Landscape Architecture

Landscape Architecture is important for the built environment because you're creating unique solutions that appeal to the people who need it in that specific area, whether that be esthetics or for environmental protection. It pulls together knowledge from architecture engineering, city planning, ecology, gardening, land art, even and kind of synthesizes that into a field that really looks quite different depending on kind of your interests and where you decide to take it as a practitioner, the studio spaces are more of a workshop environment than a traditional classroom. My favorite part of studio is the people that have been in my studio, because we move as a cohort, and I've gotten to know them really well, and I've gotten to know their design styles, their representation styles, and also know that I can go to different people for advice or for opinions online.

Field work is tremendously important to Landscape Architecture, because our medium is outside. The thing that we're designing is landscapes outside. And so for us, we have a range of opportunities across the program to get outside of Auburn, Alabama and experience what professional landscape architecture looks like when it's put into practice in a really excellent way. We do that in the United States with trips that are often three days to a week, to say, a major city like New York City or Seattle.

We also do that overseas. We think traveling internationally is a great way to understand the profession of landscape architecture globally, I was part of a study abroad program where we went to Paris, France, and Geneva, Switzerland for two weeks. And we were observing built projects all day, so walking around the different neighborhoods and seeing what fits where, what people needed, what people were using, and why those places were effective, and then using methods like sketching and just round table discussions about, why do you like this place? Why don't you like this place, and what makes it successful or not.