Why study Landscape Architecture at UTS?

Centred on Design Studio

Over 50% of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Honours) degree is delivered through design studio subjects. Taught in our dedicated studio spaces, these semester-long subjects stimulate and support the development of design proposals across a range of scales and project sites.

Woman standing in front of a whiteboard with images on it

Taught over a minimum of 12 weeks, students learn to define and resolve a design brief through creative processes of fieldwork and design generation centred on physical and digital approaches to drawing and modelling.

Building on one another, our studio sequence incrementally introduces students to a range of contemporary issues and design strategies. This includes the opportunity to work on live briefs that connect students with a real-world issue and a range of stakeholders. Work undertaken on-campus, in studio, is regularly complemented by time spent ‘on-site’, be it for a day or overnight.

People huddled around a map in the dark

Climate First

Landscape at UTS is committed to preparing students for a changing planet. For this reason, the issue of climate change is foregrounded in our Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Hons) degree, across the focus of seminar subjects and the thematics explored in our studios.

Students in the final year of their bachelor’s degree have been examining the impacts of increasing flood events on communities in northern New South Wales. Working in conjunction with the Living Lab Northern Rivers, design projects have explored alternative strategies for living in landscapes susceptible to climatic extremes. On sites in Lismore and in Wardell, visions for adaptable and resilient landscapes have been developed in dialogue with local stakeholders and experts in their field.  

A group of people standing in a wooden building.

The foundations of studios like those in Lismore and Wardell are laid in first year with a subject dedicated to the science and politics of climate change, and the significance of landscape architecture in the face of a warming planet.

History and Theory 1: Climates uses creative approaches to writing, image, and film, to explore a range of climate related topics, including the history and current state of earth systems and climate science; past and present climate institutions and policies at the local, national, and international level; climate imaginaries in art and the environmental humanities; climate futures scenarios and the issue of intergenerational justice.

These topics are paired with constant interrogation of landscape architecture’s capacity to effect positive change. Through the interrogation of concrete projects and policy proposals, and specific geographical and ecological territories of climate precarity and vulnerability, students set out developing the confidence and knowledge needed to advocate and realise climate-positive designs. 

Going Global 

Global Studios provide students in the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Hons) degree with a range of international experiences. Capitalising on our faculty’s global networks and wealth of experience, these offshore elective subjects put students in contact with new cultures, cutting-edge practitioners and projects, and direct contact with pressing landscape issues. 

A group of people standing on a sand dune with a body of water in the background

Complementing the degree's core curriculum, global studios of 1-2 weeks take place annually during winter and summer breaks, and benefit from a variety of different types of financial support. 

Participating students draw attention to the impact global studios had on subsequent study and their approach to landscape architecture upon graduation, returning from a global studio with an expanded sense of landscape architecture’s potential, and a greater confidence about their own capacity to contribute to a range of important issues at home and abroad.  

Bali Subak Global Studio

Landscape Surveying and Analysis

The Ayung River and the Subak of Bali: Hydro-agriculture meets Aerial Fieldwork
Artistic aerial view of the ground

This global studio exposed students to the hydrological landscapes, infrastructures, and local technologies of the Subak agricultural systems located on the Ayung River.

Through documentation of specific sites using drones and GIS data, participating students came to terms with the challenges facing the river’s systems and speculated on their future sustainability.

Shaping their observations was an introduction to the 210 Balinese calendar and local rice cycles, together with climate data that accounts for the increasing unpredictability of local rainfalls.

People sitting in a wooden building chatting.

Whilst new technologies generated new ways of imaging and thinking about vernacular landscapes, students considered how contemporary design can benefit from local Balinese practices, dating to the 9th century.

Global Studio Lead: James Melsom, UTS

Collaborators: Professor Gusti Ayu Made Suartika & Naniek Kohdrata, Udayana University, Denpasar 

Always Ecological

Two people crouched down in front of trees

Knowledge of landscape systems and the biological interactions they support is central to landscape architecture’s approach to sustainable design outcomes.

Our dedicated ecology subject introduces students to ecological principles and ecologies particular to the Sydney Basin. Structured around a series of field excursions, this subject enables students to experience ecological communities in-person.

Bushland

This approach to teaching roots an understanding of ecology in observation and sensation, emphasising our place within wider networks of human and non-human relationships. Complementing a focus on Western science, students are introduced to indigenous knowledge systems and frameworks for custodianship that are centred on ‘country’. As reflected in the words of Daniel Gillespie, such experiences are highly valued by our students:

The field trips included in the Ecology subject have shaped my development as a Landscape Architect. The connections created between land and vegetation are incredibly eye opening and changed how I think about landscape. As a result, I am more aware of what happens on country and pay attention to things I would previously have overlooked. 

Getting out of the classroom and onto site with the passionate teaching team motivated me to connect to country and value ecological thinking. I think this approach was very powerful, and greatly benefited my learning. 

Being able to get your hands dirty, feel, smell, and experience the beautiful and diverse ecologies particular to Sydney makes me feel lucky to have studied this subject and excited for a future career centred on ecologies.

– Daniel Gillespie

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.