Derek Hoeferlin

Derek Hoeferlin, AIA, affiliate ASLA, is principal of [dhd] derek hoeferlin design, an award-winning architecture, landscape, and urban design practice based in St. Louis. He is an associate professor and chair of landscape architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoeferlin is principal investigator of “Way Beyond Bigness: The Need for a Watershed Architecture.” The project shares a title with his book, where he collaboratively researches integrated water-based design strategies across the Mississippi, Mekong, and Rhine river basins. He is co-principal investigator of “Bio-diversity Farms” in the Paramo de Sumapaz, Colombia, with Ivan Jimenez, the Missouri Botanical Gardenand the WashULiving Earth Collaborative. Hoeferlin is a team member on two Divided Cities Initiative grants with Gavin Kroeber and others, and was co-principal investigator on the water-based design research projects “MISI-ZIIBI: Living with the Great Rivers, Climate Adaptation Strategies in the Midwest River Basins,” with John Hoaland Dale Morris, and co-principal investigator on “Gutter to Gulf: Legible Water Infrastructure for New Orleans,” with Jane Wolff and Elise Shelley.

Hoeferlin lectures on his work internationally, and his designs, photography, teaching, and writing, have been published and exhibited widely, including in Chasing the City, New Orleans Under Reconstruction, Designing Suburban Futures, Journal of Architectural Education, The Anthropocene Review, Dwell, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Wallpaper, Metropolis, ‘scape, Scenario Journal, Archinect, Places Journal, Exhibit Columbus, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Hoeferlin has led AIA and ASLA award-winning projects and jury-recognized competitions, including Designing Resilience International Open Competition (first prize), Chouteau Greenway Competition (with TLS Landscape Architecture and Object Territories), and with his colleague Ian Caine for Rising Tides Competition (first prize), Dry Futures Competition (honorable mention), and Build a Better Burb Competition (finalist). Hoeferlin earned a bachelor of architecture and master of architecture from Tulane University and a post-professional master of architecture degree from Yale University, graduating from both institutions with multiple honors.