Landscape Architecture

Department of Landscape Architecture Portfolio Guidelines

Every applicant to the Master of Landscape Architecture or Certificate in Landscape Studies is required to submit a portfolio. The portfolio is a synopsis of one's creative work. As a visual essay, it tells a story of a person's interests, skills, and development over time. It should include projects that best express one's visual, spatial, and constructional abilities. These projects might include drawings, paintings, sculpture, or photography; graphic, industrial, or interior design; architectural, landscape, or urban design. The faculty who evaluate the portfolios look less for competence in architectural or landscape architectural design and more for a coherent demonstration of visual and spatial abilities expressed through a basic understanding of material and construction. All work should be identified as academic, professional, or personal. If professional or team projects are included in the portfolio, the specific role and responsibility of the applicant in the production of the project must be clearly identified. Labels and writing should be kept to a minimum and clearly explain the work.

Digital portfolios are not accepted; you must submit a photographic or photostatic portfolio. It should be a maximum of ten by twelve inches and contain no more than ten double-sided pages or twenty single-sided pages, excluding the cover pages. These are typically prepared using desktop publishing tools like Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress and printed on color inkjet or color laser printers. These may be bound using any of the readily available binding techniques, GBC, spiral, etc., or inserted into a sleeve binder. Special attention should be given to the use of high-quality images for the portfolio. Flat work should be carefully scanned at a size and resolution commensurate with the output device to be used, while sculpture, models, furniture, and other three-dimensional constructions should be photographed with a high-resolution digital camera, or with film and then scanned.

Portfolios of matriculating MLA students will remain with the Department until classes start in September, after which point they will be returned. Remaining portfolios will be returned to the applicant after April 1 only if a self-addressed stamped return envelope is provided. Overseas applicants may enclose postal coupons or money orders along with envelopes for their portfolio return.