Matt McMahon is a contextually driven thinker, strategist, and interdisciplinary designer. He is drawn to overlooked landscapes, people, and ideas with an eye toward perception, craft, and contemporary notions of nature.
As an Assistant Professor, his mentorship and scholarship draw upon nearly twenty years of professional experience in landscape architecture, applied ecology, and architecture, delivering ambitious works across North America. Most recently he directed Snøhetta’s teams on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, The Blanton Museum of Art, and improvements to the gorge trail in Watkins Glen State Park. Over the course of a decade with Snøhetta’s New York practice, he shaped both the landscape architecture discipline and overall studio, grounding work within the discourse and terrain of the Americas. Previously, he practiced with Stan Allen, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Hargreaves Associates, Grimshaw Architects, and Great Eastern Ecology.
Matt is committed to the collective art of building. He situates work within the materials and labor of their time and place, and roots thinking in the histories, values, and theories across disciplines and mediums. He embraces the various ways landscapes are assembled, pushing the discipline beyond traditional design methodology and instruments of service. Matt holds degrees in landscape architecture, biology, and architecture, and has previously instructed courses with Penn State and Princeton Universities. He regularly speaks at national conferences and is a frequent design juror in schools of landscape architecture and architecture.
Selected Built Works
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, Medora, ND. With Snøhetta.
Sentry Bridge and Gorge Trail Improvements, Watkins Glen, NY. With Snøhetta.
The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX. With Snøhetta.
Vesterheim Commons, Decorah, IA. With Snøhetta.
The Croton Water Treatment Plant. With Grimshaw Architects and Great Eastern Ecology.
Brooklyn Bridge Park. With Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and Great Eastern Ecology.
Segment 5 Hudson River Park, With Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.
