For Landscape Architecture senior Justin Border, building office buildings and corporate complexes is not in his future. He is focused squarely on connecting people and places with the natural world.
“I’d like to go into residential landscape architecture, designing smaller spaces that people can really connect to, though I also like the idea of larger-scale park spaces that more people can enjoy,” said Border, who will graduate this month from Temple’s Landscape Architecture program offered by the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. “I think it’s that connection between people and nature — designs that people will actually use — that I’m most interested in.”
Initially an architecture major, it was during his sophomore year, Border said, that “I was really drawn to landscape architecture.”
“More and more, I was incorporating natural designs into my projects. Landscape architecture felt like the best fit for me,” he said. “I first came to the Ambler Campus after taking a Sustainable Design class with Kate Benisek (Associate Professor of Instruction and Program Head of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture). She gave me a tour of the campus and remembered me from the class I took freshman year — she really helped me get acclimated to the program and the campus.”
What makes Temple’s Landscape Architecture program unique, Border said, “is that it’s very hands-on.”
“We are working on a project with the City of Chester and we’re talking about our ideas with the heads of the planning commission and other city officials. Chester was a very industrial city, but they are working on bringing back community gardens and food hubs and focusing on revitalizing the overall quality of life in the city,” he said. “During my sophomore year, we worked with the Philadelphia Water Department to develop designs for the revitalization of 25th Street Corridor. We had opportunities to present to city planners.”
Border said presenting to real-world clients is both nerve-wracking and rewarding in equal measure.
“You are experiencing firsthand what it’s like to be a professional in this field. They gave a lot of great constructive criticism — what will work, what won’t work. It’s a much more grounded experience when you are working on a design that has limitations,” he said. “It was also a great opportunity to network and learn more about the profession from people who are already working in it every day.”
Border’s design-build acumen has certainly not gone unnoticed. It would be difficult not to be seen when your work is featured at an event that welcomes about 300,000 people a year. Border was part of the team that created Temple’s 2025 multiple award-winning Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit, Reflections on Regeneration: An Artful Response to Our Changing Environment.
The exhibit won several top honors, including a PHS Gold Medal, awarded to a major exhibit that receives 90 to 100 points in the “criteria of design, horticulture, plantsmanship and educational value,” the Bulkley Medal of the Garden Club of America for a special exhibit in the field of horticulture, botany, or conservation “that best combines an important message with the ability to convey that message to the public,” and the Alfred M. Campbell Memorial Trophy, given to the “educational major exhibit that demonstrates the most successful use of a variety of plants in a unique fashion.”
“Being part of the Flower Show is one of my proudest moments during my time at Temple. I was excited about exhibiting at the Flower Show from the moment I entered the Landscape Architecture program,” Border said. “Everything about that project, from working together to design it to cutting up wood, to screwing everything together to painting to creating water features to placing the plants into what we had built — it’s such a unique learning experience from beginning to end. I volunteered to help out with the 2026 exhibit because I wanted to continue to create memories connected to the program and the Flower Show.”
Border said his keen interest in not just designing but building structures that fit naturally into the landscape comes from a history of enjoying the outdoors, getting his hands dirty and building things.
“I was always a trial-and-error kid. I grew up building a lot of things with my grandfather, who would build us shelves or toys out of wood,” he said. “Later in life I had the opportunity to work for a landscaping company and discovered I really liked gardening — planting and designing tangible spaces. I’d go to neighbors’ houses and plant a garden in their front year. I don’t think I was ever meant for a career that wasn’t hands-on.”
According to Border, the benefit of the many hands-on, real-world experiences that Temple’s Landscape Architecture program provides “is that it expands your knowledge of what you’ll be able to do in your professional life.”
“There are so many opportunities in landscape architecture. You could work in city planning or become a landscaper. You could work in a smaller residential firm or a big corporate office or for a state agency,” said Border, who also went hands-on in the Ambler Arboretum helping to plant trees following the tornado that struck campus in 2021. “This degree opens up so many avenues to explore.”
Degree nearly in hand, after graduation, Border said, he will be continuing on with Brown Design Corps in Allentown, where he has been interning while completing his degree.
“There are a lot of Temple connections at Brown Design Corps — I work under Chris Brown, the principal owner, who is a Temple graduate. I’ve had the opportunity to work on anything and everything — residential, commercial, neighborhoods and backyards. Really anything you could think of in landscape design, we’re doing it,” he said. “Each project provides a different experience, so I’m getting the full spectrum of the profession.”
According to Border, the close-knit community at Temple Ambler has been a tremendous asset as he moves toward the next chapter in his journey.
“There is this huge personal connection that you develop at Ambler. My classmates have become some of my closest friends,” he said. “I sit in the library here and I really haven’t read and studied books like I have when I’m on campus — Sandi Thompson (Head of the Ambler Campus Library) provides such wonderful, personalized support.”
Border’s advice to students just beginning their experience at Temple is to “explore the Ambler Arboretum, explore the campus.”
“Take the time to learn about all of the resources that are available to you, that will be an asset to you in future endeavors,” he said. “Focus on the classes in your major but also find some of those fun classes that maybe not a lot of people know about, like Introduction to Beekeeping at Temple Ambler. Take the time to explore and find the path that’s right for you.”