About the Program

Landscape design is a profession that focuses on designing gardens and small, often residential landscapes. Columbia’s Landscape Design program immerses students in the history and theory of garden design, broadens their horticultural knowledge and plant vocabulary, and nurtures their creativity while grounding them technically. Graduates of Columbia’s master's degree program enter the profession with a deep understanding of how space and plant materials may be creatively manipulated to express human values and emotions.

Columbia’s part-time Landscape Design master's degree program prepares students for careers as landscape designers specializing in residential and smaller-scale projects.

The rigorous curriculum emphasizes studio work in order to develop students’ technical and design competence and to enable them to begin professional practice upon graduation. Landscape design classes are offered in the evening and on Saturday to meet the needs of working professionals or those in career transition.

Program Objectives

Students are expected to master traditional design techniques and cultivate their ability to produce creative and realistic design plans. More than half of the program of study is composed of intensive studio work with the remaining courses devoted to expanding students’ knowledge of plant materials and understanding of a limited range of technical concerns relevant to the field.

Students wishing to learn more about the field of landscape design should visit the following Web sites:

Association of Professional Landscape Designers: www.apld.org
American Society of Landscape Architects: www.asla.org
Metro Hort Group: www.metrohort.org