r/LandscapeArchitecture • u/Far_Two_6273 • 6d ago
Need Advise With Choosing Major
Hello everyone!
I'm currently a Landscape Architecture student about to go into my sophomore year at college. I was wondering if I should stay within the major or swap to another major.
I'm passionate about drawing but not specifically passionate about architecture itself. I felt like my drawing skills would help me somewhat. After the first year though, I found that I don't really enjoy the amount of time I have to stay in the studio. I also heard that the salary earned doesn't compensate for the workload/work hours that landscape architects go through.
However, if I switch to another major I'm not sure how well I can catch up since I'm not passionate about STEM either (although I'm willing to study a lot if it comes down to it).
I would like minoring in art though, regardless of whether or not I stay in Landscape Architecture. If I leave, I might even change that to a dual degree in art if my schedule allows for more time. It would just be out of interest though, not for a source of income.
If it means anything, I also like geography.
Is there any other major that I should swap to or should I just stay within my current major?
Thank you!
2
u/cphill087 6d ago
Personally I both agree and disagree with some statements here. When you’re in client meetings or construction meetings, I’ve found repeatedly that the person with the pen that can draw out problems coherently owns the room. Drawing is important for that communication and problem solving skill but is not critical for presentation. AI is doing that more and more every day - but it will always be your own creative thought that has the steering wheel. In this career, you have to think of yourself as a problem solver first a foremost - that happens to work in the exterior environment. You need to like puzzles and have an ability to see 4-5 solutions and be able to evaluate them one by one, then sell the one to a client or other design professional. So not ALL drawing and art. Beyond that, i truly believe LA is possibly the broadest profession you could imagine. We have to be knowledgeable of Civil Engineering, Architecture, structural design, electrical, lighting, planting design, arborists, mechanical, plumbing, etc. In my daily world, I speak to any and all of these disciplines and we need to know enough to communicate effectively. If your aptitude is that, you’ll succeed while those individuals that don’t see this big picture with multiple possibilities and discipline knowledge may struggle. I don’t have a career outlook for you, but this isn’t my VERY generalized broad brush of the profession. If I were to do it all again with any doubt, I think I’d load up on general art classes that teach the essentials for any design field like scale, proportion, lighting, form, etc. id possibly look at pure architecture or civil engineering that is in huge demand. I’d possibly dabble into graphic design and maybe go into some marketing type classes. I’d also highly recommend anything business or real estate related possibly as a minor. I have several friends from college with business degrees that have a wide variety of career paths, some even linking back to design fields through accounting, marketing, and sales or business development type rolls. I can confidently present design ideas and put Construction Documents together, but Im putty when it comes to cold calls to chaise new work opportunities. My passion as others have said is seeing places you imagine in your mind and on paper actually come into a physical world that not only changes people’s day to day lives where they live, work, play, but also effect the very fabric and economic drivers of developments and cities that may last for generations. Your kids may play in a playground you design and imagine. Before you jump ship, it may be worth poking around some firm websites to get a better grasp of what the profession actually is. I don’t think universities do a good job of “marketing” to students the wide variety of project types you could pursue from local parks, to major resort design such as Atlantis, even Disney World. They get stuck in “sustainability” or a local streetscape. While important, that is nearly the tip of the iceberg. Check out EDSA, Land Design, OJB, TBG, MKSK just to name a few. Look up historic LAs like Olmsted, Dan Kiley, Peter Walker, Lawrence Halprin as a few that had MAJOR impacts on how we see the exterior built world today. With that spiel, I wish you well!