Clark Art Institute 1998
Adrian Nial
Afsah Ali
Andrew Barringer
Anna Wilson
Anne Tong
Avery McMurtry
Barbara Graeff
Beka Sturges
Cathy McDonough
Chel Wattanasirichaigoon
Chenxin Zhao
Christopher Moyles (1962-2018)
Christopher Murton
Claire Fellman
Doug Reed
Eden McCafferty
Elizabeth Randall
Emilie Dunnenberger
Emma Xue
Eric Kramer
Fabiana Casale
Felicia Perez
Garrett Craig-Lucas
Garrett Newton
Gary Hilderbrand
Geoff Fritz
Haoyu Zhao
Iris You
Jacqueline Karasewicz
Jaime Andrade
Jayson Latady
Jennifer Lee Keeter
Jeremy Martin
JoAnn Cavallaro
John Grove
John Kett
Judy Shao-Yu Chen
Karli Scott
Kristin Frederickson
Kyle Needham
Lauren Tam
Leslie Carter
Lydia Gikas Cook
Madeleine Aronson
Marcus Jost
Marisa Villarreal
Meg Griscom
Michael Wideman
Michelle Tong
Misty March
Nadine Soubotin
Nan Guo
Natalie Henry
Nuith Morales
Rhea Schmid
Romina Delgado
Sabra Hughes
Scott Geiger
Sophie Allen
Stephanie Hsia
Stephanie Morris
Stephanie Pierce
Tamara Taylor
Ted Marchant
Tiffiney Petherbridge
Tina Cui
Xinyi Zhou
Yanghao Tian
Yini Chen
Yuqing Wu
Yuqing Wu
Yuqing Zhang
