UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES - CURRICULUM

A curriculum planning matrix and list of approved restricted electives are available as PDFs.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Updated 4/21/2008

The curriculum of the undergraduate program in landscape architecture at UC Davis culminates in a Bachelor of Science, a professional four-year degree that responds to state mandated law required of programs leading to state licensing. Landscape architecture is a licensed profession (via practice act) in the State of California, governed by the State Department of Consumer Affairs. Professional candidates are certified through an examination process overseen by CLARB, the Council of Landscape Architecture Registration Boards.

The landscape architecture curriculum offers students a well-rounded undergraduate education, in addition to preparing them for professional practice in landscape architecture. The curriculum builds on general education in the physical, natural and social sciences, as well as humanities, with a three-year sequence of landscape architectural design/planning studios, a two-year sequence of graphic communication courses, a two- year sequence of horticulture and ecology, and a three-year sequence of landscape technology and professional design production. Additional advanced level courses (Restricted Electives) are selected from other departments, approved by a student's faculty adviser, and complement the student's area of interest in landscape architecture.

Critical thinking and individual interests are fostered through a required but individually tailored senior project, a range of choices in advanced design/planning studios, general education courses, and restricted electives. Internship credit is offered for work with outside professional offices. Individual study credits allow students to work with faculty on research projects and/or serve as teaching assistants.

The curriculum can be considered to consist of ten groupings of courses, with each course building upon a previous course in the group. It should be noted that the landscape architecture faculty teach all courses with "LDA" prefixes, while faculty in other majors and departments teach all other required courses.

Sciences, Horticulture and Ecology: To prepare students for further course work in plant material and ecology, all students must take three general sciences: one must be basic biology, and the other two may be chosen from a menu of introductory quantitative and physical sciences. Landscape architecture students begin their exposure to horticulture with the sophomore-level course ENH 6, Introduction to Environmental Plants, which covers basic plant identification and characteristics of commonly used landscape plants. Also in the sophomore year, students take LDA 50: Site Ecology, which introduces basic ecological concepts as relevant to site analysis. In the sophomore or junior year, students take two additional plant identification courses and may choose from ENH 105, ENH 133, PLB 147, PLB 102, or WFC156. One of the choices must be either ENH 105 or PLB 102. ENH 105, Taxonomy and Ecology of Environmental Plants, follows the required ENH 6 covering more general and species as well as advanced taxonomic and ecological principles. Arboriculture, ENH 133, covers the principles of establishment and management of woody plants. PLB 102 looks at California flora with an emphasis on field recognition and identification and PLB 147 examines selective plant communities. Four weekend trips are required as part of the PLB 147 course. WC 156, Plant Geography, covers the geographical distribution of vegetation types and habitats and considers environmental and historical factors that determine these patterns. These courses provide students with skill and experience in the composition of planted landscapes where aesthetic, spatial, ecological, and formal properties are critical. The courses emphasize projects such as botanical gardens, arboreta, etc., where plant material selection and composition are the primary design variables considered.

Social Sciences: At the introductory level, students take three courses in social sciences. Two general courses, chosen from a menu of options, and one more specifically examining the relationship between the physical land area inhabited by a particular group of people and how the land affects the social development of that group (LDA 2, LDA 3, GEO 2 or GEO 10). Later in the curriculum, all students must take Psychology 155: Environmental Awareness, which examines the interaction of the individual with the built environment.

Arts and Humanities: Depending on their background and training in art and design, students select two courses from studio art (two-dimensional and three-dimensional), art history, philosophy, language, literature, history, or other humanities course. Students with better than average proficiency in art and design are encouraged to choose whichever courses best complement their interests in landscape architecture; those who need more experience in drawing and three-dimensional conceptualization take art/design studio classes.

Graphics and Communication: In addition to a basic expository writing course, students must take a course in public speaking. These two courses build a facility for non-graphic communication necessary for upper division design courses and ultimately professional practice. The graphics courses begin with manual drafting and drawing (LDA 21: basic skills in graphic delineation of site analyses, site plans, section elevation, and perspective views, and color illustrations) and computer graphics (LDA 23: PhotoShop, Illustrator and computer assisted drafting and LDA 61: AutoCAD). These courses are continued as a component in the Field Studio course (LDA 170) and culminate in Advanced Computers (LDA 120) or GIS (LDA 150). LDA 120 features animation for landscape planning and design. Seven years ago, we began teaching PC-based AutoCAD; using College of Engineering computer lab space, we now offered the class to all students.

Landscape History and Theory: This sequence begins with the primary introductory lecture class in landscape architecture, LDA 1: Landscape Meaning, which is open to all students with no prerequisites and is a campus-wide General Education course. This course is required of landscape architecture majors and is typically taken fall quarter of the freshman or sophomore year. The course focuses on increasing awareness of the built and natural environment, as well as familiarization with the landscape making process. The course also acts as a primary vehicle for attracting new students into the major. Beginning in Spring 2008, LDA 3, a course in sustainable development, was added as an additional campus-wide General Education course. LDA 30: History of Landscape Architecture is also required for landscape architecture students. It is also a General Education course. All of these introductory classes include discussion sections led by Graduate Student Teaching Assistants. Landscape architecture students must also complete three repetitions of the one-unit professional seminar, LDA 190, also open to non-majors, which features guest speakers on the widest possible range of landscape architecture and closely related topics. This course is called the "proseminar", and also serves as a means for attracting talented and motivated students into the major.

