Master of Landscape Architecture
The graduate program in Landscape Architecture at UVA challenges students to imagine new landscape systems through rigorous research, design speculation, and the deployment of nascent technologies. We are committed to preparing our graduates to be critical thinkers and global citizens to form a more inclusive and resilient world while shaping the next generation of landscape practice.
Our graduate program is comprised of students coming from a wide variety of academic backgrounds, both with and without prior studies in landscape architecture.
Our students are encouraged to shape their own individual educational trajectories by integrating their design or non-design undergraduate backgrounds, intellectual interests, and skills into their graduate studies in landscape architecture. This fosters a rich and diverse thinking community united around a common commitment to create yet-unimagined and powerful propositions for a resilient built environment.
The Master in Landscape Architecture program is accredited by the National Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB).
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PATH 3.0: 97 CREDITS
The Path 3.0 Master of Landscape Architecture is a 3-year graduate professional degree with a minimum of 97 credits. It is designed for a student who holds a non-design undergraduate degree and whose educational background is not in landscape architecture or a student without a pre-professional undergraduate landscape architecture degree.
PATH 2.5: 78 CREDITS
The Path 2.5 Master of Landscape Architecture is a 2.5-year graduate professional degree with a minimum of 78 credits. It is for students with pre-professional undergraduate landscape architecture degrees, such as a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture or Environmental Design. It is also designed for students holding degrees in landscape architecture from programs outside the U.S. that are not professionally-accredited in the United States.
PATH 2.0 ADVANCED: 62 CREDITS
The Path 2.0 Advanced Master of Landscape Architecture is a 2-year graduate professional degree with a minimum of 62 credits. It is designed for students with a U.S. accredited Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree (Note: Students holding a U.S. accredited Bachelor of Science Landscape Architecture are Path 2.5 eligible).
PATH 2.0: 61 CREDITS
The Path 2.0 Master of Landscape Architecture is a 2-year graduate professional degree with a minimum of 61 credits. It is for students holding a U.S. accredited Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree.
Our curriculum is a structured series of semesters that build incrementally from a core base of knowledge and skills laid out in the first year. While the first year is fully prescribed in its course requirements, later semesters leave elective options that allow students to pursue their own individual interests that can lead to a final independent design research or MLA thesis studio.
The core of each semester is the design studio. The studio sequence exposes students to the range of scales and topical issues in landscape architecture. Supporting the design studios, we have three additional tracks of curricula in related technical and theoretical content. These courses focus on a range of design tools, from computation to fabrication; innovative technologies; the art and science of plants; and histories and theories of landscape architecture.
Advanced research studios are developed around interdisciplinary content and processes, enriching the students' experiences through diverse expertise and perspectives.
Students follow different curricular paths based on prior undergraduate study. There are four paths for earning a Master of Landscape Architecture at UVA. Details can be found at the Graduate Record linked below.
The multi-disciplinary ethos of the School of Architecture offers unique opportunities for students to structure and pursue dual graduate degrees. Dual degrees are offered with Architectural History, Architecture, and Urban and Environmental Planning. Pursuing a dual degree requires admission to each program, meeting the appropriate requirements.
Typically, a concurrent dual degree will require one additional year of study beyond the students designated MLA path.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION GRADUATE CERTIFICATE
The interdisciplinary program in Historic Preservation offers masters degree candidates in all of the School of Architecture’s disciplines (architecture, architectural history, landscape architecture and urban + environmental planning) the opportunity to expand their professional studies through specialized training in the theory, practice and ethics of historic preservation.
URBAN DESIGN GRADUATE CERTIFICATE
The Urban Design Certificate program is open to graduate students in any department of the School of Architecture who want to pursue an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the critical questions raised by planetary urbanization, from urban and infrastructural development, to social equity and resilience.
As of Spring 2019, UVA School of Architecture’s Master of Landscape Architecture program (Path 2, Path 2.5, and Path 3) is STEM-designated.
The Master of Landscape Architecture program at UVA, consistent with other schools and programs of Landscape Architecture nation-wide, includes curricular content that is essential to the comprehensive design and construction of landscapes. It teaches students to use scientific, social scientific and/or humanistic approaches on environment-related issues, including instruction in the principles of ecology and environmental science and related subjects such as policy, economics, social studies, planning, design, natural resources and the interactions of humans and nature. The program’s STEM-designation allows our international MLA graduates to apply for the Department of Homeland Security’s optional practical training (OPT) extension program for F-1 students with STEM degrees.