The Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich offers a two-year Master’s degree program in Landscape Architecture (MScLA). It redefines the goals and boundaries of landscape architecture as a design discipline through the development of new tools and methods which vary according to project location, scale and time.

Studies

The ETH Master in Sciences of Landscape Architecture (MScLA) prepares a new generation of landscape architects to respond to increasingly complex situations and unforeseen phenomena. By centering observation, experimentation, and synthetic thinking, the program enables students to imagine creative and sustainable solutions on the scale of the city and landscape.

This dynamic moment requires interdisciplinary collaborations with the humanities and sciences to develop hybrid methodologies that are able to respond to the pressing questions of climate change adaptation, social equity, landscapes in transition, and regenerative management of ecological resources. Initiated at the Institute of Urban Studies (LUS), the program is set within the renowned technical innovation and research happening at ETH Zurich and is uniquely positioned to collaborate with scientists and engineers who are exploring the boundaries of their fields. Intensive interdisciplinary collaboration enables the development of design and planning methods that traverse scales through the use of big data, GIS-based 3D landscape modelling, and robotics. Parametric and rule-based design approaches facilitate these collaborations and enable us to develop more adaptive strategies and infrastructures.

Graduate profile

Graduates from the ETH MScLA are trained to work through different cultures and contexts across a range of scales – from the design of a place to adaptive management at regional scales. They will learn respond to existing urban and peri-urban conditions in order to develop creative, rigorous and technically sophisticated design strategies in collaboration with other disciplines. With this novel profile, graduates will open new fields of activity and research in landscape architecture.

Duration

Full-time, four semesters plus six months for the required internship. It awards 120 ECTS credits.

Admissions and eligibility

• Candidates who successfully completed a Bachelor’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture from a university or Swiss university of Applied sciences with at least 180 ECTS or equivalent;
• Also suitable for architects who already have a Master’s degree and would like to specialize in landscape architecture;
• The teaching language is English. To be admitted, proof of sufficient knowledge of English (level C1) must be provided;
• 6-months-internship to be completed prior the beginning of the studies
• A motivation letter and a portfolio are required for the application.

Application deadlines

First application round 1 November – 15 December 2023: compulsory students with a foreign Bachelor’s degree (extra-EU, EU/EFTA), for students who wish to apply for the Excellence & Opportunity Scholarship Programme (ESOP). It is also open to all applicants.

Second application round 1 – 30 April 2024: only for students with a Swiss Bachelor’s degree

The program starts in Autumn 2024.