Top Landscape Architecture Program in the Nation

Cal Poly’s landscape architecture program has been ranked No. 1 in a national survey of the country’s top-ranked architecture and design schools.

The university’s landscape architecture program is the No. 1 most hired-from program among all accredited undergraduate and graduate schools with more than 35 graduates, according to the 2019-20 DesignIntelligence rankings. 

In addition, Omar Faruque, head of the Landscape Architecture Department and David Watts, associate professor in the Landscape Architecture Department, were honored for excellence in environmental design education and as outstanding professors in their fields. They were selected by DesignIntelligence staff with input from thousands of design professionals, academic department heads and students.

DesignIntelligence, which has conducted its annual survey since 1999, is the only national college ranking survey that focuses exclusively on design. Data for the 20th annual survey was gathered from more than 123 design schools and 9,000 design practitioners who hire and supervise graduates of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design programs. In addition, more than 6,000 students participated.

One part of the survey focuses on how recent graduates are performing in 12 key focus areas such as design theory and practice, design technology, and communication skills.

Cal Poly’s landscape architecture program was ranked No. 1 in six of the focus areas, including construction materials and methods, engineering fundamentals, healthy built environments, practice management, sustainable built environments/adaptative and resilient design, and transdisciplinary collaboration across architecture, engineering and construction. The program placed in the top three in nine of the undergraduate design education focus areas.