CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FROM AY2026/27 COHORT ONWARDS)
College of Design and Engineering (CDE) adopt a new undergraduate curriculum structure for students enrolled in the new academic year starting in August 2025. Students will read a total of 160 units (or the equivalent of 40 courses) comprising:
1. Common Curriculum: 40 units (or the equivalent of 10 courses)
2. Primary Major: 80 units (or the equivalent of 20 courses)
3. Unrestricted Electives: 40 units (or the equivalent of 10 courses)
These aim to provide CDE students with a comprehensive and well-rounded education, preparing them for success in their chosen careers and beyond.
The Common Curriculum consists of 10 carefully curated pillars to give a solid foundation in interdisciplinary skills. We emphasise instilling lifelong skills in data and digital literacy, design thinking, and critical thinking via the following pillars:
1. Design Thinking
2. Maker Space
3. Artificial Intelligence
4. Project Management
5. Data Literacy
6. Digital Literacy
7. Critique and Expression
8. Cultures and Connections
9. Singapore Studies
10. Communities and Engagement
Curriculum Overview
In the first year, students are introduced to foundational concepts in design: ways of sensing, reading, understanding, and interpreting fundamental landscape elements in forms, structures, materiality, and functions. A basic grounding in the first year includes introduction of landscape architecture, history and theory, and essential landscape representation techniques.
In the second and third years, students progress to acquire more advanced skills in site representation, site analysis, design representation specialised software, and spatial analytical tools. Students begin to synthesize landscape forms, structures, processes and functions with more specialised knowledge in planting design, landscape engineering, and advanced water sensitive urban design.
In the fourth year, students decide how to utilise their unrestricted elective space. Those who stick with landscape architecture offered a choice of two specialisations, one in Landscape Studies and another in Landscape Practice. Both of which further enrich and deepen a students knowledge in the field and to prepare them to enter the workforce.
Upon completion of the four-year programme, students will receive the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) and are eligible to apply for the MLA programme with direct admission into the second year of MLA if they fulfil the necessary criteria for advanced placement credits (APCs).
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
| SEMESTER 1 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| SEMESTER 2 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| LAD4008 Design 7 |
8 Units |
| Read any three Technical Electives |
4 Units each |
| Read any five Unrestricted Electives |
4 Units each |
CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FOR AY2025/26 COHORT)
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
| SEMESTER 1 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| SEMESTER 2 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| LAD4008 Design 7 |
8 Units |
| Read any three Technical Electives |
4 Units each |
| Read any five Unrestricted Electives |
4 Units each |
CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FOR AY2024/25 COHORT)
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
| SEMESTER 1 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| SEMESTER 2 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| LAD4008 Design 7 |
8 Units |
| Read any three Technical Electives |
4 Units each |
| Read any five Unrestricted Electives |
4 Units each |
CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FOR AY2023/24 COHORT)
Year 1
SEMESTER 1
| LAD1003 Introduction to Landscape |
4 Units |
| LAD1001 Design 1 |
4 Units |
| DTK1234A Design Thinking |
4 Units |
| EG1311 Design and Make |
4 Units |
| GEA1000 Quantitative Reasoning |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD1005 Design 2 |
8 Units |
| LAD1004 History and Theory of Landscape Architecture |
4 Units |
| CDE2000 Creating Narratives |
4 Units |
| AR2524 Spatial Computational Thinking |
4 Units |
|
Year 2
SEMESTER 1
| LAD2006 Design 3 |
8 Units |
| LAD2004 Planting Design and Horticulture |
4 Units |
| LAD2005 Introduction to GIS for Landscape |
4 Units |
| CDE2212 AI for Design |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD2007 Design 4 |
8 Units |
| IE2141 Systems Thinking and Dynamics |
4 Units |
| LAD2003 Landscape Construction I |
4 Units |
|
Year 3
SEMESTER 1
| LAD3001 Design 5 |
8 Units |
| CDE2501 Liveable Cities |
4 Units |
| BLA recognised electives (Choose only one) |
|
| LAD3005 Landscape Architecture Internship Programme OR |
4 Units |
| LAD3006 Basics of Ecology |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD3002 Design 6 |
8 Units |
| PF1101 Fundamentals of Project Management |
4 Units |
|
Year 4
| SEMESTER 1 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| SEMESTER 2 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| LAD4008 Design 7 |
8 Units |
| Read any three Technical Electives |
4 Units each |
| Read any five Unrestricted Electives |
4 Units each |
CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FOR AY2022/23 COHORT)
Year 1
SEMESTER 1
| LAD1003 Introduction to Landscape Architecture |
4 Units |
| LAD1001 Design 1 |
4 Units |
| DTK1234A Design Thinking |
4 Units |
| EG1311 Design and Make |
4 Units |
| GEA1000 Quantitative Reasoning |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD1005 Design 2 |
8 Units |
| LAD1004 History and Theory of Landscape Architecture |
4 Units |
| CDE2000 Creating Narratives |
4 Units |
| AR2524 Spatial Computational Thinking |
4 Units |
|
Year 2
SEMESTER 1
| LAD2006 Design 3 |
8 Units |
| LAD2004 Planting Design and Horticulture |
4 Units |
| LAD2005 Introduction to GIS for Landscape Architecture |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD2007 Design 4 |
8 Units |
| IE2141 Systems Thinking and Dynamics |
4 Units |
| LAD2003 Landscape Construction I |
4 Units |
|
Year 3
SEMESTER 1
| LAD3001 Design 5 |
8 Units |
| CDE2501 Liveable Cities |
4 Units |
| BLA recognised electives (Choose only one) |
|
| LAD3005 Landscape Architecture Internship Programme OR |
4 Units |
| LAD3006 Basics of Ecology |
4 Units |
|
SEMESTER 2
| LAD3002 Design 6 |
8 Units |
| PF1101 Fundamentals of Project Management |
4 Units |
|
Year 4
| SEMESTER 1 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| SEMESTER 2 – Courses to be completed for Non-Specialisation Pathway
|
| LAD4008 Design 7 |
8 Units |
| Read any three Technical Electives |
4 Units each |
| Read any five Unrestricted Electives |
4 Units each |
Programme Structure
A candidate will be awarded the B.LA upon completing a minimum of 160 Units, including NUS required courses. Upon completion of the four-year programme, students are eligible to apply for the MLA programme. Successful applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will be exempted from the first year of the MLA programme. These students can then expect to graduate with an MLA upon completion of the second year of the MLA programme.
B.LA students pursue the following eight semester course of study:
BLA Electives
Please refer to the latest BLA Handbook for the list of electives.
NUS Required Courses
GENERAL PROGRAMME
| CURRICULUM AND COURSE STRUCTURE (FOR COHORT AY2021/22)
Essential Courses (EC) 60 Units
Common Curriculum Courses (CC) 60 Units
Unrestricted Electives (UE)/ Specialisation Courses 40 Units
Total 160 Units |
|
| Cohort AY2020/21
Essential Course (EC) 108 Units
General Education Course (GEC) 20 Units
Unrestricted Electives (UE)/ Specialisation Courses 32 Units
Total 160 Units |
|
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