The Department of Landscape Architecture in the School of Architecture & Environment at the University of Oregon provides undergraduate students with a small design school experience supported by the resources and benefits of a large research university. We work with real places, real people, and real landscape issues throughout the degree program.
Undergraduate cohorts of 15–18 students take interdisciplinary courses in the design of sustainable landscapes. Undergraduate and graduate students mix in upper-level courses and work closely with our expert faculty in small classes and studios of 15–20 people.
Careers
Our comprehensive and accredited curriculum prepares you for professional licensure and for careers in:
- professional firms
- city, state, regional, and federal agencies
- nongovernmental organizations
Connections
Within our Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) program, there is an emphasis on the breadth of the profession, exposing you to diverse problems and opportunities. This, combined with a system of university group requirements that all UO students must meet, provides you with fundamental exposure to social sciences, arts and letters, and natural sciences. Our approach to landscape architectural education is characterized by a concern for the connections between:
- Design and Planning
- Theory and Practice
- Art and Technology
Our BLA program is typically completed in four years, depending on when you gain admission and what classes you have already completed.
UO students interested in landscape architecture should first declare as a premajor. Current UO students may change their premajor to landscape architecture at any time during their undergraduate years.
Landscape architecture premajors receive departmental advising, priority registration, and departmental communications. The department also offers scholarships and funded field studies opportunities exclusively for such students.
Students in the premajor or landscape architecture minor, or UO applicants with evidence of design background, may apply to the BLA degree at any time prior to entering LandscapeArchitectural Design and Process (LA 439) studios, which are restricted to BLA students.
UO applicants with little or no design background should enter the premajor.
Curriculum
The curriculum combines:
- Required courses
- Elective courses
- Field study experiences
Our program provides required and elective sequences in:
- Design studios
- Ecology
- Plants and planting design theory
- Landscape technologies
- Professional practice
- Landscape planning and analysis
- Urban planning and design
- Landscape media
- History, literature, and theory of landscape architecture
The link below provides a catalog of the learning goals for the BLA program.
We encourage you to become aware of the wealth of university offerings as a core component of your education. Our departmental requirements allow you the flexibility and time to pursue interests in areas both inside and outside of our department. We accept elective courses in many disciplines, including:
- Architecture
- Planning
- Environmental studies
- Geography
- Fine arts
Culture
Design is a process of discovery, characterized by questioning, creating, testing, and evaluating. In the Department of Landscape Architecture we strive to create environments that fulfill human needs and potential and are ecologically responsive and socially just.
Our departmental program, in content and spirit, combines professional training and skill building with a liberal education to develop the next generation of landscape architects as sophisticated and effective agents of change. We feel it is our duty to support your growth as a good designer and a good citizen.
The first step in the application process is to read the Undergraduate Program Handbook. It provides you with a sense of the timeline and requirements for graduation with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon.
Accreditation
We are the only program in Oregon with BLA and MLA programs accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB).