BLA Off-Campus Program
One semester of field study. Learning you carry forever.
For more than 50 years, every BLA student has spent a semester doing self-directed research away from campus. The Off-Campus Program is a defining experience of the BLA degree — a full semester of immersion in a place that no classroom can replicate.
A semester of independent study in the field.
The Off-Campus Program is the capstone of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at ESF — and one of the most distinctive undergraduate experiences in the State University of New York. Every BLA student is required to participate. You spend a full 15-week semester embedded in a landscape, community, or urban environment far from campus, working on a self-directed design research project.
This is not a study-abroad program in the traditional sense. You don’t take courses at a partner university or travel as part of a tour. You become part of a place — drawing, observing, mapping, and designing in a landscape you are encountering for the first time. Small groups travel together, but each student pursues their own independent study. You earn 15 credit hours for the semester.
Student Work from Past Off-Campus Studies
Tatum St. Louis — Tokyo, Japan
Liam Donaher — Copenhagen, Denmark
Julio Rion — San Francisco, California
Jordyn Holycross — Zhengzhou, China
How it works
Before you go, you work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to develop your study proposal. You identify a specific design-related question and choose a location uniquely suited to exploring it. The proposal is your roadmap for the semester — and writing it is part of the education.
Once on site, you live and work in the place you chose. You draw from direct observation. You map what you see. Each group is coordinated by a faculty member and supported by an on-site consultant —often a local alumnus, a licensed landscape architect, or a university professor in the region.
Upon return, students author a comprehensive thesis report and present their project at the Festival of Places — a public showcase at Marshall Hall where you share your work with the ESF community. Students create immersive installations representing the landscapes, cultures, and design investigations they experienced.
International travel optional
Many students choose destinations within the United States — a city or a region that matches their research interest, including local research options. Others pursue their Off-Campus study through a professional internship with a design firm or public agency. The Off-Campus program is defined by the quality and independence of the study, not the distance traveled. If cost is a consideration, there are several options that will work with your budget.
Student travel locations
Off-Campus sites span six continents.
Recent groups have studied in:
Spain
Nepal
New York City
Chile
the Netherlands
Germany
China
New Orleans
Japan
London
Puerto Rico
the American West and South
Copenhagen, Denmark
Tokyo, Japan
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand
Every Off-Campus study site since 1970
In their own words
The independence pushes you to become a leader. This program was the cherry on top of the Landscape Architecture department for me.
Julia Smith, BLA
Kathmandu, Nepal
This experience helped me to emerge as a professional.
Jenna Greco, BLA
Barcelona, Spain
Learning their stories just reiterates how we are more similar than different, even though we come from completely different parts of the world.
Joanne Pereira-Melo, BLA
Copenhagen, Denmark
Field-based learning outcomes
The Off-Campus program builds skills that studio courses can describe but not fully teach: ecological fluency, spatial awareness, the ability to read a place you’ve never been. You develop the capacity to define your own research questions, create your own methodology, and work through uncertainty without a classroom to fall back on.
Employers consistently note that ESF’s BLA alumni arrive with a level of self-direction and professional confidence that sets them apart. The Off-Campus program is cited by BLA graduates as one of the most formative experiences of their education — and the one they talk about most in interviews.
Skills
- Independent research and project definition
- Field observation, drawing, and documentation
- Reading ecological and cultural landscapes
- Cross-cultural understanding and adaptability
- Professional self-direction and leadership
- Thesis-quality research and presentation
Festival of Places — annual spring showcase
Each spring, returning Off-Campus students present their work at the Festival of Places in Marshall Hall. Students build immersive installations representing the landscapes, cultures, and design questions they investigated. The festival is open to the ESF community and includes the George Earle Lecture — a conversation with alumni and practitioners about the Off-Campus program’s long history.