Landscape Architecture (DN120/LDS2)

The design studio is central to Landscape Architecture. You’ll spend most of your time in the studio, pursuing individual and small group project work. You’ll learn by doing design projects that allow you to develop creative skills and apply knowledge taught through lectures, seminars, drawing classes, field trips, reviews, readings, individual and group tutorials. In your third year you will also gain professional experience interning in a landscape related company / institution.

Lectures fall into three main categories:

Ecological and Environmental Sciences

• Land Use & the Environment
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Landscape Ecology
• Soils, Biology, Botany, Trees & Shrubs.

Human Sciences, Technology and Culture

• Landscape History & Theory, Archaeology
• Rural & Landscape Planning
• Materials & Construction
• Aesthetics, Drawing and Landscape Representation
• Placemaking

Professional and Managerial Skills

• Professional Practice
• Law
• Research and Writing

A combination of regular studio reviews, reports, as well as end-of-semester written and portfolio examinations, is used to assess your work. The fourth year concludes with a design thesis based on a subject of your own choosing. In year 3 students have the opportunity to undertake an optional 6-8 month internship as part of their degree.

Below is a list of all modules offered for this degree in the current academic year. Click on the module to discover what you will learn in the module, how you will learn and assessment feedback profile amongst other information.

Incoming Stage 1 undergraduates can usually select an Elective in the Spring Trimester. Most continuing undergraduate students can select up to two Elective modules (10 Credits) per stage. There is also the possibility to take up to 10 extra Elective credits.

Erasmus Exchange and other Non-EU Exchange opportunities exist.

The UCD Landscape Architecture degree programme is part of the European Landscape Education Exchange. This Erasmus programme is a landscape architecture education network involving 11 universities in Europe and providing opportunities for staff and student exchange. Students regularly spend time abroad, either on short field trips, or participating in intensive design studios with students from other universities, or opting to spend a semester studying at one of our partner universities.

Opportunities to date have included:

• Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
• L’école Nationale Supérieure de la Nature et du Paysage, France
• Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Freising, Germany
• Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA
• Haute ècole de paysage, d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Genève, Switzerland

Students have the opportunity in their third year to study abroad in a partner University in Europe, Australia or the U.S.

See our UCD Global exchanges page for more information

There is an optional 6-8 month internship module in Stage 3 of the BSc Landscape Architecture. Internship employers have included AECOM, Austen Associates, Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects, Murray & Associates, South Dublin County Council, and Summerhill Landscapes (New York).

Graduates of UCD Landscape Architecture work all over the world because of their transferable skills. Our students become professional landscape architects, setting up in business, working in private practice, for governmental bodies or NGOs. Others go onto further academic study in landscape architecture or related subjects and some go onto work in areas such as: Environmental and Ecological Policy-Making, Conservation and Resource Management, Planning or Urban Design.

The majority of our students become professional landscape architects. After two years of approved work experience, graduates sit the Irish Landscape Institute professional exams, which lead to full professional membership of the ILI. (See www.irishlandscapeinstitute.com).

A Master of Landscape Architecture is available for those who wish to pursue the subject at taught graduate level. The School of Architecture also offers related Masters by Research and Doctoral programmes.

Also check out the UCD Career Networks career guide for the College of Engineering & Architecture for details on the career supports available to UCD students.

Non-EU Undergraduate Fee information can be found here.

UCD offers a number of competitive undergraduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD undergraduate degree programme. For information on Undergraduate Scholarships, please see the UCD International Scholarships webpage.

By joining the UCD College of Engineering and Architecture, you will be part of a vibrant community of students and faculty who are committed to creating a more sustainable and equitable future. The mission of the College of Engineering and Architecture is to affect a just transition to a more sustainable and equitable future through our education of professionals in engineering, architecture, planning and policy, and our research in technology, design, and policy.  The College, in our engineers and architects, brings together the technical expertise to deliver and create infrastructure and technologies that can create a more sustainable future and, uniquely, the College, in our planners and environmental policy researchers, also brings together the research and professions required to create the policies and the regulatory environment that supports technological and infrastructure development, and that can also scrutinise and investigate the behavioural changes affected by our technologies.

The programmes at UCD are designed to equip students with the best education in their chosen field, while at the same time embedding the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in their education where most relevant.

Architecture and Landscape Architecture 

UCD Architects and Landscape Architects have the opportunity to contribute positively to many of today’s challenges including climate change, inequality, poverty and urbanisation. UCD architects and landscape architects use innovative design practices to consider sustainable design solutions, energy-efficient buildings, community engagement, life on land to enhance the quality of the lives for whom they are designing for while minimising environmental impacts.

• Clean water and Sanitation (SDG 6)
• Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7)
• Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11)
• Climate Action (SDG 13)
• Life on Land (SDG 15)

“I chose to study Landscape Architecture at UCD due to my love of design, nature and the outdoors. I was always interested in society and the way that people live. This course at UCD offers a wide range of exciting modules in various related topics such as land use, the environment, planning, ecology, and urban design. The design studio is central and has prepared me for my future career by allowing me to build on my environmental knowledge, design skills while using technical and technological approaches. This degree has offered me a wide range of exciting opportunities, e.g. a trimester abroad, various class trips around Ireland and Europe and an internship in a Landscape Architecture firm. I completed my exchange at The University of Hong Kong, which proved to be the most exciting and rewarding opportunity of my life.”

Niamh Conlon - Graduate