Landscape Architecture, Master of (MLA)

Overview

Landscape Architecture is constantly evolving to respond to the climate and biodiversity emergency, to acknowledge diverse approaches to the practice of landscape, and to make it inclusive to all.

Our two-year Landscape Architecture MLA is a fully accredited course for graduates of Landscape Architecture and closely related disciplines.

Prepare yourself with the skills needed for your future as a landscape architect, covering topics such as multispecies design and interagency.

Develop systematic knowledge and understanding of landscape architecture and its connection with planning and architecture.

Learn in our innovative, playful, and experimental studios as well as through field work geared towards reading and writing landscapes for resilient futures.

Focus on a series of principles that regard landscape architecture as a conduit for planetary health, well-being, and social and eco-justice. Those principles build on one another, alongside the integration of art and ecology.

Our design thesis studios treat landscape design as both a process of research and experimentation and as a valid method of inquiry.

Throughout the course, we collaborate with other programmes at the school, such as the BA in Architecture and Urban Planning and the Master of Urban Design. We also collaborate with other schools, and in the past, have carried out workshops with Music Composition students.

You may also want to consider our one-year Landscape Architecture MA programme.

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Your course and study experience - disclaimers and terms and conditions

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

 

What you'll learn

Our Landscape Architecture programmes build on our world-leading research and practice in environment, sustainability, and Landscape Architecture.

Our diverse research and practice experience is applied directly to our teaching, and there are many opportunities to become co-researchers in a variety of projects.

You'll also get the opportunity to get involved in the University wide Centre of Landscape Research Excellence.

The Landscape Architecture MLA is organised around a core of design studios. You'll gain specialist knowledge in such areas as:

• site-planning
• land modelling
• landscape construction
• planting design
• visualisation

You’ll learn many design and presentation skills. The course is intellectually stimulating and looks at history and design theory. You'll also cover pressing contemporary issues, such as:

• the climate crisis
• social justice
• rapid urbanisation

We also seek opportunities for short-term international exchanges. For example, in the past with the Institute of Landscape Architecture at BOKU Vienna for an experimental global design studio.

You'll also work on live projects with local practitioners and organisations, gaining invaluable skills and networks for the future careers.

Fieldwork is a key component of our course and fieldtrips take place throughout the year.

Newcastle is uniquely placed to study urban, rural, and coastal landscapes. As a post-industrial city, Newcastle is constantly evolving and our students get to interact with professionals driving change within the city.

The North East coastline is also on our doorstep, providing the opportunity to study coastal habitats and their communities. 

Further afield, Northumberland National Park is home to England’s cleanest rivers, clearest air, and darkest skies - providing a unique setting for field work and a wide range of research projects.

Modules

You will study modules on this course. A module is a unit of a course with its own approved aims and outcomes and assessment methods.

Course content changes

Module information is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content changes periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions.

Optional modules availability

Some courses have optional modules. Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

 

Landscape Architecture modules

 

Compulsory Modules	Credits
Conceptualising Landscape (10 credits)	10
Landscape Histories	10
Landscape Professional Practice, Planning and Law	20
Experimental Landscape Architecture II	40
Landscape Architecture Studio 1: Strategies, Forms and Narratives for Contemporary Landscapes.	30
Landscape Architecture Studio 2: City as Landscape	30
Landscape Architecture Studio 3: Materiality of Landscape	30
Landscape Architecture Studio 4: Design with Plants and Ecological Greenspace Management.	30
Experimental Landscape Architecture I	40
Climate Literacy: Tools for Action	20
Academic Portfolio: Design Narrative and Curation	20
Green Infrastructure, Landscape Planning & Nature Based Solutions	10
Green Infrastructure, Landscape Planning and Nature Based Solutions (Project)	10

How you'll learn

Delivery and teaching methods

You’ll be taught using a range of methods, including:

• Tutorials and Design Reviews
• Workshops
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Fieldtrips

Assessment methods

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Design or creative project
• Essay
• Portfolio
• Report
• Reflective log
• Research proposal
• Thesis

Student support

Your teaching and learning is also supported by Canvas. Canvas is a Virtual Learning Environment. You'll use Canvas to submit your assignments and access your:

• module handbooks
• course materials
• groups
• course announcements and notifications
• written feedback

Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to support from:

• peers
• academics
• personal tutors
• our University Student Services Team
• student representatives

You'll also be assigned an academic member of staff. They will be your personal tutor throughout your time with us. They can help with academic and personal issues.

Our staff

Stef Leach – Degree Programme Director and Stage 1 Coordinator

Dr Usue Ruiz-Arana – Stage 2 Coordinator

Your development

Professional skills

Beyond inproving your landscape knowledge and skills we'll also focus on soft skills, such as:

• teamwork
• critical thinking
• communication

You'll also be encouraged to develop your own ethical frameworks to guide you throughout your career.

Your future

Through our international research, practice collaborations and partnerships, you'll connect with professional landscape practitioners. They will support your transition into landscape architecture jobs.

A wide variety of local practices and organisations also take part in guest lectures, guided site visits and studio teaching.

Our annual exhibitions attract many practitioners who engage with students and their work. We also facilitate internships, part-time jobs, and will support you with portfolio workshops and mock interviews.

Many of our graduates have found jobs locally and nationally shortly after graduation, building a network of landscape practitioners.

Our courses also lead to further study, such as PhDs, and academic careers.

Our Careers Service

Our Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. 

Visit our Careers Service website

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

Recognition of professional qualifications outside of the UK

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information.

Facilities

You'll be based in one of the UK’s leading schools of lamdscape architecture. We aim to provide a lively design studio culture across our professional courses making the School a thriving and creative place to be. Our well-equipped workshop includes some of the latest digital and biological manufacturing tools.

The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape has excellent studio teaching facilities. Our facilities include:

• lively design studios
• exhibition spaces
• well-equipped workshop including the latest digital manufacturing technology
• wet fabrication lab including 3D printers
• molecular biology lab (one of the first in the world to be administered by a school of architecture)
• print media suite
• IT suites

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2025 entry (per year)

Tuition fee increases

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals - tuition fee status

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support. You may be eligible for a scholarship worth 25% off the international fee. Search our funding database. 

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our searchable postgraduate funding page for more information. 

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination
• graduation

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

Deposit

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section.

Funding deadlines

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Select your country

How to apply

Using the application portal

The application portal has instructions to guide you through your application. It will tell you what documents you need and how to upload them.

You can choose to start your application, save your details and come back to complete it later.

 

If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages.

Apply Online  

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Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events