AN ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS TRANSITION FROM EDUCATION TO PRACTICE

Arthur Procter

Advanced Professional Practice

Professor Elizabeth Petry

There has always been a rift between Architectural Education and

Architectural Practice. This separation between Architecture schools and

architecture firms has caused the students to have to work harder to adapt to their

new work environments. The architecture schools have told the students that they

will get more education in the field; while architecture firms have told intern

architects that architecture is learned at school. This discrepancy between the two

institutions have cause a gap causing the students to not have the appropriate

amount of education and leaves intern architects without the latest news and

technologies. The start of one’s architectural career starts with a good foundation of

architectural education. Most students who go to school to become an architect start

by getting their undergraduate degree in architecture. This degree is very general

knowledge of design and drawing of architecture. The first few years of study also

encompass the history and technique of architecture. As a student becomes more

and more knowledgeable about architecture, the student becomes more and more

aware of what type of architecture they would rather work on. The undergraduate

degree alone is not enough education for an architecture student to sit through the

Architectural Registration Exam. While an architecture student is completing their

undergraduate education, they are required to do summer or winter internships.

These internships are the schools way of introducing the business side of

architecture in the architecture program. These internships at architecture firms

usually help students become aware that there is more to architecture than just the

drawing of buildings. Most students will learn that, in studios at school, designing

and drawing are the major parts of an architectural education. But, outside of

school, architectural designers spend less than half of their time drawing and most

of the time dealing with client relations. At architecture firms, interns will learn that

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architectural education is more that just the design of a building and encompasses

the business side of architecture as well.

After the architecture student graduates, with their undergraduate degree,

they might go back to school to attain their masters of architecture degree to

continue their architectural education. The masters program is more defined to

direct the student into the direction that they wish to pursue. There are many

possibilities for architecture student when it concerns their educational path after

getting an undergraduate degree in architecture. One possibility is that an

architecture student can go to a school that offers an undergraduate and graduate

school to get your master’s of architecture. This type of educational path is called

‘4+2’ because an undergraduate degree is usually four years in length and an

additional two years of graduate school. Another possible route would be for an

architecture student to complete their undergraduate degree and then apply to a

NCARB accredited school for their Master’s of Architecture. This route takes more

time than the ‘4+2’ path but it offers students a variety of programs and classes that

a student could take. This helps the architecture student figure out what they find

interesting and what direction they wish their architectural education and career to

continue. Although this path offers more freedom in a student’s choice of, this path

requires more time in school when compared to the ‘4+2’ path. This route would

usually take seven to seven and a half years, possibly more if the student is working

part-time or full-time and taking classes at night. An example of this type of

education would be the Boston Architectural College, which only offers classes to

students who are working full-time.

When a graduate looks for a position at a firm there are a few main thoughts

to consider, such as if the firm is good at dealing with the newly graduated intern

architects or if they have a good mentoring. The position of an intern architect is

more of an academic position than a professional one. During the time that the

student is an intern, they learn more about the profession of architecture. The

Intern Development Program assists the architectural intern’s experience by

creating a structured program to ease the intern into a professional. Once an intern

has gone through IDP they are able to sit for their Architectural Registration Exams.

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The National Council of Architectural Registration Board created the ARE to see if an

intern has mastered the current architectural practices and technologies. When an

intern has completed the Intern Development Program and passed their

Architectural Registration Exam they can officially call themselves an architect. As

an architect they have the right to design and stamp their own project for a client.

This is a big responsibility that most people who go to architecture school will

hopefully attain. After an architect is settled at a firm, they will need to keep up with

AIA Continuing Education Credits. These allow an architect to maintain their

knowledge of architecture while the ability to learn new ideas and technology in

different parts of their field. Most firms have ‘Lunch and Learns’ or some sort of

program for staff to keep up this education after they have become registered

architects.

There are many different options an architecture student has when deciding

what graduate school based on the differences in teaching structure and philosophy.

The first schools are the more traditional and prestigious architecture schools such

as Harvard, Yale and Columbia. These schools all embody a deep tradition of

architectural learning and have a high standard that is above and beyond most of

the newer schools. There are also the schools of architecture like the Bauhaus and

the Frank Lloyd Wright School that were created to better understand what

architecture is about, rather than a school that was created to teach one philosophy

over another. Lastly, there are the schools have unique educational programs like

the Boston Architectural College, the University of Cincinnati, and Iowa State

University. These schools work together with the AIA to understand what an

architecture student needs out of an education. They have very useful programs that

help turn interns into professional architects.

Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is a traditional school. Yale was founded

in 1916 in New Haven, Connecticut and is considered to be one of the most

prestigious architecture schools in America. Their current graduate class has 275

full and part-time students. Yale sets a high standard for most architect schools and

has become the typical educational path for top students who pursue architecture as

a career. Yale and architecture schools like Yale, have many similar programs and

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education styles. Yale offers a standard undergraduate degree in Architecture, a

Master of Architecture, and a PhD in architectural History and Criticism. Yale’s

School of Architecture offers different type of resources for its students; these

programs include using the local community as critics and help in studios. During a

graduate’s first year of graduate studies the students undertake a community-

building project. This project consists of designing affordable housing as well as

carrying the design through to construction phase. This type of project should be a

standard for most architecture schools because it promotes ‘learning through doing’

which is a main type of education for students as well as intern architects. Yale’s

Master of Architecture’s design studio is a workshop in which “students can come

together to discuss projects and proposals from fellow classmates, faculty,

professionals and the public”. Yale has many different objectives for the students

that will become part of their studios. These studios are meant to stimulate their

artistic sensitivity and capture ones creative powers. They also try to strengthen

intellectual growth and the capacity to develop creative and responsible situations

to unique and changing problems. Lastly, they help the student acquire the

individual capabilities necessary for the competent practice of architecture and the

lifelong learning. This last part is vital to architects and their continuing education.

Harvard’s architecture school acquired graduate status in 1914. The major

design schools of Harvard were officially united in 1936 to form the Graduate School

of Design. Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) is located in Cambridge,

Massachusetts. The main type of architectural degrees that you can attain from

Harvard is a Master of Architecture, Master of Landscape Architecture, and Master

of Urban Planning and Design. Currently there are 618 students involved with the

program. Harvard GSD Department of Architecture has been ranked at number one

for six consecutive years and the Department of Landscape Architecture has been

ranked at number one for four consecutive years.

Harvard Graduate School of Design offers many resources to its faculty and

students. Some of these include its architectural seminars, museums, libraries, and

cultural events. Harvard also has a broad variety of international faculty that

exposes students to different issues and trends in contemporary architectural

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design. Harvard’s programs enable students to focus their studies in one discipline

while gaining a broader prospective from related fields. Harvard also provides the

opportunity for close interaction with faculty in small studios and classes, students

gain experience in contemporary design issues and an in-depth understanding of

theory and history, technology and professional practice. The GSD offers many

professional development programs for graduate level students and life-long

learning. Some of these programs include the Community Service Fellowships,

Career Fairs, Alumni Networking Events, Seminars, and Professional Advising. The

Community Service Fellowship Program is a 10-week summer internship for non-

profit organizations. The student’s work will be their application of skills learned

throughout their education from Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The architecture department at Columbia University's Graduate School of

Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is located in New York City, New

York and was founded from a department into a form School of Architecture by

William Robert Ware in 1881. The GSAPP is highly regarded as one of the most

important and prestigious architecture schools in the world. Columbia University’s

Architecture program was ranked 3rd in Design Intelligence’s 2010 ranking of

architecture graduate schools. There are currently 748 students in their

architecture program. It is also home to the most well regarded Masters of Science

in Urban Planning, Historic Preservation, and Real Estate Development. Architecture

at Columbia remains the core of the school, which is the central focus for more than

half of the students and faculty. All programs at Columbia offer a commitment to

both professional training and research.

Columbia’s School of Architecture offers many resources to its students

including the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, which is the United States’

largest architectural library and home to some of the first books published on

architecture. Their mission is to push students beyond the level of professional

training and train designers to rethink themselves and to find new forms of

professional practice. Columbia has an open studio, which allows the different

programs of Architecture, Urban Design, Historic Preservation, Urban Planning, and

Real Estate to design and learn together. At the start of every semester, the school

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begins 35 studio projects that will lead in many different directions, which will be

reviewed by juries, exhibitions and publications that stimulate an intense debate

and produce new and different designs.

