Architectural internship is essentially a continuation of one’s architectural education, and as such requires a truthful understanding of the emerging professional’s background in all topics architecture. Since no two students, schools or professors are alike, one would logically assume no two students’ educations are alike either. This highlights the fact that some students are more knowledgeable in certain topics and less in others.

A lifetime is not time enough for one to familiarize oneself with all that there is to know about architecture. Architectural internship should be a time when the emerging professional can balance out their architectural education. We should focus on aspects of the profession that we may have neglected during schooling, not so much due to disregard of the subject matter, but more so due to time constraints. It is apt for interns to complete a certain number of hours in different aspects of firm management, but only if that internship is contextual and complements their educational background.

What do I mean by contextual? That the internship process should focus on the individual, not the collective. This means hand-tailoring each interns suggested internship process, both in time and subject matter. Does every emerging professional need to spend three years refining all of the suggested internship topics in addition to their five years of architectural education? In truth, some do require it, and in fact some require more time, but it is also true that others require much less time. Is it fair that an emerging professional should either be restrained from ascertaining or prematurely granted their professional license due to a blanket condition?

Applicability for licensure based upon completion of an internship process is only plausible where it is certain that an emerging professional has indeed understood and mastered the appropriate subject matter. However, by subjecting every intern to the same
process (of completing a minimum number of training units in certain areas of study) in no way confirms their comprehension of the subject matter. If anything it turns us all into “jacks of the architectural trade” but not “masters” of it.

Architectural internship should be highly-individualized and task-oriented. Its implementation could be based on a cumulative assessment of each emerging professional’s comprehension of architectural design and its related topics. The assessment could then be used to construct an individualized and detailed roadmap of internship. This would both streamline the internship process and confirm that one has indeed mastered the knowledge they need to succeed in today’s global marketplace.

In closing, the process of architectural internship that leads to one’s professional licensure needs to reflect more closely the ideology of licensure: that one is well prepared to take on the design responsibility and personal liability for shaping peoples’ everyday spatial experiences.