Landscape Architecture at Cornell University
Landscape architecture is one of the most exciting fields of study for those interested in addressing issues of critical importance to the future of our planet and its inhabitants. Through development of projects ranging from intimate gardens to parks, towns, cities and broader regions, landscape architects are poised to intervene at a wide range of scales, in myriad contexts and for multiple constituencies. As one of the oldest and most renowned landscape architecture departments in the United States, we are committed to preparing our students to become designers, researchers and future leaders who will direct teams of experts as they address issues of infrastructure, water management, sea-level rise, flooding, cultural heritage and environmental justice.
About the department
Since its establishment in 1904, the department has achieved national recognition for its progressive teaching pedagogies and forward-looking approach to the field of landscape architecture.
Degree Programs
Undergraduate programs
The department offers the only accredited Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture in the Ivy League and a minor in landscape studies for students across the university.
Graduate programs
Graduate programs include the Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Professional Studies and a dual master’s degree track with the Department of City and Regional Planning.
Study abroad programs
The department partners with the CALS Exchange Program to provide unique opportunities for students to study landscape architecture in another cultural context at reputable partner institutions around the globe. Past destinations include Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Singapore.
Learn more about:
Design with Tappan Zee
By Eileen Brucato MLA '21
This thesis looks at the development of the historic "river culture" in the Tappan Zee region, and the role that habitat creation and maintenance could play in a new river culture moving forward, one that is adaptable to climate change and continues to connect communities to the river and its ecosystems as an important identifier and place-maker.
Generative Geometry
By Yves Brocker MLA '22, Monica Rourke MLA '22
Generative Geometry proposes a planting and management strategy for a floodplain forest situated upon a series of buyout parcels in Owego, New York.
Conversion Landscape
By Liang Shi MLA '21, Xuan Zhang MLA '21
Wetlands contain the highest level of carbon sequestration efficiency compared to other types of green infrastructure.
The Museum of Right Now
By Samuel Coons MLA/MRP '21
This thesis examines how designers enable abuses by municipal leaders in the images they make, using the northern leg of the Inner Loop highway in Rochester, New York as a site to reassemble the city’s traumatized matter.
Seneca Lake Boat Terminal
By Jake Geitner BSLA '22
After conducting a rigorous analysis of the area, students in the LA 2020 studio were charged with proposing key points along the Seneca Lake edge that could benefit from being linked with a small boat / ferry connection.
Kingsbury Run Nature Reserve
By Lok Tim Chan MLA '22, Echo Xingjian Wang MLA '22, Eric Zhenrui Mei MLA '22
This project aims to provide a reimagination of the Kingsbury Run Nature Reserve for, with, and most importantly, by the surrounding local communities that have been long-underserved from a deeply embedded history of environmental injustice.
Park Street Station
By Dom Malacaman BSLA '22
Developed for Associate Professor Martin Hogue's LA 6940 The City in Film seminar, this film documents three minutes of real-time in Boston's Park Street Station.
Forest Transects
By Fath'Ma Shabi BSLA '24, Emma Uzgiris BSLA '24
Inspired by the vegetation studies of Roland Gustavsson, students teams conducted a transect study of the forested areas adjacent to Beebe Lake on Cornell's campus and created an 8'-10' long drawing that compiles their findings.
The Tri-National Borderland: Adelaide Island in Thousand Island Bi-National Park
By Mark Hirschbeck BSLA '17
This project proposes subtle interventions in sedimentation processes and vegetation management to provide much needed habitat for migrating species.
Troy Floods
By Federico Lia
This project examines new waterfront opportunities and amenities under the speculation of flooding conditions along the Troy, New York waterfront.
Weaving the Waterfront
By Hong Gao MLA '18, Luyao Kong MLA '18, Qianli Feng MLA '18
Focusing on the issues of climate-resilient strategies, public spaces, and wetland restoration, this proposal coordinate nature, human and climate change with dynamic process and minimized earthwork.
Remix: Imagine the Resilient Future for Peddocks Island in 100 Years
By Lingyi Xu MLA '20, Yi Yang MLA '20, Songyi Zheng MLA '19
A bold projection of necessary transformations is applied in order to reinvent the Boston harbor island parks itself as a recreational area or to serve as a national park by enhancing its existing characteristics, amplify the opportunities for education.
Crossing and Connecting the Bronx
By Vanessa Zapata Dikuyama MLA '23
The proposed design intervention on the western-most portion of the Bronx Crossing Park, spanning from the Harlem River to University Avenue, seeks to humanize the existing infrastructure, improve alternative mobility and restore access to nature.
Sing Sing Fugue
By Jihany Hassun MLA '21
The site design suggests an articulation of historic assets in this locale to express an authentic, and truly Ossining experience.
Onondaga Waterscape
By Jake Geitner BSLA '22, Dom Malacaman BSLA '22
This studio on the Erie Canal examined the hydrosocial geographies of the Onondaga waterway, dismantling canal attitudes and infrastructure in the region.
Student Projects
As a Land-Grant college, students and faculty explore diverse landscapes across New York and sites globally through studios and research.
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