Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture

The Bachelor of Science Program in Landscape Architecture focuses on visual, physical, ecological, cultural, and design issues encountered in the urbanizing landscape.  The program’s objective is to educate and train professionals who are prepared to engage future design problems and engage as professionals in a wide range of landscape design and planning projects.  The BS in Landscape Architecture is a professional degree that is accredited by the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board.

Our fundamental concern is the sustainable design of land and natural resources.  As the public becomes increasingly aware of and sophisticated about environmental issues, opportunities for professional landscape architects can be expected to increase rapidly.

The landscape architect’s planning and design decisions are of critical significance to both the immediate and long-term future.  They design and plan parks, residential communities, university campuses, corporate headquarters, and regional open space networks.  Landscape architects serve as mediators between humans and the landscape and work to ensure that development serves the cultural context, is aesthetically pleasing, and fosters environmental health. 

Opportunities exist in the BSLA program at UMass for study abroad.  Students may go to a variety of locations including Copenhagen, Rome, and Dublin.  Faculty-led field study classes are also offered each year with recent trips focusing on Belize, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Students who enroll in the program as freshmen can earn a B.S. degree in Landscape Architecture in four years.  In addition to the University’s General Education requirements, the landscape architecture core curriculum consists of four interrelated areas or sequences as follows:

Design Studio Sequence
The six semesters of studios that run through the second, third, and fourth years are the core of the landscape architecture program. Students learn the principles, methods, processes, and techniques of landscape architecture design.  Each studio provides progressively more complex problems with studios divided into two half-semester segments.  Each segment has a different instructor to ensure a diverse range of project types, scales, and points of view.

Natural and Cultural Factors Sequence
The courses include: plants in the landscape, city planning, and landscape pattern and process. They are intended to acquaint students with the natural and cultural processes that have shaped the landscape from past to present.

History Sequence
Courses provide students with an understanding of the historic forces that have shaped the man-made environment and the role that landscape architects have played in the design and management of landscapes.

Skills Sequence
The six courses in this sequence teach students the skills and knowledge required to implement landscape architectural projects.  Included are courses in graphics, construction materials, site engineering, professional practice, writing in landscape architecture and computers in environmental design.

Computer Requirement
All students are required to have a laptop computer, equal or greater to the specifications provided by the department.  The department will also provide a list of required software (including version).  For more information regarding departmental computer requirements refer to our website.