Course Overview

At MSA we believe that landscape architects can contribute to combatting the climate and ecological emergency, promote social equity, provide common resources in the form of public space, and make a difference to people’s lives. 
 
The Master of Landscape Architecture offers space to experiment through research, live projects, and our studio atelier system which celebrates diversity. The MLA promotes multiple critical approaches to practice and a wide range of creative and analytical approaches. 
 
Alongside our specialist landscape staff team, our students benefit from interdisciplinary working and access to a large pool of staff and guests. Our graduates gain collaborative experience, networks from across the Manchester School of Architecture and landscape practices. They create a portfolio of work supporting them to find employment locally or globally. 

Features

• The MSA is consistently ranked as one of the best schools of Architecture in the world.
• The MLA is professionally accredited by the UK Landscape Institute and worldwide by the International Federation of Landscape Architects. 
• There are two routes through the MLA programme. Part-time options are available for both routes.
• A 2-year full-time conversion route to the Master of Landscape Architecture is available if you hold a related degree. Part 1 runs from September to June and is 120 credits. Part 2 runs from September to September and is 180 credits.
• A 1-year full-time Master of Landscape Architecture route is available if you hold a 2:2 or above undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture (or accredited equivalent). It runs from September to September and is 180 credits.
• Teaching is delivered by an experienced group of core landscape staff, complemented by a wide range of practitioners and academics from within and beyond the MSA.
• As a Master of Landscape Architecture student at the Manchester School of Architecture, you will study a degree that is delivered jointly by The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Upon graduation, you will receive one degree certificate. The joint award certificate includes each institution’s crest and awarding body title.
• Make use of extensive libraries and specialist workshops at both Manchester Metropolitan and The University of Manchester
• Access a dedicated MSA Advanced Digital Design team who provide workshops and tutorials covering all the essential software plus a range of more specialist programmes.
• Take part in MSA Live, the MSA’s annual programme of student-led live projects in MLA Part 1.
• In MLA Part 2, become a member of one of our research-led ateliers alongside architecture students from the MArch and BA Architecture.
• Exhibit your work in our annual degree show celebrating the achievements of students from across the MSA and School of Art.
• Meet and get to know landscape practitioners during your course as tutors, at reviews, and during our range of MSA Employability events.

Duration

2 years full-time
4 years part-time

Students with a 2:2 or above undergraduate degree in an accredited Landscape Architecture course may apply to enter directly into Part 2 of the programme (1 year full-time or 2 years part-time).

Course Content

The MLA places emphasis on an understanding of landscape as a dynamic and adaptive phenomenon. Projects promote a focus on the interfaces between the landscape as a human, cultural construct and as a reflection of underlying natural and environmental process. Design ateliers explore themes of global relevance through the study of a specific landscape from a regional scale, progressively down to the detailed scale of material and technological resolution. There is a focus throughout on applying contemporary theoretical ideas and technologies to address the challenges of the landscapes explored.

The course has very strong links to practice. Students are exposed to a range of practitioners and their work throughout the course and gain individual experience through a combination of a direct professional engagement and a theoretical series of lectures and seminars.

Professional Engagement

The course has a very close relationship to practice and students are exposed to practitioners in a wide range of ways throughout the syllabus. The Landscape Practice and Profession unit generates understanding of the ethical, legal and professional context of the subject through a range of visiting lectures and workshops, as well as visits to practices and sites and direct personal experience. This may be through a 3-month work placement in a relevant practice or through a range of alternative means such as involvement in a client-led brief, or an external competition.

Employment

The vast majority of our graduates go on to find employment in the profession, either in the UK or abroad, many due to connections established during the course. Outside London, the North West of England is the base for more landscape practices than anywhere else in the country. Opportunities exist in a wide range of organisations, from small private practices to international, multi-disciplinary firms. Alternatively, landscape architects are also employed in the public sector or non-profit making organisations. Many alumni have gone on to positions of responsibility in major international firms and have been involved in the delivery of landmark projects around the world.