A good architect is a well-rounded person, technically inclined, passionate about the built environment and engaged in their community. Therefore an architectural internship should take a comprehensive approach toward the education and professional development of young
architects. Of course a commitment toward excellence in design, the highest standards of ethics and public safety should be in focus from the beginning. This requires commitment from the architectural profession and the trades that build our work, to expose interns to all the facets of planning, design and construction. It’s through working together that we can make transparent the practice of developing and constructing our physical environment.

There is a long tradition for the transmission of skills required to practice architecture, and now more than ever our interns’ knowledge of the latest developments are to the advantage of our mentors. As the world of construction becomes more integrated with new technologies and practices, like green building, computing and internet technologies, there must be opportunities for input from interns closer to these emergent developments. The benefits are there for everyone to enjoy: students gain the knowledge of an experienced and highly skilled work force, while professionals gain from the conceptual thinking, research techniques, technological development fostered by academia. Internships concentrate on fostering skills and professional development, but architects must also have a passion that motivates them to keep working. Allowing credit for travel and foreign experience would encourage young professionals to engage with the built world at large. A principal at my firm credits traveling and experiencing the world’s great places for making him a better architect. We architects continue to learn after we’ve turned off our computers or put down our pencils. We seek out new buildings on our days off and during vacations, everywhere, all the time -- and we do this because we are passionate about the discipline and because we learn more from touching buildings than by seeing them in magazines and books. This teaches us one of our most important lessons: how to live with what we will help to create.

Practical development must reinforce intellectual education; it’s the work we do in the office that gives context to what we do in school. I would integrate the intern development program into our formal education, allowing us to graduate with our qualification. A system like the
European model, which incorporates low paid training periods after the first year of school, would benefit students as much as the industry. This type of system can enable smaller firms with staffing needs to work on conceptual proposals, realize their vision, and gain a competitive edge in bringing new ideas to the forefront. If there must be a system of registration does it not make sense to combine it with academic registration?

This kind of integrated structure would allow an efficient approach to the holistic education and professional development to the next generation of young architects. Upon graduation, these young students can graduate with the confidence and professionalism one would expect them to have, prepared and with the potential to enrich the profession with new ideas.