Landscape Design Bootcamp: Online Certification Program with 1:1 Mentorship & Portfolio Projects
Accelerate your landscape design career with an intensive online program combining expert-led curriculum, personalized 1:1 mentorship, and real portfolio projects. Build industry skills in planting, grading, CAD, visualization, and documentation while earning a certification recognized by hiring managers, studios, and design-build firms worldwide.
About the Bootcamp
We are a practitioner-led education team committed to making high-quality landscape design training accessible, practical, and career-focused. Our curriculum distills real studio workflows into structured lessons, while mentorship and career services translate learning into tangible opportunities and confident professional practice.
Curriculum Overview
Explore a rigorous, project-based curriculum designed to mirror professional studio practice, integrating foundational theory, hands-on software, ecological literacy, and construction documentation to ensure you graduate with immediately applicable, employer-ready skills and a compelling, competitive portfolio.
Foundations of Landscape Architecture
Lay a strong foundation in design principles, spatial composition, color theory, circulation, and human-centered site planning. Learn how cultural context, climate, and site constraints inform design decisions, and apply precedents critically through guided exercises that build fluency before progressing into complex studio projects.
Design Studio Process and Iteration
Adopt a professional studio workflow that balances concept, schematic, and design development phases. Practice iterative sketching, rapid prototyping, and critique cycles to refine ideas, align with client goals, and translate narratives into compelling diagrams and plans that communicate intent to stakeholders and consultants.
From Concept to Construction
Bridge the gap between ideas and buildable outcomes by mapping conceptual intent to materials, grading logic, planting strategies, and details. Learn how early decisions affect costs, maintenance, and performance, producing drawings and specs that guide construction without compromising the design’s core vision.
1:1 Mentorship
Receive personalized guidance from seasoned practitioners who tailor feedback to your goals, schedule, and background, ensuring steady progress, strong deliverables, and professional polish across every assignment, critique, and milestone review throughout the bootcamp.
Mentor Matching and Onboarding
Get matched with a mentor based on your interests, time zone, and professional aspirations. An onboarding session clarifies goals, sets expectations, and creates a learning plan that integrates your strengths, fills skill gaps, and defines measurable outcomes for each stage of the program.
Weekly Coaching and Critique
Meet weekly for focused critiques that evaluate your process, drawings, and presentation clarity. Mentors provide annotated reviews, live markups, and prioritized next steps, helping you avoid common pitfalls while elevating graphic standards, technical accuracy, and storytelling in every submission.
Capstone Portfolio Projects
Develop three employer-ready projects that demonstrate research, concept evolution, technical depth, and graphic clarity, each aligned with real-world briefs to showcase versatility across residential, civic, and institutional contexts.
Residential Water-Wise Garden
Design a climate-resilient residential landscape emphasizing drought-tolerant planting, rainwater harvesting, and low-maintenance materials. Produce a coherent package including concept diagrams, planting plan, irrigation zones, and 3D perspectives that communicate environmental performance and lifestyle amenities for a discerning homeowner.
Urban Pocket Park Revitalization
Reimagine a compact city lot into a safe, inclusive micro-park featuring multi-generational amenities, stormwater features, and native planting for biodiversity. Deliver site analysis, program layouts, ADA-compliant circulation, lighting strategies, and visualization boards suitable for community meetings and municipal approvals.
Campus Courtyard for Learning
Transform an underused campus courtyard into an outdoor classroom with flexible seating, shade structures, and seasonal interest. Generate grading plans, planting schedules, section details, and phasing diagrams that demonstrate constructability, budget awareness, and long-term maintenance strategies for institutional stakeholders.
Software and Tools Training
Master industry-standard tools for drafting, modeling, analysis, and presentation, integrating a cohesive workflow that accelerates production without sacrificing design quality or technical precision.
CAD for Precision Documentation
Learn layer standards, blocks, and xrefs to produce clean, readable CAD files. Draft site plans, align scales, and annotate clearly with callouts and legends. Export professional PDFs that meet consultant coordination requirements and typical municipal submittal standards for efficient review processes.
3D Modeling and Real-Time Rendering
Build accurate 3D site models to test massing, grading intent, and material palettes. Create compelling renderings and animations that communicate atmosphere and program, enabling clients to understand spatial qualities, circulation flows, and design impact early in the decision-making process.
Graphic Workflow with GIS and Adobe
Use GIS layers to analyze environmental constraints, demographics, and mobility patterns. Import outputs into Illustrator and InDesign to craft polished diagrams, boards, and reports. Establish reusable templates that standardize typography, color, and hierarchy for professional-grade presentations.
Planting Design and Ecology
Develop resilient planting strategies rooted in ecological principles, seasonal dynamics, and maintenance realities that enrich biodiversity, enhance microclimates, and support long-term site performance.
Site Analysis and Sustainability
Learn to read a site rigorously, synthesizing environmental data, community needs, and regulatory context to propose solutions that are beautiful, durable, and climate-responsive.
Topography, Views, and Microclimates
Interpret contours and slope to inform grading, drainage, and accessible routes. Map sun, wind, and shade patterns to place program smartly. Use view corridors and screening strategies to manage privacy, frame vistas, and enhance thermal comfort across seasons.
