Typical Sequence for a 3 Year Program of Study

Note: The sequence shown below will vary in accordance with the schedule of certain courses taught every second year

Year 1

Pre Semester

  • One week orientation workshop

Fall

  • LA 501 Graduate Studio 1 6 credits
  • LA 582 Graphic Communications 3 credits
  • LA 561 History and Theory of Landscape Architecture 3 credits
  • LA 556 Site and Environment 3 credits

Spring

  • LA 502 Graduate Studio 2 (prerequisite: LA 501) 6 credits
  • LA 563 Theory in LA + Environmental Design3 credits
  • LA 558 Plants 13 credits
  • LA 580 Landscape Architecture Technology3 credits

Year 2

Pre-Semester

  • LA 521 AutoCAD for Landscape Architects 3 credits

Fall

  • LA 503 Graduate Studio 3 (prerequisite: LA 502) 6 credits
  • LA 560 Landscape Architecture in the 20th Century 3 credits
  • LA 581 Landscape Construction Materials + Techniques 3 credits
  • Elective3 credits

Spring

  • LA 508 DPAC Interdisciplinary Community Studio 6 credits
  • LA 596 LA Thesis/Project Preparation Seminar 3 credits
  • LA 586 Professional Skills in LA 3 credits
  • Elective 3 credits

Year 3

Fall

  • LA 505 Graduate Studio 5 (prerequisite: LA 508) 6 credits
  • LA 531 Professional Practice in Landscape Architecture 3 credits
  • Elective 3 credits

Spring

  • LA 559 Plants 2 3 credits
  • Elective 3 credits
  • LA 597 Master’s Project (Studio T) or LA 599 Master’s Thesis 6 credits
Suggested Electives

LA 512 Sustainable Landscape Design
LA 512 GIS for Landscape Architecture
LA 512 Cultural Landscape Evaluation + Management
LA 590 Historic Research Methods
LA 579 Preservation and Regionalism
LA 512 Landscape Architecture of Latin America
LA 566 Civic Spaces and Public Art
LA 513 Reflective Travel
LA 567 Infrastructure Design + Planning
LA 562 Gardens in the Sand
Arch 512 Memory and Architecture
Arch 571 Urban Design Theory
Arch 563 Modern Architecture
Arch 522 Contemporary Architecture
Arch 512 3D Modeling
CRP 576 Human Settlements
CRP 515 Natural Resources Field Methods
CRP 527 Watershed Management
CRP 564 Natural Resource Planning
CRP 570 Modeling the Environment
CRP 533 Foundations of Physical Planning
CRP 526 Water Resources Studio
CRP 570 Meaning and Place

Design studios constitute the core of the Landscape Architecture program. Studios are a synthesis of critical thought and skill-buliding where students learn to transform ideas into design propositions, and to communicate these transformations both graphically and verbally. In the studio students have the opportunity to integrate and apply theoretical and technical knowledge in the curriculum to the physical design of environments. Each student discovers and develops strategies and methods that, over time, will evolve as an effective process for design.

  • Studio 1 is an introductory design studio for students entering the three-year program. Emphases are placed on basic design principles, three-dimensional space, and the development of graphic communication skills.
  • Studio 2 is an investigation of vocabularies of landscape architectural design largely within the context of the urban environment. Through an exploration of types the landscape is understood as a cultural production. Students begin to generate an understanding of the deep structure of human places and find insights into our roles as designers of human environments.
  • Studio 3 examines human and environmental systems at different scales in the landscape as a basis for understanding and designing place. In the final part of the studio public and environmental art as landscape is explored at the site scale, but in the regional context.
  • Studio 4 is an interdisciplinary studio focusing on urban design. The studio works with various communities in New Mexico helping to bring a vision to the aspirations of those communities with respect to their physical environments. The process of service learning incorporates community participation and client interaction.
  • Studio 5 is a comprehensive integration of skills and knowledge developed through the curriculum. Students will typically work on one project that incorporates several layers of investigation from conceptual to detailed design. When possible the project will be a national design competition that all students in the studio enter.