News & Announcements
LSU Landscape Architecture Now a STEM Degree
The LSU landscape architecture program, offered by the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture (RRSLA), has been designated a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree. The degree change follows the U.S. Department of…
Read Full StoryIn Memorium: Bruce Sharky
Professor emeritus Bruce G. Sharky, 82, of Baton Rouge passed away peacefully, with his family at his side on Saturday, September 16, 2023. He joined the LSU landscape architecture faculty in 1990. He served as…
Read Full StoryBrent Fortenberry Named Associate Dean of Research
The LSU College of Art & Design has named Brent Fortenberry the new associate dean of research and graduate studies. Fortenberry joins LSU from the Tulane School of Architecture, where he was the director…
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The Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture has an established international reputation as one of America’s leading and consistently top-ranked programs. The school offers programs leading to the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and the Master of Landscape Architecture. For more than 80 years, the program has produced landscape architects who practice all over the world and participate in the full spectrum of the discipline.
Landscape Architecture Featured Alumni

Phillip Fernberg
2018 Olmsted Scholar Nominee
Landscape architecture allows me to literally make a positive (and hopefully beautiful) impact on the world.
MLA 20192018 Olmsted Scholar Nominee Phillip's Story

Phillip Fernberg
MLA 2019
2018 Olmsted Scholar Nominee
Phillip Fernberg, 2018 Olmsted Scholar Nominee, chose to pursue landscape architecture because the practice allows him “to literally make a positive (and hopefully beautiful) impact on the world!”
Phillip was nominated by the landscape architecture faculty to be an Olmsted Scholar because of his impressive resume and character, according to Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Director Mark Boyer. The Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits.
Phillip describes himself as an aspiring designer, philomath, urbanist, and travel junkie. Though he has interests in many areas, his overall focus has always been to make a lasting impact through his work. “As of late I have become fascinated with urban design, ecological restoration, and plants in particular,” he said.
He grew up in Murrieta, California. He has a BA in Latin American Studies with minors in Scandinavian Studies and Urban Planning from Brigham Young University. He worked in the entertainment and hospitality industries before coming to LSU to study landscape architecture.
“I chose LSU because of the people!” He said. “It’s not often that you find a program where everyone you meet is approachable and genuinely cares about your success. The Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture embodies such a community.”
At LSU Phillip has worked on projects including “Reacquaintance: LSU Quad Redesign,” a proposal to “reacquaint” the three-acre space on campus with student needs, after site inventory and analysis that included student interviews to inform the recommendations. He also worked on the “Catfish Square: The Re-Emergence of the Street Market in Baton Rouge” proposal that reimagines a vacant lot as a neighborhood street market. View Phillip’s online portfolio.
Phillip has diverse interests and experiences outside of his scholarly pursuits. He loves surfing – a nod to his southern California roots. He worked for a number of years as an entertainer, playing music for restaurants, character performing at Disney World, and hosting events aboard passenger ships for Princess Cruises, to name a few. “That’s my party trick I guess?” He laughed.
In the future he hopes to make a career as a “design generalist” – he doesn’t intend to limit himself to just one field. “Whether it’s residential design at a private firm, regional planning for the National Park Service, or managing international development projects abroad, I want to work in every sector on every possible type of project at every possible scale.”
We Like to Get Our Hands Dirty
See what our landscape architecture students have been creating.
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First-year students enter the foundation design studio, where they learn the fundamental operations of design through the development of manual, visual, and intellectual skills.
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The second foundations studio provides a familiarity with methods, media, and the common tools in the discipline of landscape architecture.
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In landscape design I, students are introduced to fundamental principles of landscape design through a combination of lecture, reading, discussion, field observation, studio exercises, and critique.
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Third-year studios place emphasis on site planning and design and consider the arrangements of buildings, circulation, earthwork, and drainage. The"Shifting Sands" studio explored site design strategies for New York City's barrier beaches.
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The fourth-year landscape design studio, "Delta Divides," explored the agricultural, industrial, economic, and cultural landscapes of the Mississippi Delta region.
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Special topic studios focus on themes such as research-based therapeutic landscape design, emphasizing the design of gardens and landscapes for restoration, rehabilitation, discovery/learning, and other sensory/therapeutic stimuli.
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Using a telescopic approach to research and design, students in the Agri>Coastal studio developed scenarios, typologies, and generative spatial principals to restore nutrient balance in the Mississippi River Basin.
Don’t just learn it, live it.

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