Beautifully designed landscapes are everywhere. If you wish to design landscapes for a living, you actually can. But it would take more than interest but talent and education to be a good landscape architect too.
Love, Interest and Talent on Horticulture
Your love for horticulture might not make you a great landscape architect right away. But it’s a great start. Your interest in nature would allow you to appreciate the environment more. With a flair in designing you would really have a great potential in landscape architecture.
But then again, landscape architecture is an application of both science and art. It is not limited to garden design only. It also involves site planning, environmental restoration, park and recreation planning, town and urban planning, regional planning, and even historic preservation. That is why you need to proper education too.
Proper Education and Experience
If you are still in high school you should consult your guidance office to get a list of schools that offer a landscape architecture program. Programs may vary from school to school though. While others last for 4 years only, some schools have a 5-year program.
Nevertheless, it is important that you gain strong researching and writing skills while in school too. Of course, the meat of the program is geared on allowing your gain an affinity for engineering and environmental sciences. Surely these skills would help you master the art of analysis, planning, design, management, rehabilitation and preservation of the landscape and the environment.
Of course, pure school work would not make you good at landscape architecture. You should also get some experience. You should take jobs with landscapes contractors so you can begin your actual lessons by experience. Getting a job with the office of the landscape architect is also a great experience. Aside from getting your hands dirty on actual sites, even an office post would give you useful experience as this would give you an idea on how landscapes architect works at the office.
To even add some more education and even enhance your resume, you can take a master’s degree as well. If you have an accredited degree, this is just a year or two of additional schooling anyway. For non-degree holder it may take around 3 to 4 years.
The good news is most schools offer placement assistance too. So you may get offered with a job right after graduation. With your experience though you may have a few choices as to where you want to work.
Registration Tests
You can only call yourself officially a landscape architect if you pass the state exams. This is where your work experience would come in handy since application for the exam requires recommendations from registered landscape architects. Then you’d have to undergo an interview before you can take the actual exam. So you have to be really well-prepared for the exam. But all of the effort would be worth it when you become a landscape architect yourself.