Brief
From Stonehenge to Greek temples, architecture is the signature of humankind on landscape, the artificial element that has always been connected to the natural environment.
Architecture and landscape are linked by a fundamental continuity that is now starting to fade, damaging the quality of the space in which we dwell. More than ever today, landscape is a precious heritage that architecture can and must enhance, while protecting it to pass it on to future generations:
architects shall not give up on working on landscape, instead they should be able to design architectures that respond to each landscape’s specific feature and generate wonderful and unique spaces.
The "Architecture for Landscape" course was created on these premises: it aims at training designers who are able to meet the diverse needs of transforming territories, enforcing an attentive and productive dialogue with the surrounding landscape to respond to the needs of prestigious clients in outstanding contexts.
Through a thorough analysis of the natural world, light and geomorphological features of terrains, the designers will become more and more able to reconnect human design to the natural environment and be inspired by landscape to design outstanding, sustainable, and impressive architectures.
The course will be made up of 84 hours of lessons, a 32-hour workshop, and multiple lectures by well-renowned professional architects.
At the end of the course, Yacademy Placement office will guarantee each student a proposal for an internship/collaboration within the partner studios.
Course info
15 In person
5 Online
Bologna
8.9.2025 - 14.11.2025
3 days/weekNovember 2025 - February 2026
€ 2,900 + VAT
Online€ 9,700 + VAT
In person*3
Full coverage of the enrollment fee for the most outstanding candidatesTeaching modules & Workshops
Landscape theory and history
Historical and artistic reflection on the evolution of the landscape conceptThe garden site
Management and realization of green areasBotanics for design
Drawing design inspiration from plantsExtreme Architecture
The mountains’ teaching, remote places and impossible building sitesClimate Change
Future scenarios and mechanisms of environment and landscape transformationThe landscape project
Building the placesSustainable designing
Principles of sustainability and bio-architectureNewtech for Sustainability
Trends and innovation in sustainable architectureThe co-existence of species
Understanding and protecting biodiversityClimate Positive Landscape
Protocols and methodologies to reduce the anthropic footprintBuilding with wood
Techniques and possibilities of timber architectureVernacular architecture
Experiences of continuity between landscape and architectureHandling landscape
Creative experimentation through natureSite Visits
Cavea Arcari
Asinara island
Special lectures and critiques
The Whale: between landscape and imagery
Underwater landscapes: Under
NYC in green: the High Line
Balance and relationships between built and natural landscape
Kodama: between architecture and spirits of the forest
Ca'n Terra: the return to the caves
BIG: architecture between landmark and research
Cavea Arcari: the anthropic landscape as performative stage
Turenscape: scenarios from China between design and landscape
Design with bamboo: scenarios and charm from Indonesia
Re-designing an island
Design workshop
Andreas Fries & Mónica Gaspar Bonilla / Herzog & de Meuron
The workshop will be conducted in collaboration with LWCircus and Asinara National Park and will involve intervention on the homonymous island. Located on the extreme western tip of Sardinia, in front of the legendary Stintino and Alghero beaches - which define the quintessence of an island sculpted by history and landscape with their nuraghi - the Asinara island constitutes one of the least anthropised naturalistic oases in the Sardinian natural landscape. Magnificent shores of crystal-clear water go hand in hand with dry, iridescent vegetation whose vibrant colours mark the cycle of seasons, shifting from acid green spring hues to autumn reds. Rich in history and witness to dramatic and significative moments in the Italian past, the layered heritage of the Asinara island surpasses its mere landscape - which is nonetheless exceptional, composed of rare endemisms transmitted since distant times. With all penitentiary functions ceased around the 2000s, the future of Asinara is today yet to be written. In this sense, the workshop will be oriented to define interventions and strategies for the reactivation of the island in harmony with a dominating and wonderful nature. From the relationship with the dismissed penitentiary architecture to the dialogue with nature and the preservation of local fauna (many donkeys that live there) as well as the marine ecosystem, a framework very rich in biodiversity with its Neptune grass, the Asinara island represents a privileged context for reflections focusing on the subject of the course, namely, landscape.
Construction workshop
Construction is a fundamental step in architecture. For this reason, YACademy offers its students the opportunity to participate in the process of producing their own ideas. Thus, the students will gain practical experience on construction sites and, above all, the authorship of projects built for excellent commissions, destined for a major media echo and capable of defining a turning point in their professional career.
Placement
At the end of teaching modules and workshop, YACademy’s Placement office will guarantee every student an internship or collaboration proposal in one of our partner studios.
Teachers
Admission
Requirements
Students or graduates in Architecture/Design can apply to the course. The commission, based on the assessment of the application, may admit students with different qualifications.
Registration
To apply, it is necessary to register online and submit a Curriculum Vitae, a Portfolio, and a Motivational Letter. Moreover, it is necessary to pay the application fee (€60 + VAT). The best 20 candidates will be admitted to the course according to the rules.
Scholarship
By applying for the course, the students automatically become eligible to obtain a scholarship: one will be granted to each of the best 3 applicants for each course, consistently with the Selection Committee's evaluation. Therefore, it is not necessary to make specific actions to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship covers the entire enrollment fee - regardless of the type of attendance chosen -, but does not cover the application fee (€60 + VAT) that has to be paid in order to complete the application process successfully.
Timeline
Complying with deadlines is a fundamental requirement to take part in the course. All students are encouraged to pay the utmost attention to the timeline and to complete each phase in advance.
Applications opening
Applications deadline
Publication of the provisional ranking
Beginning of second-round admissions
Enrollment fee payment deadline for students admitted according to the provisional ranking
Publication of the official ranking (including second-round admitted students)
Lessons start
Download
Make sure you have downloaded the course brochure, from which you will be able to obtain any information about YACademy, as well as every single detail on how to access and enrol in the courses.
Brochure IT
Brochure EN
Download the 2023/24 internships report
Find out all the statistics and placement methodology for the year 2023/24: 39% of students entered Pritzker studios.
Past editions gallery
Partners
To each one of them, many thanks from YACademy staff and students.