This year (2024-2025) saw Master of Landscape Architecture year 2 students immerse themselves in coursework that balanced cutting-edge creative practice with rigorous critical inquiry. From research-led Ateliers to Research Methods Workshops, and from the Landscape Profession and Practice module to dissertation development, students have engaged with landscape architecture as a forward-thinking, ecologically and socially responsive discipline.

The Degree Show features work from their Ateliers. This year, students shaped their design theses within one of three Ateliers, each offering distinct methodologies and thematic provocations. These included the Some Kind of Nature and Infrastructure Space Ateliers, and for the first time, the long-standing architecture atelier &rchitecture welcomed MLA students, expanding the conversation between architecture and landscape.

Beyond design, students honed their academic and analytical skills through Research Methods Workshops (RMWs). In small-group settings led by expert researchers, students explored diverse research approaches and subjects including Environmental Justice, Decolonial Methodologies, Architectural History, Narrative Techniques, amongst others, equipping them to critically evaluate, frame, and apply methodologies within their own thesis work.

The insights gained from both Ateliers and RMWs have laid the foundation for the dissertation which will be refined during the summer semester. Students have developed unique and relevant topics that address the transformation of both historic and contemporary landscapes through spatial, social, and ecological lenses and we look forward to seeing the culmination of their work.

Meanwhile, in the Landscape Profession and Practice module will provide students the opportunity to engage with the historic setting of Tatton Park and support their transition to practice.

We congratulate our students for their exemplary work and dedication to the discipline and as they complete the programme in the coming months, we are excited to see how they will shape the landscapes of tomorrow.