MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM
Founding Principal
matthew@matthew-cunningham.com
Matthew Cunningham, FASLA, is the founding principal of Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, an award-winning practice devoted to crafting lush, native-plant-centric gardens that honor regional identity and embrace the dynamic rhythms of everyday life. His 25-year career has been a sustained call to unleash the power of domestic landscapes to restore ecological resilience and to adapt to climate change, redefining what it means to be a residential landscape architect in the process.
Matthew’s cumulative body of work—over 1,600 acres of built landscapes across more than 100 communities—transcends individual property lines. At the core of each project lies a belief that small-scale interventions can add up to broader environmental and cultural impacts. His gardens trigger biodiversity, replace invasive species with drought-resilient native plants, reduce maintenance, and integrate elegant stormwater management strategies. This philosophy drives his firm’s design research farm in Maine, MCLD Land Lab, where they experiment with successional plant communities, site stewardship, and multi-seasonal interactions between flora and fauna.
Beyond his practice and practical research, Matthew is also a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Since 2019, his popular courses on “Plants and Placemaking” inspire future professionals to use plants as essential design media. As a mentor and advocate, Matthew has launched scholarships, co-created symposia, and funded numerous initiatives to empower underrepresented voices in the profession. His passionate public speaking and widely followed social media platforms promote ecological design principles and the power of enduring craftsmanship to audiences worldwide, amplifying the relevance and visibility of landscape architecture. Matthew is a proud alum of Harvard Graduate School of Design and UMass Amherst.
In 2024, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored Matthew with the named Thomas Roland Medal for “exceptional skill in horticulture and lectures.” His design work has received more than 70 awards from prominent organizations including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. In 2017 Matthew was named APLD Designer of the Year, and in 2013 he was celebrated by New England Home magazine as the first landscape architect to receive their prestigious 5 Under 40 Award. Matthew’s gardens have been included in publications by Rizzoli, and his work appears regularly in Landscape Architecture Magazine, Architectural Digest, New England Home, Maine Home + Design, Decor Maine, and Boston Design Guide.
Rooted in the rocky terrain of coastal Maine and grounded by a working-class upbringing, Matthew brings a rare combination of empathy, creativity, and Yankee pragmatism to every collaboration. His work exemplifies a life’s mission to restore nature’s presence in the places people call home—one garden at a time.