UCLA Landscape Architecture Program: Requirements and Opportunities

The UCLA landscape architecture program is a dynamic and respected program designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary for successful careers in this growing field. With a rich 40+ year heritage, the program is highly regarded within the industry and provides rigorous preparation for entering the field. Approved by the Landscape Architects Technical Committee (LATC) to meet the education requirements for licensure in California. The curriculum emphasizes hands-on experience, real-world projects, and access to inspirational instructors and supportive classmates. The faculty consists of practicing landscape architects and other industry professionals.

Programs Offered

The UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design (AUD) offers both Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs. These programs aim to cultivate students whose scholarship contributes to architectural discourse within public, professional, and academic spheres.

MA Program

The MA program is a two-year degree that culminates in a thesis. It prepares students for academic professions in architectural history, architectural design, or related fields. Students develop their thesis from a paper written during coursework, in consultation with their primary advisor and the standing committee. Beyond the core colloquium, MA students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA AUD and across campus.

PhD Program

The PhD program trains students to teach courses in architectural history and theory, engage in studio pedagogy, and participate in curatorial work. In addition to the colloquium, PhD students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design and across campus. They select these courses in relation to their own research interests and in consultation with their primary advisor. The priorities for selection are breadth of knowledge and interdisciplinary experience that retains a focused area of expertise. To this end, the students identify Major and Minor Fields of study. Once coursework is completed, PhD students move to the Comprehensive Exam, Qualifying Exam, and the writing of a dissertation, and final defense, if deemed appropriate by the doctoral committee. Students graduating from the program have taken posts in a wide range of universities, both in the United States and internationally.

Application Requirements and Deadlines

Applications for the MA/PhD program (Fall 2026 matriculation) are completed via the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission and are due January 6, 2026.

Curriculum and Coursework

Both the MA and PhD programs share a common foundation in a two-year colloquium. The six courses that constitute the colloquium train students in the apparatus of academic scholarship. Over the two-year sequence, students produce original research projects and develop skills in long-format writing. The intellectual life of the students in the MA and PhD programs are reinforced by the increasing number of opportunities afforded to students through specialized faculty-led research projects. These include cityLAB-UCLA and the Urban Humanities Institute.

Core Colloquium

All MA and PhD students are required to enroll in a two-year colloquium focused on methods for writing, teaching, and researching in the field of architecture.

PhD Program: Comprehensive Exam and Dissertation

In the transition from coursework to exams, PhD students work on one paper beyond its original submission as coursework. The paper begins in the context of a departmental seminar, but often continues either in the context of an independent study, summer mentorship, or a second seminar with faculty consent. Upon the research paper’s acceptance, students begin preparing for their comprehensive exam. Before their third year, students must also satisfactorily complete three quarters of language study or its equivalent according to University standards. The particular language will be determined in consultation with the Standing Committee.

The Comprehensive Exam tests two fields: the first covers a breadth of historical knowledge-300 years at minimum-and the second focuses on in-depth knowledge of a specialization that is historically and thematically circumscribed. Students submit an abstract on each of these fields, provide a substantial bibliography, and prepare additional documentation requested by their primary advisor. These materials are submitted to the committee no less than two weeks before the exam, which occurs as early as the end of the second year. The Comprehensive Exam itself consists of two parts: an oral component that takes place first, and then a written component. The oral component is comprised of questions posed by the committee based on the student’s submitted materials. The goal of the exam is for students to demonstrate their comprehensive knowledge of their chosen field. The written component of the exam (which may or may not be waived by the committee) consists of a written response to a choice of questions posed by the committee. The goal of this portion of the exam is for students to demonstrate their research skills, their ability to develop and substantiate an argument, and to show promise of original contribution to the field. Students have two weeks to write the exam. After the committee has read the exam, the advisor notifies the student of the committee’s decision.

Students are expected to take the Qualifying Exam before the beginning of the fourth year. The exam focuses on a dissertation prospectus that a student develops with their primary advisor and in consultation with their PhD committee. Each student’s PhD committee consists of at least two members of the Standing Committee and one outside member from another department at the University (and a member of the Faculty Senate). Committees can also include faculty from another institution. All committees are comprised of at least three members of UCLA Academic Senate.

The PhD dissertation is written after the student passes the qualifying exam, at which point the student has entered PhD candidacy. The dissertation is defended around the sixth year of study.

