康奈尔大学

Our undergraduate program complies with the requirements of three governing bodies: the New York State Education Department (NYSED), the Council of Landscape Architecture Registration Boards (CLARB), and the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB). The undergraduate landscape architecture curriculum is a broad-based course of study that provides instruction in the skills necessary for professional practice and is a license-qualifying, first professional degree. In addition to the required landscape architecture courses, students are expected to fulfill university requirements in biological, physical, and social sciences, humanities, and written and oral communication.

The foundation of the landscape architecture undergraduate curriculum is a sequence of intensive design studios. The design studio model involves a one-on-one relationship between student and faculty and this interaction typifies the Cornell landscape architecture program. Each studio requires a different set of principles and theories, as well as an artistic mastery of the media of landscape – landform, plants, water, and non-vegetal materials and their manipulation through the application of ecological and technological practices. The topics, sites, contexts, constituencies, and scales of development of each studio build on the previous studio in an ever-increasing level of complexity and attention to detail and conceptual thought. Supplemental courses in all other aspects of the field provide the information that will be synthesized in the studio to reinforce the design process and end result. The studio format entails lectures, demonstrations, field trips, readings, guest presentations, precedent study, one-on-one instruction, and group discourse. Rather than espousing a singular design philosophy or style, the department offers multiple perspectives on design, imparted through the studio course sequence.

Popular and Possible Concentrations

• Fine arts, design studies, representation, sculpture, landscape art, computer visualization, dance, theater studies, woodworking.
• Ecology, Environmentally sustainable design, Green architecture, restoration ecology, urban remediation, environmental law.
• Horticulture, public garden management, urban horticulture.
• Landscape history, cultural landscape history, Historic preservation, landscape preservation, archaeology.
• Community based design, participatory action research, playground design.
• Entertainment industry, eco-tourism, golf course design, business, economics.
• Italian, Spanish studies, other area studies.
• Invent your own.

Study Abroad Options

Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad, typically during the spring semester of their junior year. Most students start by browsing program options or by attending a college info session or university-wide events like the International Fair.

There are two approved avenues for studying abroad during the Fall, Spring, or the full Academic Year:

• Option 1: The CALS Exchange Program
• Option 2: Cornell's Office of Global Learning

The department actively partners with the CALS Exchange Program to provide unique opportunities for students to study Landscape Architecture in another cultural context, at reputable partner institutions around the globe. Partner schools offer studios, enabling students to stay on track to graduate on time. Just some of the destinations include Denmark (Copenhagen University), Sweden (SLU), the Netherlands (Wageningen University) and Singapore (National University of Singapore). Previous foreign language experience is not required as most institutions teach in English.