Derek Hoeferlin named Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture

Derek Hoeferlin, professor and chair of landscape architecture, has been named the Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture. Hoeferlin, who joined WashU in 2005, specializes in watershed research, most recently publishing “Way Beyond Bigness: The Need for a Watershed Architecture,” (AR+D Publishing, 2023) which examines water-based design strategies across the Mississippi, Mekong, and Rhine river basins to broadly consider how watersheds and water-based infrastructure affect design decisions, particularly related to climate change and infrastructural transformation.

Hoeferlin’s work has also been published in peer-reviewed journals like The Anthropocene Review and the Journal of Architectural Education, and featured in the prestigious Exhibit Columbus as a 2020-21 University Design Research Fellow. He has spoken internationally on watershed architecture, including in Thailand, Laos, and the Netherlands.

Alongside his research and teaching in the Sam Fox School, Hoeferlin is an award-winning architect and landscape and urban designer. Among several other faculty committees and services across the university, Hoeferlin chaired both the landscape architecture and urban design programs in the Sam Fox School from 2019-2023 and continues to chair the landscape architecture program, where he has developed coursework in environmental justice and international collaborations. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects, and principal of an eponymous architecture, landscape, and urban design practice.

Raymond E. Maritz was a noted architect in St. Louis who studied at WashU. He established a leading firm, Maritz & Young, which designed a number of residences just west of WashU’s Danforth campus. Maritz was also involved in large projects such as Clayton City Hall, Westwood Country Club, and the United Hebrew Congregation on Skinker Boulevard.

Jackie and William Maritz endowed this professorship in 1997 in honor of Mrs. William H. Danforth and named for his uncle, Raymond E. Maritz.