Landscape Architecture & Design BA (Hons)

Program Overview

The BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture & Design at UCA is a three-year undergraduate degree that focuses on building climate resilience in urban environments. The program provides a hands-on, practical education that prepares graduates for careers in landscape architecture, urban design, and related fields. The curriculum is designed in collaboration with industry specialists, ensuring relevance and practical application. Graduates will be confident and forward-thinking landscape architects, equipped to navigate the evolving demands of the field.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Objectives:

• Focus on the major challenge of the next 30 to 50 years – building climate resilience in our towns and cities.
• Provide a hands-on, practical education that is attuned to both horticultural knowledge and design.
• Prepare graduates for a career in an exciting, vital field with rapidly evolving demands.

Description:

• This three-year undergraduate degree course is ideal for those who meet the entry requirements for higher education.
• The curriculum has been designed in collaboration with industry specialists, ensuring relevance and practical application.
• The course takes place in the unique landscape of Canterbury, providing an ideal setting for studies.
• Graduates will be confident and forward-thinking landscape architects, equipped to navigate the evolving demands of the field.

Outline:

Year One:

• Launch Week: Intensive week gearing up for the year's objectives.
• Projects 01: Investigate new ways of understanding the relationships between the human body and the urban landscape through the design of a street furniture element.
• Landscape for Equity 01: Explore the social, environmental, and cultural factors that influence contemporary landscape design and construction.
• Briefs and Positions 01: Prepare a basic set of briefing materials to inform and guide the development of a small-scale design proposal.
• Opportunity Week: Collaborative activity with an external partner, covering various topics like politics, law, sport, or wellbeing.
• Projects 02: Design a small-scale landscape project, proposing the adaptive reuse or transformation of an unused or underused site into a functional and sustainable space.
• Critical Analysis 01: Engage with histories and theories of spatial and object design practice, considering the reflection of a society’s beliefs, customs, and ideas in spaces, objects, and systems.
• Material and Digital Practices: Explore representation as a critical practice and core theories of the design and production of small-scale objects in 2D print and 3D physical form.
• PLE Digital Outcomes: Self-directed record of constructive engagement with and presence on digital media platforms across the year.
• ATOM Activities: Interdisciplinary exposure across the university’s curriculum and beyond.

Year Two:

• Launch Week: Re-orientating after the summer break and preparing for the next year of study.
• Projects 03: Explore and interrogate a landscape and develop small spatial interventions within it, exploring the relationships between interior and exterior spaces.
• Landscape for Equity 02: Deepen understanding of the technological principles, regulations, and societal challenges that shape contemporary landscape design, with a focus on cultural diversity, non-Western perspectives, and vernacular practices in creating climate resilient landscapes.
• Briefs and Positions 02: Prepare a developed set of briefing materials to guide the development of a medium-scale design proposal.
• Opportunity Week: Collaborative activity with an external partner, covering various topics like politics, law, sport, or wellbeing.
• Projects 04: Design a medium-scale landscape project, exploring complex relationships between productive ecologies and the city, its people, environment, and climate.
• Pathways and Mentors: Reflect on design skills and knowledge, and identify potential career paths.
Engage with a design professional in structured mentoring sessions.
• Critical Analysis 02: Consider how ideas are socially, historically, and culturally located, building on understandings from Critical Analysis 01.
• PLE Digital Outcomes: Self-directed record of constructive engagement with and presence on digital media platforms across the year.
• ATOM Activities: Interdisciplinary exposure across the university’s curriculum and beyond.

Year Three:

• Launch Week: Gearing up for the final year of study through a range of activities.
• Critical Analysis 03: Establish a personalized research trajectory by producing a piece of self-directed research on a subject related to the historical, theoretical, and critical concerns of the subject discipline.
• Opportunity Week: Collaborative activity with an external partner, covering various topics like politics, law, sport, or wellbeing.
As the course is design-focused, projects and portfolios will likely play a significant role in assessment. Additionally, presentations, essays, and exams are also common in undergraduate programs. However, it is worth noting that the course is described as "hands-on" and "practical," suggesting that classroom instruction will be complemented by studio work, site visits, and project-based learning. Additionally, the course is taught by industry specialists, ensuring that students receive the most up-to-date knowledge and skills.

Careers:

The course equips graduates for careers in various roles, including:

• Garden designer
• Landscape architect
• Urban designer
• Project architect
• Landscape strategist

Other:

• The course is designed to offer students the opportunity to study part of their degree abroad at a UCA partner university.
• The course offers a professional practice year where students can gain valuable industry experience.
• The course is accessible to students from diverse educational backgrounds.
• The course encourages students to develop their creativity and critical thinking skills.

General Conclusion:

The BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture & Design course at UCA seems like a comprehensive and challenging program that prepares students for a successful career in the field of landscape architecture. The course is well-designed, with a strong focus on practical experience and industry relevance.

UK: £9,250 EU: £9,250 International: £17,500 If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, for 2024 you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee of £1,850. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year.