Sink or Swim

Previously at U of IL, one could get away with not really designing the landscape much at all. Landscape and Architecture were two separate fields, as were the majors. I barely knew about the landscape program at U of IL, and if there were any LAR students, I never met them.

This semester at Virginia, I am signed up for a studio that is taught by two Landscape Architects, and that is predominantly LAR students. For my theory course, I'm taking Beth Meyers' Landscape Theory class, the one professor every student speaks of with awe in their voices.

How did this happen? You may wonder. The studios are collaborative in nature at UVa. Every studio offered this semester allowed LAR and ARCH students both to sign up. I just happened to choose the studio that seems to be mostly LAR rather than ARCH, probably because it's taught by Julie Bargman, another revered figure at UVa ... which explains the studio, but not the theory course, eh? Well, as I said before, this particular course seems to be one quite unique to UVa. Furthermore, it just so happens the Landscape program at UVa is actually much higher ranked than the Architecture program, and the school gives architecture students the opportunity to take landscape courses. The school is kind of obsessed with the term, "collaboration." In a good way, I promise.

I've plunged in, now it's sink or swim.