MS Synthetic Landscapes

The Master of Science in Synthetic Landscapes is a one-year, three-semester program focused on the emerging problematics of ecological design.

Faculty: Enric Ruiz-Geli, David Ruy

The existential drama of climate change is unfolding at a planetary scale. It may very well be the single greatest design challenge of our time. Given the intractable nature of our current ecological crisis, however, we can no longer assume that existing approaches to ecological problems will be sufficient. To meet the challenge, the program proposes a new category of design—synthetic landscapes—that subsumes concepts previously thought to belong to disparate disciplines: architecture, urbanism, ecological art, and landscape architecture.

This new design idea holds that the human world cannot be considered in isolation from the non-human worlds all around us. The boundaries between the artificial and the natural can no longer be discerned; in the Anthropocene, there are only synthetic relationships. In what we understand today as the built environment, what we build is always continuous with what we have found. The human and non-human worlds must coexist.

“Synthetic landscapes” is a way of thinking about this coexistence by design. The program proposes that this new understanding—where the natural and the artificial are mutually imbricated—opens up new forms of beauty and new ways of inhabiting a world. Considering the aesthetic, philosophical, technological, and practical implications of synthetic landscapes, the program supports the development of innovative projects and new ways of practicing with a planetary perspective.

The program requires a degree at the bachelor level to apply. Preference will be given to applicants with a background in architecture or landscape architecture, but well-qualified applicants with a background in affiliated fields such as fine arts, ecological studies, urbanism, and public policy will also be considered for acceptance.