About the Program
SCI-Arc’s Synthetic Landscapes program tackles the urgent realities of climate change by introducing a new approach to design that merges architecture, urbanism, ecology, and landscape. Recognizing that the built and natural worlds are now inseparable, the program asks students to rethink how humans coexist with the environments we shape and inhabit. Led by faculty and visiting experts, Synthetic Landscapes explores the aesthetic, technological, and ecological implications of our planetary condition while preparing students to imagine new forms of practice and new modes of living within an already-altered world. Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree, with priority given to backgrounds in architecture, landscape architecture, and related fields.
Project ty Bao Lu Wang.
Fall Semester: Urban Landscape
Students study Los Angeles as an urban ecology, focusing on the LA River as a site where concrete infrastructure and riparian systems overlap. Through meetings with experts and local stakeholders, they examine the politics, policies, and environmental performance that shape the city’s complex landscape.
Spring Semester: Rural Landscape
The focus shifts to California’s rural environments, examining how these landscapes function and are managed. Fieldwork includes Joshua Tree, the Central Valley, and the Central Coast, with a final trip to Napa and Sonoma to study vineyards as cultural and ecological systems that blend agriculture and landscape.
Summer Semester: Technology and Prototyping
Students use SCI-Arc’s robotics, CNC machining, and 3D fabrication labs to develop landscape prototypes that merge ecological insight with technological innovation. This hands-on term encourages experimentation at the intersection of architecture, environment, and advanced tools, resulting in tangible design proposals.
Skills Acquired
- Ecological and environmental systems design
- Advanced material and computational research
- Cross-scalar design thinking (from site to planet)
- Theories of landscape, nature, and technology
- Climate adaptation and resilience strategies
- Experimental representation and visualization
- Interdisciplinary collaboration and project development
- Critical writing and speculative design methods
- Dissemination (Decks, Social Media)
- Cybernetics and Complex Systems Theory
- Coding Fundamentals (Python, Java, C#)
- ML Behavior Simulation (Unity, Python)
- Generative AI Software Development
- Analytical AI Software Development
- Hardware Sensing (LIDAR, RGB Camera, Drones, Audio)
- Video Production (Unreal Adobe)
- AI Assisted/Augmented Production
- Robotic Fabrication
- XR App Development
A Team of Expert Faculty and Guest Advisors
Leading practitioners exploring how design intervenes in today’s environmental realities.
David Ruy
Synthetic Landscapes Coordinator and Postgraduate Programs Chair
Florencia Pita
Synthetic Landscapes Coordinator (beginning Fall 2026)
Anna Neimark
Design Faculty and Visual Studies Coordinator
Nathan Hume
Design faculty and incoming Graduate and Postgraduate Programs Chair
Immersive Learning in Real Ecologies
In the Synthetic Landscapes program at SCI-Arc, students learn directly from the environments they study. The curriculum centers on fieldwork and travel, taking students from the desert ecologies of Joshua Tree to the LA River Basin and research-driven sites like the Getty, where they analyze environmental systems, material behavior, and landscape dynamics firsthand. This on-site engagement is a core principle of the program, grounding advanced design research in real-world ecological experience.
Research Sites Include:
- City of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation: Maintains the city’s urban wilderness, including the park tree canopy, 13 lakes, and 92 miles of hiking trails that support LA’s natural resources.
- California Botanic Garden: An 86-acre garden in Claremont dedicated to California native plants, and the largest of its kind in the state.
- Hauser & Wirth Gallery: A major DTLA art space in a former flour mill, representing 90+ artists and offering exhibitions, public programs, and community-focused initiatives centered on art, conservation, and sustainability.
- Getty Center: A world-class research institution featuring art from the Middle Ages to the present, modern architecture, gardens, and extensive archival collections.
- Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens: A collections-based educational and research institution with expansive gardens, rare books, and significant art holdings.
- UC Santa Barbara AD&A Museum: Holds key Southern California architecture and design archives alongside diverse art collections.
- UC Davis: Home to leading programs in Enology and Viticulture and the Department of Human Ecology.
Huntington Library.
Alumni Success
Our graduates are leading innovation at the intersection of architecture, ecology, and technology, advancing new forms of practice that redefine the relationship between the natural and built environment.
- Alena Saveleva — Ecological Artist and Postvisualization Artist at Digital Domain
- Mark Kendall — Artist and Filmmaker, recipient of Guggenheim and Pew Fellowships; work exhibited at the National Gallery of Art
- Carlos Arias — Architect (Mexico), Faculty at Tecnológico de Monterrey
- Manuel Escalante Rascon — Designer at Gehry Partners; Faculty at Instituto Superior de Arquitectura, Chihuahua, Mexico
- Kazuki Masaki — Designer at Eight Inc.; formerly at Mark Foster Gage Architects
- Emily Pellicano — Designer at Trade Design Build; Research Fellow at Parallax Futures; formerly Faculty at Syracuse University
- Hans Steffes — Faculty at Texas A&M University; formerly Faculty at SCI-Arc
- Bonnie Lester — Faculty at RMIT University; Research Fellow at Transformation of the Human (ToftH)
- Giovanna Lima — Project Coordinator at Valerio Architects
- Caleb Roberts — AI Artist at Meta; formerly Spatial Designer at Optimist
