Master of Landscape Architecture
Kristina Hill — Director
The design of landscape is a significant cultural practice that tangibly expresses human intentions and values in the built form. Our accredited, graduate, professional program synthesizes the study of ecological systems and cultural contexts preparing graduates to lead holistic multidisciplinary design initiatives.
Through our curriculum, we act on our commitment to revitalize communities through interpretive preservation, sustainable construction and progressive reclamation at the scale of site, neighborhoods, urban infrastructure, and metropolitan watersheds.
- Historical and theoretical understanding of cultural and environmental values embedded in built landscapes
- Innovative
“eco-technologies” integrating constructed and biological systems in the preservation, building and reclamation of land - Design research carried out through scholarship, mapping and modeling, as applied to projects based in real time and places
- Interdisciplinary explorations in Architecture, Architectural History, Urban and Environmental Planning, Art, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Law and Commerce.
M.L.A. Path A Curriculum
The Path A program allows students with liberal arts degrees to obtain a first professional degree in landscape architecture. This requires three years plus an eight-week introductory summer session. Each semester's work consists of a design studio with supporting history, theory, construction, and natural systems courses.
A total of eighteen elective credits are required. Six of those credits (two courses) must be taken in the Department of Landscape Architecture. The remaining credits may be taken in any department of the University. Since students come from different backgrounds and experiences, electives can be distributed either to give students exposure to the different fields related to landscape architecture, or to develop an area of expertise, such as design theory, historic preservation, ecological design and planning, or urbanism. Students may undertake an independent study with a faculty member as one of their electives, but those wishing to take more than one independent study must petition the faculty to do so.
In the final year, students may elect to undertake an independent studio. If so, L AR 821 (Research Methods) must be taken in the fall semester in order to develop a thesis, identify one or more faculty advisor(s), and prepare a theoretical basis for the spring term independent studio. L AR 821 counts as one of the six elective courses.
M.L.A. Path A Advanced Standing Curriculum
Students with accredited baccalaureate or masters degrees in architecture are admitted with advanced standing and generally complete 65 hours of course work for the degree, depending upon the extent to which technical courses in landscape architecture were included in their architectural studies. The following program is representative, but may vary according to individual interest and prior work.
M.L.A. Path B Curriculum
Students with accredited baccalaureate degrees in landscape architecture are admitted with advanced standing and normally complete the degree in four academic semesters. Their programs are tailored to their individual design and research interests. If an independent studio is pursued, it must be preceded by L AR 821 (Design Research Seminar). The following program is representative but may vary according to individual interest and prior course work. Students are encouraged to enroll in courses in all disciplines of the school and in related fields of study across the University.
Independent Studio and Interdisciplinary Options
The final semester of design course work provides the student with the opportunity to investigate an area of special interest through an independent studio, an interdisciplinary studio, or an advanced landscape architecture studio. If the student undertakes an independent studio in the spring term, it must be preceded by L AR 821 (Design Research Seminar). Students work closely with a faculty advisor in the development of a thesis and the exploration of its design implications.
Accreditation
The Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.) is accredited by the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board.
Admission
Students from a wide variety of academic backgrounds, both with and without prior study in landscape architecture, are admitted to this graduate degree program.
Students without background study, who constitute the majority of the student body, follow the Path A curriculum. Normally, they complete the degree requirements in six semesters, plus a prerequisite summer session studio taken before the first fall semester. Prior to enrollment, students are encouraged to become familiar with the discipline through reading and/or coursework in the history of landscape architecture, drawing or ecology.
Students with degrees in architecture and landscape architecture can be granted advanced standing and may complete the degree requirements in four semesters. Applicants with undergraduate degrees in architecture undertake the Path A advanced standing program. Applicants with professional undergraduate degrees in landscape architecture (B.L.A. or B.S.L.A.) follow the Path B program.
Interdisciplinary Programs
Certificate Programs in Historic Preservation and American Urbanism are open to graduate students enrolled in Paths A, B, and C. Admission is subject to the approval of the chair of the Department of Architecture and the director of the program. Students must also meet all requirements for admission to, and completion of, the Master of Landscape Architecture Program. Students are expected to meet the program requirements within the normal curricula of each path with the exception of Path C, which takes an extra semester. Please see Historic Preservation and American Urbanism for more information.
Dual Degree Programs
Please see Dual Degree Programs for more information.
Study Abroad
Landscape Architecture students may, with approval, spend a semester in one of the programs abroad when offered. Please see the Study Abroad page for further details.