major

Landscape Architecture

Major structure

Overview

Classes incorporate studio sessions, site visits and theoretical studies of the history and practice of landscape architecture. You will learn about community programs, garden and landscape heritage and sustainability of our natural resources.

Your course structure

In your first and second year you will complete subjects on the foundations of design and be introduced to the design studios. You will complete prerequisites for your major as well as other design core, elective and breadth studies.

In your third year, you will complete 50 points (usually four subjects) of study that is deep and specialised study in design and architecture. You can complete a double major with some study areas in the Bachelor of Design:

Double major options
Breadth studies

Breadth is a unique feature of the Melbourne Model. It gives you the chance to explore subjects outside your core studies or your major, developing new perspectives and learning to collaborate with others who have different strengths and interests — just as you will in your future career.

Some of our students use breadth to explore creative interests or topics they have always been curious about. Others used breadth to improve their career prospects by complementing their major with a language, communication skills or business expertise.

Sample course plan

View some sample course plans to help you select subjects that will meet the requirements for this major.

Landscape Architecture Major
Accordion

Year 1

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design History & Theory in the Making – major – ARCH10004 – 12.5 pts
  • Foundations of Design: Representation – major – ARCH10001 – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Alpha – major – ARCH10003 – 12.5 pts
  • Natural History for Design – major – LARC10001 – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 2

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Beta – major – ARCH20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Processes and Techniques – major – ARCH20004 – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Designing Living Systems – major – LARC20001 – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 3

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Studio: Urban Open Space – major – ABPL30042 – 12.5 pts
  • Site Tectonics – major – LARC30001 – 12.5 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Capstone Studio – major – ABPL30061 – 25 pts
  • elective – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Landscape Architecture and Architecture Double Major
Accordion

Year 1

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design History & Theory in the Making – major – ARCH10004 – 12.5 pts
  • Foundations of Design: Representation – major – ARCH10001 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Alpha – major – ARCH10003 – 12.5 pts
  • Natural History for Design – major – LARC10001 – 12.5 pts
  • Architectural Technologies 1: Place – major – ABPL10007 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 2

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Beta – major – ARCH20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Processes and Techniques – major – ARCH20004 – 12.5 pts
  • Global Foundations of Design – major – ABPL20055 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Designing Living Systems – major – LARC20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Architectural Technologies 2: Analyse – major – ABPL20033 – 12.5 pts
  • Modern Architecture: MoMo to PoMo – major – ARCH20003 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Studio Gamma – major – ARCH20002 – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 3

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Studio: Urban Open Space – major – ABPL30042 – 12.5 pts
  • Site Tectonics – major – LARC30001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Studio Delta – major – ARCH30001 – 12.5 pts
  • Architectural Technologies 3: Implement – major – ABPL30041 – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Capstone Studio – major – ABPL30061 – 25 pts
  • Design Studio Epsilon – major – ARCH30002 – 25 pts
Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Double Major
Accordion

Year 1

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design History & Theory in the Making – major – ARCH10004 – 12.5 pts
  • Foundations of Design: Representation – major – ARCH10001 – 12.5 pts
  • Cities Past and Future – major – PLAN10001 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Alpha – major – ARCH10003 – 12.5 pts
  • Natural History for Design – major – LARC10001 – 12.5 pts
  • Introduction to Urban Planning – major – PLAN10002 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 2

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Beta – major – ARCH20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Cities: From Local to Global – major – ABPL20035 – 12.5 pts
  • GIS for Built Environment – major – ABPL20056 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Designing Living Systems – major – LARC20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Processes and Techniques – major – ARCH20004 – 12.5 pts
  • Urban Design for People and Places – major – PLAN20002 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 3

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Studio: Urban Open Space – major – ABPL30042 – 12.5 pts
  • Site Tectonics – major – LARC30001 – 12.5 pts
  • Planning Scenario and Policy Workshop – major – PLAN30001 – 12.5 pts
  • Research Methods for Planners – major – PLAN30003 – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Capstone Studio – major – ABPL30061 – 25 pts
  • Urban Precinct Studio – major – PLAN30005 – 25 pts
Landscape Architecture and User Experience Design Double Major
Accordion

Year 1

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Global Foundations of Design – major – ABPL10004 – 12.5 pts
  • Foundations of Design: Representation – major – ARCH10001 – 12.5 pts
  • Media Computation – major – COMP10003 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Alpha – major – ARCH10003 – 12.5 pts
  • Natural History for Design – major – LARC10001 – 12.5 pts
  • Fundamentals of Interaction Design – major – INFO10003 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 2

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Design Studio Beta – major – ARCH20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Processes and Techniques – major – ARCH20004 – 12.5 pts
  • User Interface Development – major – INFO20005 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Designing Living Systems – major – LARC20001 – 12.5 pts
  • Design Studio Gamma – major – ARCH20002 – 12.5 pts
  • Database Systems – major – INFO20003 – 12.5 pts
  • breadth – 12.5 pts
Accordion

Year 3

100 pts
Semester 1 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Studio: Urban Open Space – major – ABPL30042 – 12.5 pts
  • Site Tectonics – major – LARC30001 – 12.5 pts
  • Advanced Interface Prototyping – major – INFO30005 – 12.5 pts
  • Game Design – major – INFO30009 – 12.5 pts
Semester 2 · 50 pts
  • Landscape Capstone Studio – major – ABPL30061 – 25 pts
  • Interactive Technology Project – major – INFO30008 – 25 pts

Explore this major

Explore the subjects you could choose as part of this major.

