SwitzerlandThe Master of Science in Landscape Architecture (MScLA) redefines the goals and boundaries of landscape architecture as a design discipline through the development of new tools and methods that will vary according to project location, scale and time. The challenges of the 21st century call for a new kind of interdisciplinary design intelligence. Design is a medium for change, and in the case of landscape architecture, it offers highly experimental and prospective approaches that combine scientific knowledge with cultural awareness, and the living environment with technology. The Department of Architecture at the ETH in Zurich provides a unique framework to reflect on the built environment as it is adapts to a rapidly changing planet. This programme strives to address civil society through design, to encourage better and more stable landscape conditions for an engaged and just society.
The Master of Science in Landscape Architecture at ETH is a programme rooted in design and studio culture. Its aim is to equip a generation of 21st century landscape architects with the tools necessary for responding to increasingly complex societal and environmental scenarios. Through careful analytical observation, on-site exploration, design experimentation and technical synthesis, the programme proposes a methodological framework designed to address pivotal cultural and ethical questions in the built environment. It encourages creative imagination and fosters design excellence, preparing students to develop robust and innovative solutions at a variety of scales.
Fundamental knowledge deeply grounded in the history and theory of the discipline is rigorously examined in order to reconsider future developments critically. In addition to analog, GIS- and rule-based approaches to planning and design, the use of advanced digital design methods provides students with an unprecedented set of tools to enable, conceive, model and represent a project. The Master programme addresses environments at various scales in a variety of different cultural and geographic contexts.
The programme emphasizes collaboration, both with fellow design professionals and engineers and across disciplinary boundaries with specialists from the humanities and sciences, to develop hybrid projects capable of responding to urgent environmental questions that consider social equity, ethics, and regenerative ecology. Design studios and courses are led by an internationally recognized team of experts in the field and supplemented with course offerings from other departments at large as well as research opportunities and events as part of the world-class technical and scientific context of the ETH.
The Master of Science in Landscape Architecture fosters a design philosophy specific to our place and time, one that is in tune with the acute cultural and environmental sensitivities that are at play. The programme thus encourages the integration of previously excluded actors, including the intelligence of plants in achieving finely crafted and open-ended strategies. Through active discussion about cultural complexity, diversity and ecological contradictions, students are challenged to strive for greater design complexity and sensitivity. Graduates from this programme will be better equipped to design productive, aesthetically rich landscapes capable of fostering new dynamic relationships between human society and a rapidly changing natural environment.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
The Master’s degree program in Landscape Architecture is full-time, and lasts four semesters plus six months for the required internship. The program is structured into fundamental, core and specialized courses, seminar weeks, and design studios.
Complementary to these courses, the students choose a ‘science in perspective’ course that contextualizes the scientific knowledge and technologies of the program. The linking of subject-specific teaching contents with each other and their integration into the design studios is a central principle of the program.
The focus semester links the fundamental courses with the design lessons and creates a strong foundation for the following semesters. The design studios address pressing issues at a diversity of scales, from the hyper-local, to the regional and the global. The program concludes with a masters thesis project on an original and relevant research topic.
In order to obtain the Master’s degree, students must have earned 120 ECTS credits in the following course categories: fundamental, core and specialized courses, design studios, seminar week, science in perspective, internship and internship report, master thesis. Learn more about the study guidelines here.
Duration & Volume: 4 semesters + 6 months internship, full-time, 120 ECTS
ADMISSION AND APPLICATION
If you have successfully completed a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from a university (3rd level institution) with at least 180 ECTS you are eligible to apply for the Master’s degree program in Landscape Architecture. If you have not yet completed your Bachelor’s degree program, check that you can obtain your Bachelor’s degree before lecture commence at ETH Zurich.
Entry Autumn Semester 2021
The first period, 15 Nov. – 15 Dec. 2020 (international application period), is compulsory for all students who require a visa. This first deadline is also open to all applicants.
The second period, 1 – 31 March 2021 (bologna application period), is only for students who do not require a visa (i.e. Swiss, EU and EFTA applicants).
A motivation letter and a portfolio are required for the application.
Learn more about the admission requirements and how to apply: https://ethz.ch/en/studies/master/application.html
