Carol Macht did not climb any ladders to become the principal landscape architect with Baltimore-based firm Hord Coplan Macht, Inc.
Rather, she founded the firm at the beginning of her career in 1977 along with her two partners Lee Coplan and Edward Hord, and has been principal ever since.
“Youth helped,” Macht said of the characteristics that gave her the courage to start a business at age 26. “Coplan, who I have known since ninth grade, said ?Let?s do this, we?ll have a good time, it?ll be interesting.? It?s a good model, starting your own firm, because you can be your own boss from the start.”
For 30 years, HCM has made lasting impressions on the Greater Baltimore region through design, but not without challenges.
“The hardest part was keeping good spirits during the economic ups and downs,” she said. “I think we were fairly nimble, and we were diverse in our project types which turned out to be a good hedge against economic uncertainty.”
Macht has her undergraduate degree in architecture and her masters in landscape architecture.
“In landscape architecture, every tree is a carefully thought out decision, because gardens are not static and landscapes are always changing. You have to think about five years or 50 years from now,” she said. “A good client appreciates the fact that things do change, and that a landscape changes.”
Loyola College Associate VP of Facilities Helen Schneider has worked with Macht on landscape projects for nine years.
“She wants to understand who we are so that she can convey that through her design,” Schneider said. “She also takes the time to understand the interior spaces as well to translate them into exterior designs.”
Macht recently completed a Sept. 11 memorial on Loyola?s campus.
“She chose plants that will bloom right around Sept. 11 and I think most of them are white,” Schneider said. “Then she has a beautiful glass wall. She is always looking for something new and different.”
Other locations with Macht?s touch include Kennedy Krieger?s Fairmont Hill, a school for developmentally disabled children, which she completed more than 10 years ago.
“To this day, the roses are still beautiful in the springtime,” director of facilities Frank Updike said. “She turned a big stone yard with no grass and no trees into a piece of paradise.”
