Outline
The European Masters in Landscape Architecture brings together five internationally renowned schools of landscape architecture who centre their pedagogy on the development of world-leading design thinking.
EMiLA students spend their first and fourth semesters at their home school, and the second and third semesters studying Landscape Architecture at two of the EMiLA partner institutions in Europe.
As an EMiLA student, you will be immersed in three very different environments, enriching your perspectives on landscape architecture and your development as a future practitioner. You will gain from studying landscape architecture from technical, artistic and ecological perspectives, as well as through a wide range of scales in both urban and rural environments.
EMiLA graduates are sought after across a wide spectrum of practice contexts in Europe and have gone on to take up positions in some of Europe’s leading design practices.
Landscape architecture is a practice that relies on strong inter-disciplinary teaching and research in order to respond to the challenges of climate change and the associated demand for sustainable solutions to development. As a result, there is a specific need to understand and develop cooperation between European institutions and foster a transnational approach to the way it is taught and advance critical developments in the field.
The EMiLA Schools
- École Nationale Supérieure de Paysage, Versailles (France)
- Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh (UK)
- Fakultat fur Landschaft, Leibniz Universitat Hannover (Germany)
- Academie van Bouwkunst, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
- Éscola Technica Superior d’ Arquitectura de Barcelona, (Spain)
Accreditation
The EMiLA programme is accredited by the Landscape Institute UK and has affiliations to the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools and to the International Federation of Landscape Architects.
Programme Structure
In the EMiLA programme we prioritise studio-based design education. During your two semesters at the University of Edinburgh you will engage with both design and theory in ways that mutually support different ways of thinking about our planetary landscape resources.
As an EMiLA student, you will participate in a major design studio entitled ‘Design Explorations’ in the University of Edinburgh in Semester 1, joining other graduating students of landscape architecture.
This course builds on a week of intensive fieldwork with staff and other experts around a landscape site facing complex issues in the UK or abroad.
You will also complete a theory course to help you develop your own ethical position as a landscape architect in a rapidly changing world.
You will spend semester two of year one and semester one of year two with one of our partner institutions and follow their graduating year curriculum.
During semesters two and three students will take two EMiLA specific courses, one e-learning module and one short course connected to the topic of enquiry of the EMiLA summer school.
When you return to the University of Edinburgh in semester four of year two, you have the opportunity to apply what you have learned in other institutions to your work in two courses. You will study ‘Design Explorations Part 2’ and a theory and making course entitled ‘Academic Portfolio’, which is structured to allow you to go out into the professional world with clear ideas about your own disciplinary priorities, and the way you wish to advance your own career.
Between years one and two, all EMiLA students gather at the invitation of one of our partner institutions for a summer school hosted by one of the partners in a location in Europe, bringing together the entire EMiLA community of staff and students together in one place.
Teaching
Teaching is delivered in the field, mostly through weekly tutorials in small groups or with individual members of staff. Lectures and talks for all students on relevant topics support these weekly tutorials.
The EMiLA summer school is taught in the field through the exploration of a site and its context, and then through small groups of students from different institutions working together with staff and experts from the host country.
Assessment
At the University of Edinburgh you are assessed against the two courses you study in each semester. You will then follow the assessment frameworks of partner schools when you study programme elements with the two host institutions you visit.
You are also assessed against a summer school and e-learning course that addresses the professional European context of landscape architecture.
Partner schools all use the same agreed grade conversion table to translate marks gained abroad into the grade system of your home institution.
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate analytical and conceptual skills to address the challenges of the climate and biodiversity crisis and the need for sustainable urban and rural initiatives that promote positive change for people and nature.
- Develop comprehensive independently motivated landscape led projects that operate at a variety of scales addressing multiple challenges and opportunities.
- Demonstrate an individual & creative approach to landscape architecture and an understanding of the environment as a dynamic system.
- Engage positively with the learning cultures of three different institutions that share a passion for the evolution and opportunity of Landscape Architectural design approaches in Europe.