Stormwater and Low Impact Development
Design bioswales, rain gardens, and permeable surfaces that reduce runoff and improve water quality. Calculate capture volumes, overflow routes, and maintenance needs. Integrate educational signage that communicates ecological function to users and strengthens stewardship culture.
Material Life Cycle and Sourcing
Evaluate materials for durability, embodied carbon, and maintenance implications. Prioritize local sourcing, modularity, and salvage opportunities. Prepare specifications that balance budget, aesthetics, and environmental performance while ensuring safety and accessibility standards are met.
Programs and Services
Choose the program track that fits your goals and schedule. Each option includes access to our platform, expert instruction, and robust support, with upgrade paths for deeper mentorship, advanced projects, and personalized career acceleration tailored to your target roles and markets.
Full Bootcamp Enrollment (12 Weeks)
Join the complete certification pathway, including three portfolio projects, weekly mentor critiques, live workshops, and graded reviews. Ideal for newcomers and career changers seeking a comprehensive, structured experience that builds technical fluency, design confidence, and employer-ready deliverables in a focused timeframe.
,799
Premium Mentorship Upgrade (Extended 1:1)
Add additional one-on-one sessions for deeper design iterations, interview coaching, and tailored portfolio strategy. Perfect for candidates targeting competitive studios or seeking extra polish on graphics, documentation quality, and storytelling that aligns with specific job descriptions and firm portfolios.
,799
Portfolio Review and Career Accelerator
Receive a comprehensive portfolio audit, targeted revisions, ATS-optimized resume edits, and a personalized outreach plan. Includes a mock interview, feedback rubric, and templates that streamline applications, showcase measurable impact, and strengthen your positioning for landscape design roles across sectors.
,799
Hardscape Details and Assemblies
Draft sections and details for pavements, walls, edges, and steps. Specify base layers, joints, and tolerances to prevent failures. Coordinate with grading and drainage to ensure accessibility, durability, and clean transitions between materials under real-world conditions.
Read more
Planting Plans and Schedules
Produce legible planting plans with symbols, spacing, and quantities aligned to design intent and nursery availability. Create schedules that include sizes, root conditions, and notes for staking, mulching, and establishment periods to support healthy, consistent installations.
Read more
Specs, QA, and Cost Control
Write clear specifications for materials, workmanship, and submittals. Implement quality assurance checklists and coordinate RFIs. Develop quantity takeoffs and cost estimates that keep proposals aligned with budgets without sacrificing critical performance or safety standards.
Read more
Career Services and Job Readiness
Prepare for roles across design studios, planning agencies, and design-build firms with structured career support tailored to your goals and region.
Admissions and Prerequisites
Understand eligibility, timelines, and what you need to succeed, from time commitments to technical setup, before you apply.
Who Should Apply
Ideal for career changers, recent graduates, and professionals in architecture, planning, or horticulture seeking applied skills. No prior landscape experience required, but visual communication comfort and a growth mindset help you thrive in fast-paced studio learning.
Technical Requirements
A modern computer capable of running CAD and rendering software, a stable internet connection, and a headset for live sessions are required. We provide setup guidance, recommended specs, and student license instructions to minimize downtime and frustration.
Application Timeline and Seats
Cohorts fill on a rolling basis with limited seats to preserve mentorship quality. Submit your application, schedule a short interview, and receive a decision within days. Early applicants gain priority for scholarships and mentor matching preferences.
Learning Experience and Platform
Engage through a modern learning platform with live workshops, replays, templates, and structured assignments that keep you accountable and progressing.
Live Sessions and Replays
Attend interactive workshops, software demos, and critiques scheduled for multiple time zones. Missed a session? Watch high-quality replays with timestamps, downloadable assets, and checklists so you can implement lessons immediately and stay on track.
Templates, Rubrics, and Checklists
Work faster with professional templates for sheets, diagrams, and schedules. Use grading rubrics and submission checklists to self-assess before reviews, reduce revisions, and steadily improve technical accuracy and presentation clarity across deliverables.
Progress Tracking and Accountability
Visualize your progress with milestone dashboards and mentor notes. Weekly goals, nudges, and deadlines help maintain momentum. If you fall behind, structured catch-up plans and office hours ensure you regain confidence without sacrificing quality.
Community and Networking
Join an active global community of peers, mentors, and alumni who share opportunities, feedback, and encouragement beyond graduation.
Certification and Assessment
Earn a rigorous, skills-verified certification by completing graded projects, a final defense, and a professional review of your portfolio and documentation package.
- Assessment Rubric and Standards Understand how your work is evaluated across clarity of intent, technical accuracy, sustainability integration, and presentation quality. Transparent rubrics align expectations and help you prioritize improvements that meaningfully raise your overall competency and employability.
- Final Defense and Reviewer Panel Present your capstone to a panel of practicing designers who ask real-world questions on code, constructability, and maintenance. Receive calibrated scores and narrative feedback you can cite on resumes and during interviews to demonstrate readiness.
- Digital Badge and Verification Upon passing, receive a shareable digital badge linked to a verification page. Showcase it on LinkedIn, resumes, and personal websites so hiring managers can confirm your achievements and view exemplars from your certified portfolio projects.
