I recently talked to one of my classmates during summer break. I was very surprised to find out he was not interning with a firm, despite his past work experience, his recent admission to graduate school at the top of our class, and the booming architectural market of our area. After finding out that he had applied with multiple firms, I realized that it was his attitude that had kept him from finding an internship. He commented that if the school had taught us construction documents last year he would have had a job on the spot. This conversation I had with my classmate allowed me to reflect on my personal internship experiences and what an architectural internship should be.

An architectural internship should be more than a summer job for architecture students. As a fourth year student, I did learn about construction documents in my Professional Practice class. However, this class was merely an introduction. In design studio we barely go past schematic design. Architecture is more than preliminary design. It encompasses construction documents and construction administration as well as design development. An internship should be a time to continue learning the details of architecture.

Time for exploration and advancement of your professional interests should also be included in architectural internships. School barely scrapes the surface of what the profession is. Exposure to different sizes of firms, types of projects, and a variety of
clients will allow interns to develop a sense of who they are in the professional community and where they want their career to go. I have learned this through working in offices with 7 people or 130 people, visiting rural and urban areas, and working on
2 small and large, commercial and residential projects. Without this experience I don’t know where I would head after I finish graduate school. |

Architectural internship should also be rewarding for everyone involved. Firms, colleagues, coworkers, and mentors should all gain from the internship, as well as the intern. Firms gain a fresh perspective. Coworkers gain a new sense of leadership. The
architectural profession gains young architects who enjoy their careers and are more willing to help future generations of interns be passionate about architecture.

While some interns, like my classmate, face internship as something they should have already experienced, I embrace internship as a rewarding challenge. After years spent inside hypothetical university studios with hundreds of other students, architectural internship offers a guided experience in a world where money matters, clients are real, and projects are built. This internship should not only be a time to learn and grow as an emerging professional but also an enjoyable endeavor. With fewer and fewer graduates becoming licensed, it is our challenge to create an internship experience that inspires interns and enhances the profession for years to come.