The Bauhaus School of Design was first founded in 1919 in Weimar,

Germany. It was founded with the idea of creating a ‘total’ work of art in which all

arts, including architecture would eventually be brought together. The Bauhaus still

has a profound influence upon subsequent developments in the fields of art,

architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. The

first Architecture Director was Walter Gropius he was in charge of the Bauhaus from

when it was first founded in 1919 until 1927. Hannes Meyer was in charge of the

Bauhaus from 1928 to 1930 and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933.

The Bauhaus School was closed in 1933 because of pressure from the Nazi regime.

Because of the unrest in Germany at the time, Bauhaus was first founded in Weimar

from 1919 to 1925, then Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and in Berlin the last year of the

Bauhaus being open. In 1937, Mies van der Rohe moved the School to a new

location. This time the School became the Institute of Design, which was part of the

Illinois Institute of Technology. The Institute of Design is considered to be the New

Bauhaus. The changes of venue and leadership resulted in a constant shifting of

focus, technique, instructors and politics. The Bauhaus had a major impact on art

and architecture trends throughout the world. There was no history to be taught at

the Bauhaus because they believed that everything was supposed to be design and

created according to new and creative principals rather than by the preceding ones.

Taliesin West is the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of

Architect. It is located in Scottsdale, Arizona and was initially founded as a school in

1932 when 23 apprentices came to live and learn. There were a few main factors

when Taliesin West was first designed including the rugged landscape, the mild

winter climate, and the necessity of housing a community of staff and students. This

school was Frank Lloyd Wright’s brainchild. The first apprentices who were known

as the Taliesin Fellowship, they worked around in the construction, operations and

maintenance of the school. The Taliesin Fellowship produced a new vigor for Frank

Lloyd Wright’s career. Soon the Fellowship could learn as they worked on some of

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the most innovative buildings in America. A few of these buildings include the

Johnson, Wax headquarters, Fallingwater and even the Guggenheim Museum. The

Taliesin Fellowship learned to work with astonishing speed and soon the school

developed into an exciting architectural laboratory, which attracted some of the best

artists and minds.

In 1935, Frank Lloyd Wright moved the entire Fellowship to Spring Green,

Wisconsin during the winter semesters. This started the tradition of moving the

School between Wisconsin and Arizona that still continues today. Some of the

Fellowship stayed with the School and became the Senior Fellowship, which later

helped Frank Lloyd Wright with facilitating the School. The ones that did leave the

School began very successful careers in architecture with their own or others firms.

This type of schooling allowed students of architects to come to Taliesin and get first

hand training working with the outstanding architects of their time. They worked on

some of the nation’s most important and lasting architecture projects. This School

became more and more organized, with the help of the American Institute of

Architects, the National Architectural Accrediting Board and the National Council of

Architecture Registration Boards. From 1985 until 1996 the School underwent a

rigorous process of reporting towards accreditation, which was earned successfully

at both the Institutional level and the Professional Architectural level.

The learning environment at Taliesin West focused on thorough design,

critical thinking and hands-on learning. The School has a very small class but that

offers a close relationship between the Fellowship, faculty and staff. The regular

type of grading is replaced by an “assessment of the student’s learning by faculty,

mentors and practicing architects on the basis of evidence in semi-annual portfolio

documentation”. Many of the studio-based projects center around architectural

work for non-profit and other types of organizations with specific goals that are

socially responsible, environmentally sustainable, and culturally relevant.

The American Institute of Architects has set up many goals when it comes to

architectural education. The AIA has set up a Practice Academy to “Develop

mutually beneficial programs for students, interns, faculty, and practitioners and to

challenge or transform our preconceptions about boundaries between academia

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and practice”. This goal is a major step toward bridging the gap between education

and practice, between students and interns, between interns and licensed architects.

The Practice Academy program began in 2006 when the AIA requested proposals

for different “Practice Academy models to support the growth and development of

emerging professionals”. These programs where to be developed over a three year

period with a total of $30,000 provided for each program. Three proposals from

colleges where picked from The Boston Architectural College (BAC), The University

of Cincinnati, and The Iowa State University. These programs include the Mentored

Collaboration, Co-op Education, and the Bridge Studio.

The Boston Architectural College was first founded in 1889, it is located in

the heart of Boston, Massachusetts. This type of college offers classes to those who

are currently employed full-time at architecture firms. Currently, the school enrolls

over 1,000 degree-seeking students and over 400 continuing education students,

while employing 300 educators and professional practitioners. Design Intelligence

2010 ranked the BAC Programs at 17th.