Core

Students must complete all of the following subjects

Accordion
Design Studio Beta · 12.5 pts

Underlying the undergraduate design course is the development of both design thinking and dexterity with tools and techniques. The focus of this design subject will be on generating design ideas, translating them into architectural forms, spaces, materials and programs. Students will learn how to refine architecture through consideration of spatial organisation, environmental context and structural necessity. Students will also learn how to communicate comprehensive architectural propositions through 2D- and 3D-modelling (physical and digital), visual and written media and oral presentations.

The focus in the design studio shifts to technologies and techniques in architectural practice. The studio assignments create an accretive conceptual investigation of fundamental principles into the making of buildings, including structure, enclosure, circulation, program, site, and light. An essential aspect of the design process is the incorporation of abstract thinking and abstraction within architectural production.

Critical use of diagramming, conceptual mapping, narratives, animations and performative expositions join with conventional techniques (plan, section, elevation, axonometric projections and perspectives) to generate and document design ideas.

The design studio focuses on singular, medium-scale programs on prototypical sites, with the development scope of up to 1000m2.

View detailed information in the Handbook
Design Processes and Techniques · 12.5 pts

This subject builds on the knowledge and skills learnt through its prerequisite “Foundations of Design: Representation” by introducing students to contemporary design-enabling approaches and techniques.

Students will be exposed to various architectural design processes and workflows through a set of exercises focused on the diagramming, computing and prototyping of design precedents. Such exercises will require the students to apply an iterative design thinking approach based on the abstraction, formulation, evaluation and transformation of ideas, which is an essential component of any design studio activity. Students will learn how to communicate design ideas, processes and outcomes using architectural drawings, and a variety of visual media and techniques.

The lectures will present and discuss a range of processes and techniques in both the analogue and digital domains, with particular attention given to the most recent development in performance-oriented computational design and fabrication. The lectures will support the students in developing a critical awareness of the relationship between design tools and outcomes. Such an understanding of how parametric modelling and fabrication strategies affect the design process will be developed and tested through reflective writing.

Costs to Students:

Students will be required to purchase modelling and drawing materials to complete this subject, including costs to purchase 3D modelling software and cover laser cutting and 3d printing activities; the overall cost is estimated to be approx. $300 to $400 per person.

Prescribed software programs with a cost
McNeel Rhino

Prescribed software tools
Image editing software (e.g. Affinity Photo)
Vector editing software (e.g. Affinity Designer)
Layout software (e.g. Affinity Publisher)

Details of software availability and pricing are captured at https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/graduate-research/resources/it-support#software

View detailed information in the Handbook
Designing Living Systems · 12.5 pts

Designing Living Systems examines the use of plants, soils, and animals as biological materials and ecological systems for construction. Beginning with fundamentals, students learn about organisms, habitats, and ecosystem function across natural to urban environments, emphasizing plants as a living material to shape spaces and develop a design language that integrates form, aesthetics, and ecological function.

Students explore soil ecosystems, plant interactions, animals, food webs, water, and sunlight, while considering land use, building types, and the social structures of cities.
Designing habitats for people and wildlife requires applying ecological principles across scales — from landscapes to communities — and engaging with design, construction, monitoring, and adaptive management practices needed for resilient habitats.

The course combines lectures, seminars, practitioner and council-led field trips and tutorials in planting and ecological design. Building on Natural History, students investigate bio-technical aspects of ecological design, culminating in a conceptual project for Galada Reserve that regenerates habitat and creates resilient landscapes.

In this subject, students will learn about Australian plant communities and planting design, and how to study a site and develop analyses that inform creative landscape design proposals.

View detailed information in the Handbook
Landscape Studio: Urban Open Space · 12.5 pts

The focus of this studio will be on the production of a design for an urban open space. It will introduce a range of precedents, principles, and practices for urban landscape design.

Prescribed software tools
Drafting software (e.g. McNeel Rhino, Autodesk AutoCAD)
Image editing software (e.g. Affinity Photo)
Layout software (e.g. Affinity Publisher)
Modelling software (e.g. Autodesk 3Ds Max)

Details of software availability and pricing are captured at https://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/student-experience/it-support

View detailed information in the Handbook
Site Tectonics · 12.5 pts

This subject introduces landscape as three-dimensional space. Aspects of site grading and earthwork manipulation will be explored, including their experiential and functional implications. The Importance of landform modelling to the design vocabulary of landscape architecture will be introduced, alongside principles of technical implementation and representation techniques.

Prescribed software programs with no cost
Autodesk Civil 3D
Autodesk 3Ds Max
QGIS (Opensource)
Prescribed software programs with a cost
Chaos Group Vray
Prescribed software tools (cost varies)
Layout software (e.g. Affinity Publisher)

Details of software availability and pricing are captured at https://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/student-experience/it-support

View detailed information in the Handbook
Landscape Capstone Studio · 25 pts

This is a studio capstone subject in which students develop an independent design project in response to a set site and design brief. The capstone subject framed by contemporary agendas in landscape architecture, the capstone studio uses research from design theory and ecology to explore the interrelation between site and design. Emphasis is placed on a landscape process-based approach. Students explore a range of design methods as part of a holistic practice of developing, creating, and delivering a speculative landscape project. The capstone studio aims to enhance design skills and prepare students for entry into the postgraduate professional degree.

Prescribed software programs with a cost
Rhino
Prescribed software tools
Drafting and modelling software (e.g. McNeel Rhino, Autodesk CAD
Image editing software (e.g. Affinity Photo)
Vector editing software (e.g. Affinity Designer)
Layout software (e.g. Affinity Publisher)

Details of software availability and pricing are captured at https://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/student-experience/it-support

View detailed information in the Handbook