Theses at the TUM Associate Professorship of Landscape Architecture and Regional Open Space

Topics . Bachelor's and Master's theses in landscape architecture should address tasks and topics of current research on landscape architecture. It usually includes a theoretical (analytical) and a design part. The professorship LAREG preferably supervises such theses with large-scale questions and small-scale designs.

Title . Topics for the Bachelor's Thesis are usually provided by the Professorship, for the Master's Thesis they are created by the student. The exact title and subtitle of the thesis (German and English!) can be specified and adapted until submission. However, the (original) topic should be described in the introduction in the first paragraph as it was given out and the connection with the chosen title should be explained.

Registration . It is assumed (Bachelor) or strongly recommended (Master) to have completed all projects and to have carried out the recognition of chosen subjects with the examination board. Therefore, the status of the study progress, evidenced by the TUM transcript of records, must be submitted for registration. For the request of the Master's Thesis an exposé has to be prepared (see below).

Supervisions . The supervision should comprise about 3 hours per thesis. Appointments are made by email. It is absolutely necessary to bring all documents worked out so far, especially those of all previous meetings, to each supervision. The supervision is not a presentation test, but serves as a support in case of problems and questions on the part of the editors. In addition, we may offer methodological colloquia or interim presentations for the whole group (e.g. Pecha Kucha).

Submissions . Brochures (2 copies and digital, see below) and presentation plans (1 copy and digital) must be submitted. Plans should be laid out and labeled in such a way that they are legible when reduced to DIN A3. This is the only way they can be read by the audience during the presentation! The LAREG layout guidelines (see below) should be used for both. The brochure and the plan labels must be free of errors in terms of language, spelling and citation. A presentation (powerpoint, pdf, prezi) is also recommended. The length of the written text should not exceed 60,000 characters including spaces (approx. 30 Din A4 standard pages) for Bachelor's Theses and 120,000 characters including spaces (approx. 60 Din A4 standard pages) for Master's Theses (excluding bibliography, sources, appendix).

Presentation . The aim is a public presentation of all theses, if possible during the lecture period, on a common date with the chairs of Landscape Architecture ('Thesesday'). Selected theses should be shown, if necessary in extracts, on the homepage of LAREG, as far as the editors agree.

Citation . Please memorize the TUM citation guide in order to use a scientifically correct citation style: TUM citation guide

Bachelor's Thesis

For further information regarding the Bachelor's Thesis, please read here (German only).

Master's Thesis

Official regulations

• The time from issuance to delivery of the Master's Thesis may not exceed six months.
• The Master's Thesis can be written in German or English.
• The Master's colloquium is to be conducted by the topic author of the Master's thesis and an expert assessor.
• The duration of the master's colloquium is usually 60 minutes. The student has approximately 30 minutes to present his/her Master's Thesis. This is followed by a disputation which, starting from the topic of the Master's Thesis, extends to the wider subject area to which the Master's Thesis belongs (20-25 min presentation, 5-10 min comprehension questions).
• The Thesis shall be started after successful completion of all module exams. Unlike the Bachelor's, the FPO MLA does not specify minimum credits for starting the Thesis.

The exposé for the Master's thesis is largely free in form and scope, but should contain at least the following descriptions:

1 Topic . The thesis is issued under a self-chosen topic. In addition, A the occasion, task or problem and B the intended objective must be described

2 Location and space . Presentation of the project area with spatial delimitation at various scales (analysis room, concept room, in-depth rooms)

3 Methods . Presentation of the methods to be used for the analysis and concept development:
A Type and form of familiarization (e.g. data and map material, planned excursions ...)
B Scope and objective of the theoretical part (e.g. naming 3 particularly important texts)
C Special methods (e.g. surveys, experiments, scenarios) with their planned 'design'
D Objectives and scope of the design work

4 Schedule . for 3 methods as planned weighting and sequence of work phases

Students of other degree programs . Master's theses are only offered for the M.Sc. IÖ in special exceptional cases, for the M.Sc. ULS in cooperation with an urban planning chair if possible. For both, the provisions of the respective FPO must be observed! ('the small print')

And finally, remarks on special cases

General Examination Regulations of TUM: If the first submission deadline cannot be met for reasons for which the student is not responsible, the Examination Board will extend the processing time by a maximum of half the processing time if the student applies for this before the first submission deadline and the topic provider agrees. If the student proves by means of a certificate that he/she is prevented from working on the thesis due to illness, the processing time is suspended.

Layouts and digital submission

Brochure . The LAREG InDesign template for landscape format (work with design emphasis) or portrait format (theory work) is to be used. For explanation there is the LAREG manual. Apart from that, for longer texts, preliminary work in Word may be useful (outline function, indexes). Text drafts submitted for proofreading before the paper must be saved in Word (no pdf) in order to use the revision mode.

Plans . should be laid out in landscape format in LAREG, although we prefer 16:9 format, especially for photos and visualizations on the plans. The plans should be clearly arranged and not too full (sufficient 'white space'). The size and format of the illustrations should not vary too much, but each should correspond to their importance in the overall context of the explanation. The main design should take up 50-100% of a plan in size. It should be essentially legible even without lettering and, in particular, should not contain symbols or hatching, so that the designed spatial qualities give the overall picture. The lettering should be in Trebuchet or TUM Neue Helvetica font with at least 14 pt. The LAREG InDesign template for plans is to be used (format; arrangement and lettering). In the bottom left corner please write (in font Trebuchet):

LAREG (LA bold, REG regular; color: gray 50%)
Technical University Munich
Associate Professorship of Landscape Architecture and Regional Open Space

If you wish, you can add the following: Prof. Dr. Sören Schöbel, name of other supervisors. Bottom right italic, but black 100%: First and last name of the author). 

Digital submissions . Digitally, the following folders and files are to be submitted:

/ "Year_MA/BSC_Last-Name_Short-Title" (e.g.: 2012_BSC_Schoebel_Wind)

// "Brochure". pdf in 600 dpi (print resolution, fonts embedded, not rasterized)
. pdf in 150 dpi (screen resolution) "Year_MA/BSC_Name_Short-Title_Brochdpi.pdf" (e.g. 2012_BSC_Schoebel_Wind_Broch150dpi.pdf)
. Scan/pdf of the signed declaration of consent for publication (see below).

// "plans"
. A0 plan as pdf in 150 dpi (plot resolution, fonts embedded, not rasterized)
. A3-reduction as pdf in 600 dpi (print resolution, fonts embedded, not rasterized)
. web-reduction, if necessary cropped, as .jpg in exactly 900 x 504 px (pixels!)
"Year_MA/BSC_name_title_fragment/short-title_Plandpi.pdf" (e.g. 2012_MA_Schoebel_Wind_A0Plan150dpi.pdf)

Declaration of consent . (Please submit digitally as a pdf sheet).
I agree until revoked to the publication of my thesis by LAREG - also in extracts - in the following modes - LAREG will of course endeavor to inform about the uses (e.g. specimen copies). The consent is to be named exactly: 

• Distribution to students (digital in printable resolution) (YES / NO)
• Downloadable on the LAREG homepage (as pdf in low resolution) (YES / NO)
• Use in scientific presentations by LAREG staff (YES / NO)
• Use in scientific publications by LAREG staff (YES / NO)

Please sign and include the email address you expect to use in the long term.