Faculty and Research

The MA and PhD programs are supported by the Standing Committee, made up of six faculty members: Michael Osman (MA/PhD program director), Cristóbal Amunátegui, Dana Cuff, Samaa Elimam, Salmaan Craig, and Ayala Levin.

The intellectual life of MA and PhD students is enhanced by opportunities through specialized faculty-led research projects, including cityLAB-UCLA and the Urban Humanities Institute.

Landscape Architecture Certificate Program

For working adults seeking to enhance their skills and career prospects in landscape architecture, UCLA Extension offers a Landscape Architecture Certificate program.

Program Overview

The Landscape Architecture Certificate is a graduate-level, three-year program designed for working adults, with night and weekend classes. The program offers access to inspirational instructors and supportive classmates. Classes are taught by practicing landscape architects, as well as industry professionals. Students work on real-world projects that focus on real sites, solutions, and clients, and benefit from networking and development opportunities.

Read also: Navigating Tech Breadth at UCLA

Curriculum Structure and Duration

The program curriculum is designed as a three-year program, and there is no option to complete it sooner. Deviation from the curriculum sequence results in additional years to complete the certificate. Each quarter is 11 weeks long, and most courses meet once per week for three hours. Full-time enrollment is two courses per quarter.

Course Offerings and Schedule

Courses are scheduled in the evenings during typical non-work hours (5:30 pm-10 pm). Classes are offered in the evenings during the week and in-person class meetings on weekends. Schedules vary; check course pages for specific schedules.

Enrollment and Application

Students are welcome to enroll in the first two curriculum courses before officially applying to the program. This allows students to assess whether the program is a good fit. Students who successfully complete the first two program courses and wish to continue in the program need to complete the application process, including paying the application fee, to continue taking courses in the program. Students who do not complete the application are prevented from enrolling in 3rd quarter courses.

Online Availability

Most courses for the Landscape Architecture Certificate are hybrid in-person, and students are required to attend all in-person class meetings to successfully complete the program.

Grading Policy

All required courses in the certificate must be taken for a letter grade; a grade of “C” or better is required for the course to count towards the certificate.

Program Costs

Course fees are the same for both in-state and out-of-state residents. Students pay for course fees at the time of enrollment.

Locations

In-person classes are offered at a variety of locations in LA County.

Examples of Student Research

Adam Boggs: An interdisciplinary artist, scholar, educator and Urban Humanist, Boggs' work reflects interests in architecture.
Hanyu Chen: Chen's research focuses on the intersection between (sub)urban studies, heritage conservation, and the genders of the space, particularly the dynamics of genders in (sub)urban areas and how these dynamics are conserved as heritage.
Yixuan Chen: Chen's research explores the notion of everydayness to elucidate the power dynamics it reveals. Her dissertation explores the vanishing shijing places, or urban villages, where rural migrant workers negotiate their urban identity in Chinese cities, revealing shifting power relations.
Pritam Dey: Dey's research has examined crematoria as somatic architectures, the role of informal and wholesale markets in shaping Indian city cores, and the legal geographies of slums at Dharavi, Mumbai.
Carrie Gammell: Gammell's work lies at the intersection of architectural history, property law, and political economy.
Anirudh Gurumoorthy: Gurumoorthy's dissertation focuses on the spatial and environmental histories of natural history/sciences in the long-nineteenth century as it related to the political economy of empire within South Asia.
Chi-Chia Hou: Hou's research locates moments of theorizing methodologies to manage income-generating properties in schools of agriculture, home economics, and hotel studies.
Adam Lubitz: Lubitz's research engages the intersection of critical heritage studies and migration studies, with an emphasis on how archival information can inform reparations.
José Monge: Monge's project understands architecture as a history of activities that moved from sea to land and land to sea, challenging assumptions about the static “nature” of architecture.
Kurt Pelzer: Pelzer's scholarship traces the settler possession and exhibitionary display of a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the 1850s.
Shota Vashakmadze: Vashakmadze's dissertation traces the conjoined histories of architectural computing, environmental design, and professional practice in the late 20th century.
Alexa Vaughn: Vaughn's dissertation will seek to formally explore the historical exclusionary and inaccessible design of American urban landscapes and public spaces, as well as the response (activism, policy, and design) to this history through the present and speculative future, through a disability justice lens.

tags: #ucla #landscape #architecture #program #requirements