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Technical University of Munich

Master Thesis

As a rule, the Master students choose the subject for their final Master thesis on their own, proving that they are capable of finding and defining relevant themes in current landscape architecture independently. If you want to start your Master thesis at the LAT under the supervision of Professor Weilacher, you do not necessarily have to deal with industrial landscapes. All interesting subjects related to landscape architecture are welcome to be discussed.

Please follow these steps:

A. Contact professor Weilacher early enough and discuss with him, if your chosen subject is generally suited for a final thesis and if he has approriate capacities to work with you. Good projects are always related to a relevant current theoretical question in international landscape architecture.

B. Check out, if you have fulfilled all administrative requirements to start your thesis (minimum credits etc.) For this purpose send your transcript of records as a PDF to the Architecture Dean's Office (Julie Strickland; julie.strickland@tum.de) for clarification of module credit. As a rule, 60 ECTS must have been earned in 2 semesters to be admitted to the master's thesis. In special cases, 3 semesters (90 ECTS) must be completed. Please regard the FPSO valid for you!

C. Write an exposé about your project and send it early enough before your next meeting to the professor. This exposé is the basis for the start of your thesis. It should consist of the following parts:

1.     Introduction to your project
2.     Portrait of your site in words, images and plans
3.     Precise formulation of the key problem for your thesis, with 3 to 5 important key assumptions (hypotheses!)
4.     Precise aim of your work (very important!)
5.     Planned table of content for the written report
6.     Time schedule (weeks)
7.     Planned scope of final work (as precisely as possible: how many plans? formats? scales? model? report? etc. etc.)
8.     Literature sighted so far
9.     Projects finished so far in your study

The exposé is important for you in order to plan your workload and in order to set the aim of your work as clearly as possible. As soon as the professor has agreed upon your exposé, you have to register your thesis officially and within 6 months you have to finish your final project.

The length of the master's thesis should be at least 60.000 and at most 120.000 characters including spaces (number of characters without abstract/summary). Pay attention to the formal requirements of correct citation of literature and source references for figures (see citation guide LAT *).

D. After the discussion and acceptance of the exposé, please register your thesis with title and starting date in the Office of the Dean of Studies for Architecture (Julie Strickland; julie.strickland@tum.de) and hand over a copy of the registration document to the supervisor or to his secretary. At this point, your second supervisor should already be determined. This is usually a research assistant of the chair.

... and at the end of your thesis:

E. Please hand in all printed original plans (A0 posters) and your written report at the closing date. Hand in your written report in 3 copies: 1 copy for the library and 2 copies for your coaches. The size of the report should be in A4 upright format. Please use the layout template *. All final plans shall be included in the report in miniature versions. Also include photos of your model in the report. Please bring your model to the final presentation. Please save all files (all plan in original size, as miniature versions (DIN A3) as jpg, the original file of the report, and as PDF) on a storage medium (CD/USB-Stick). Write a summary of your project (max. 2 pages A4) and put it as a separate PDF-file on the storage medium. The summary/abstract should also be part of the report.

F. Arrange a date for your final presentation with professor Weilacher and make sure this date is noted in the calendar at the secretary of the LAT.

G. The final presentation of your work takes 60 minutes: 30 minutes to present your project and 30 minutes for the discussion with the audience. Please keep an eye on an professional presentation performance.

H. In a final interview with the professor you will have a chance to talk about your work once more in detail and you will get your grade.

I. Each year, the architecture faculty exhibits the submitted master's theses in an annual show (online or as a pdf publication). Various details and illustrations are required for this, see www.ar.tum.de/publikationen/abschlussarbeiten/
After successful completion of your thesis, please send these documents to agenda@ar.tum.de and in cc to your second supervisor.

In addition, master theses at LAT will also be listed on the website of the chair and a summary of the thesis on one A4 page will be made available for download. Please prepare this summary according to the layout template*.

If you should have any further questions, please contact directly Professor Dr. Udo Weilacher.

Good luck with your final project!

Here you will find as an assistance:

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