Landscape Planning and Design: The planning and design studio-based courses was significantly changed in the overall curriculum revision in 1997. Formerly, all students followed a very rigid sequence of courses through the sophomore and junior year, with a minimal amount of choice in the senior year. Currently, all students take basic design in the sophomore year (LDA 70), which introduces students to the landscape analysis and design process and provides introductory studio experiences at all physical scales and many land-use types.

The junior year begins with LDA 170, the required Field Studio course. All juniors take this class, divided into two sections with two instructors (one for each section). This studio continues the basic design instruction introduced in the sophomore studio (LDA 170). While the specific focus of this course varies, the overriding goal is to develop in students an understanding of the social, environmental and physical factors underpinning site design, while developing more advanced graphic and design skills. The instructors work closely together. They usually select a community or region in which to focus the class and coordinate field trips and critiques.

Following the fall quarter of the junior year, students are required to take a minimum of four more design/planning studios. The advanced studio classes are offered in a lecture/studio format (LDA 180/181). These lecture/studio courses cover a wide variety of topics. The courses are set up as a two-unit lecture course (LDA 180 - open to any student on campus) and a three-unit studio class (LDA 181 &endash; open only to junior and senior landscape architecture majors). This format has the advantage of allowing a greater mix of students in the lecture (graduate students, English majors, Environmental Studies majors, etc), while still retaining the small, focused creative studio just for majors. It also offers enriched interaction, as juniors and seniors can take the classes together. The LDA 180/181 format is taught by permanent faculty; when advanced studios are taught by guest instructors, the course is offered as a four-unit studio, LDA 191: Workshop in Landscape Architecture, and is only open to majors.

The design sequence culminates with the required senior project. This consists of a three-unit winter course, where students select and refine a project in landscape architectural planning, design, or research, and a four-unit spring course wherein the project is completed, and then formally presented to and reviewed by a jury of three faculty and/or professionals. The senior project is individually executed, and requires a written, bound report, with a signed cover sheet, and duplicate copies for archival storage in the Program library. The senior project is intended to cap the student's curricular activity, synthesize various aspects of his/her educational focus, and serve as that student's recorded "legacy" with the program in perpetuity.

Landscape Technology and Professional Practice: Students are required to take three construction/technology classes, beginning in the spring quarter of the sophomore year and culminating in the senior year. LDA 60: Grading and Drainage covers topography, grading, drainage, and road alignment. Next, students take LDA 160: Advanced Technology, which emphasizes the design of "hard" construction details and technical systems in the landscape (irrigation, lighting and structural design), teaches methods of preparing technical drawings of details and introduces the processes and materials of landscape construction. LDA 161 Professional Practice and Construction Documents combines professional practice and project management with the preparation of construction drawings and documents for a complex, site-scale landscape project. LDA 60, 160 and 161 are all "technical" studio format courses. Computer graphics are introduced early in the sequence and become mandatory for part or all of the construction documents course outputs. LDA 190, Proseminer in Landscape Architecture covers various aspects of professional practice in landscape architecture, introducing students to a range of issues engaging the profession and exposing them to many different types of professional practice.

Restricted Electives: In addition to Psych 155, Environmental Awareness, students must take 20 units (generally, five classes) of upper division coursework approved by their faculty adviser. It is the student's responsibility to identify coursework in other departments (or additional landscape architecture courses or internships) that will complement the student's particular interest in landscape architecture. These courses may be used to concentrate in a particular area (e.g., Environmental Horticulture, Community Development, Art, Environmental Studies are some commonly chosen departments) or used to help students explore various aspects of landscape architecture. All courses are chosen by the student, who then meets with his/her faculty adviser to discuss the choices, explain the irrelevance to the field, and gain faculty approval.

General Education and Electives: Students are required to take six General Education courses selected from a list published in the UC Davis General Catalog. General education requirements emphasize broad social and environmental issues, critical thinking, and writing skills. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of landscape architecture, major requirements often overlap with campus General Education courses. In this event, the student is free to take elective courses in the spaces created by the overlapping.

Internships: The Davis campus is fortunate to have a strong tradition and a seasoned program of providing real-world experience to students for educational credit. The campus Internship and Career Center is the ultimate manager of the 192 series of courses throughout the campus. It has strict standards by which student internships are initiated and completed. The Department of Environmental Design, through its advising office, manages landscape architecture internships in conjunction with individual faculty members. While not an absolute requirement for graduation, internships with private or public practitioners are strongly recommended for landscape architecture students. Most students will complete at least one internship before graduation. The excellent record of our program and previous student interns from UCD causes numerous professional offices to continually seek our students as interns year after year. Many internships develop into full-time employment.

Computers in the Curriculum: Computers are an integral component of the curriculum in landscape architecture. The philosophy of the faculty is to "mainstream" computers, incorporating computer applications into a variety of courses and offering the student a choice of traditional as well as computerized media. Multiple computer work stations are now located in all studios. Students are first introduced to computer graphics in the sophomore year, primarily through the Computer Graphics course (LDA 23), but also in the introductory graphics and studio courses (LDA 11, 21). In the Advanced Communications Course (LDA 122) students learn to use advanced interactive computer/video software programs in preparing professional quality presentations. A new, optional course in advanced computer graphics (LDA 120) was offered last summer and will become a regular course offering this academic year. In this course students learn advanced multi-media applications, such as CAD, GIS, solid modeling, simulation, and real-time multi-media animation. Computer-aided grading, drainage and cut/fill calculations are introduced in the landscape technology courses in the Junior and Senior years, while most students now produce much or all of their required construction documents in LDA 134 on the computer. Computerized plant selection is also introduced in the planting design studio (LDA 156).