The Department of Landscape Architecture

The Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard is home to the oldest and most distinguished academic program in landscape architecture in the world. Its mission is to advance research and innovative design practices in the natural and built environments, as they intersect with processes of urbanization and the present realities of a changing climate.

Program Streams

Master in Landscape Architecture I

The program stream leading to the Master in Landscape Architecture, an accredited professional degree, is intended for individuals who have completed a bachelor’s degree with a major other than one of the design professions.
Master in Landscape Architecture I AP

Individuals who hold an accredited professional degree in architecture, or a pre-professional undergraduate degree in landscape architecture or architecture, and a strong design portfolio, may be granted advanced standing of up to two semesters, completing the MLA I in two years.
Master in Landscape Architecture II

Individuals who hold an accredited undergraduate professional bachelor of landscape architecture, or its equivalent as judged by the admissions committee, may enroll in the MLA II program stream, completing the accredited MLA in two years.

COMPARE DEGREE PROGRAMS

INSIDE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

MISSION & VALUES COURSEWORK PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT TO CLIMATE

A message from the Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Gary Hilderbrand:

Since its founding in 1900, the department has played a singular role in the development of landscape architecture as a profession, an academic discipline, and as a medium of design that engages urbanism, environmentalism, and culture. The mission of Landscape Architecture at Harvard is to advance research and innovative design practices in the natural and built environments, as they intersect with processes of urbanization and the urgent challenges posed by a changing climate, including widespread environmental and social inequities. Candidates in the Master in Landscape Architecture (MLA) Program work with an internationally recognized faculty, and explore the multiple ways that landscapes positively contribute to the complexities of the contemporary city, to a more equitable distribution of ecological and environmental resources, and to the creation of better futures across all regions of the world.

STU 1404 Broadway Shuffle at Madison Square: The Surface is Alive!

Students presenting during option studio review — STU 1415 Wild Ways 2.0: A Fifth Ecology for Metropolitan Los Angeles

As the challenges of the built environment rarely correspond to traditional disciplinary boundaries, coursework in the MLA Program spans the depth and breadth of the field and enjoys strong pedagogical connections to urban planning, urban design, and architecture. MLA candidates enjoy access to and engagement with the extra-Departmental assets of the Graduate School of Design including a robust calendar of lectures, exhibitions, and events attendant to current design culture across disciplines as well as the Advanced Studies Programs, the Aga Khan Program, the Joint Center for Housing Studies, and the Loeb Fellowship. MLA candidates benefit from proximity to events and discussions in cognate disciplines across campus in the history of art and architecture, ecology, engineering, environment, and the arts. The Department’s coursework and culture are leavened by a range of institutional assets and resources unique in the discipline including the Harvard Forest, the Arnold Arboretum, the Harvard Center for the Environment, and Dumbarton Oaks.

Scene from above of students presenting at a pin up. — Vicky Wang (MLA II ’23) and Rolando Girodengo (MAUD ’23) present during the mid-review for
STU 1509 LATIN AMERICA IN TRANSITION: Imagining Infrastructures for Climatic Migration

Landscape architecture today enjoys greater cultural relevance, public visibility, and potential for professional leadership than at any time in recent history. The Department has been among the most significant centers in the world for the production and dissemination of landscape knowledge. The Department aspires to be the preeminent venue for the education of landscape architects as they are increasingly called upon as design professionals uniquely capable of representing and responding to the challenges found at the intersection of design culture, urbanization and environment.

— Gary Hilderbrand, Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture & Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture

A view of a column in Druker Design Gallery with a rectangular wooden structure built around it with a grid of black and white photos of tree trunks. — FOREST FUTURES Exhibition featuring photographs by New York artist, Stanley Greenberg.

Four people sit on chairs on a low stage as part of a panel discussion. An image projected behind them says Forest Futures: Will the Forest Save us All" — Participants in the Keynote Response panel discussion at the GSD symposium “Forest Futures: Will the Forest Save Us All?”. From Left to Right: Gary Hilderbrand, Mayor Michelle Wu, William (Ned) Friedman, and Edward Eigen. Mayor’s Office Photo by John Wilcox.

Together, we are educating a generation of activist practitioners, theorists, advocates, and more—a virtual army of climate warriors who will lead the charge for regenerative, adaptive ways of reimagining a just and sustainable world.

Learn more about our commitment to climate.