Walter R. Havener, ASLA
Founding Principal and Director of Design, Surface 678

For over 30 years, Walter Havener has provided design, stewardship and skillful rendition of landscape architecture. His body of work is marked with strong ideals of simplicity and restraint. Combined with his interests in materiality, pattern, and horticulture, he has produced a diverse range of award winning landscape architecture projects. While all cultivated landscapes rely on an interaction of human-made and natural systems, he arranges them in a manner that imparts meaning and recognition in the landscape. He strives to create “idea patterns” in the landscape: recognizable constructions of landscape material that express the culture of the institution or population it serves.

Mr. Havener is Founding Principal and Director of Design at Surface 678, PA and provides collaborative guidance to the creation of landscape architecture design. He focuses his visionary disposition towards seeking ideas, comments, and inspiration as he engages many in the design process. He specializes in the contextual fusion of architecture and landscape program into the needs and ambitions of various clients. In addition to the ASLA Honor Award recognizing his work at the North Carolina Museum of Art, his portfolio includes highly praised projects at Duke University, District of Columbia public libraries, and the Atlanta Beltline Southside Corridor.

North Carolina Museum of Art West Gallery, Raleigh NC. Courtesy of Surface 678