The BAC educational style while unique is what the profession and education

of architecture needs. Originally the BAC was founded as a club for architects in the

Boston Area who needed to educate their apprentices. This school offers degrees in

Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and a Master’s in Architecture. Unlike most

colleges that require most graduate student’s attend classes full-time and work part-

time, the BAC helps students realize that there is more to architecture than drawing

and designing. In most architecture firms, the average amount of time-spent

drawing is small, while compared to the time spent talking with clients. The BAC

believes that most education comes from the field, which is why they rely so heavily

on the work from outside sources. There is classroom study along with working

credits from paid positions at design firms during the day. The classes are usually

two to three nights per week. The BAC says, “This educational experience connects

the theoretical with the practical, and also often affords students the ability to test

for licensure upon graduation”. The IDP is a vital part of any graduate’s education.

This program helps transition an architectural graduate student into an

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architectural intern, which leads them sitting for the Architectural Registration

Exam, which is the last step before becoming a licensed architect.

The Boston Architectural College proposed a unique project entitled,

“Mentored Collaboration: The Connective Role of BIM Technology in Architectural

Education.” This program would be focused on the impact of the new technology of

building information modeling (BIM) on today’s architectural education. The BAC

worked together with architectural firms located around Boston that were

transitioning their practices to BIM and integrated design or integrated project

delivery. The main goal of this program was to support the circular learning

between the schools of architecture and the practice of design professionals. This

learning was meant to “Stimulate a series of lifelong learning for practicing

professionals – beginning with interns – through the partnership of academics and

practitioners.” The Mentored Collaboration project had many opportunities and

challenges for interns and professionals alike. Their main goal was to create a model

of ongoing collaboration between the fields of education and practicing design.

Another goal of this project was to study the incorporation of new technologies,

such as BIM, into the architectural design education. This program will lead into an

increased understanding of how a building works and will possibly lead to an intern

generating design solutions and their own creative ideas about education. Another

goal was to apply this education model that was learned by the intern and mentors

to create a new interdisciplinary course about the transitioning from academics to

practicing.

The BAC also offers an extensive array of continuing education courses. This

allows for professionals and non-professionals to take courses in covering areas

such as building information modeling, historic preservation, and sustainable

design. The BAC is also a center for professional development because of the fact

that the courses can be offered at the BAC or at individual firms around Boston. The

Boston Architectural College’s unique perspective on education is a good step

forward into transitioning students into Architects. While colleges like the BAC offer

this type of education, more traditional colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and

Columbia, offer more established academic education.

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The University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and

Planning (DAAP) is a highly internationally ranked design school, most well known

for its programs in interior design, which is ranked best in the nation, architecture

and industrial design, both ranked second, as well as graphic design and urban

planning programs which are ranked in the top 20. The College of Design,

Architecture, Art and Planning was first founded in 1819 and its main campus is

located in Cincinnati, Ohio. DAAP was the only public school listed in ID Magazine’s

list of top ten design schools worldwide.

University of Cincinnati’s Professional Practice program started with a

simple question, “What should an intern know, but doesn’t know, to succeed in the

workplace?” This one questions spawned many different reactions. Together these

answers started to form a curriculum, which consisted of intensive workshop called

‘The Cincinnati Plan.’ These workshops were to be taught by professional design

practitioners at their offices. These professionals used a set of guidelines that

identified content, developed materials and taught workshops, which would last

from three hours to all day long sessions. There were many different topics that

were covered such as, firm organization, work process, client interaction, business

practices, construction documents, building economics, the regulatory process,

global practice, how architects present their work and how potential students

should present themselves in terms of resume, portfolio, and interview. These

workshops lead to the University of Cincinnati creating the co-operative education

model. This program consists of alternating periods of coursework on campus and

outside work at a host firm. This experience gives each student over one year of

relevant work experience by the time they graduate. This year-round schedule

permits students to have six quarters of meaningful professionally related

experience before graduation. This helps the graduates of the University of

Cincinnati’s architecture programs become part of the Intern Development Program

before they graduate. The Professional Practice program focuses students to

develop an understanding of human relationships and learn how to work with

others as a team. Herman Schneider, Dean of the College of Engineering at the time,

invented this concept of co-op education in 1906. ‘The Cincinnati Plan’ was ranked

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third in the United States. This program is the largest co-op program at any public

institution in the United States, consisting of 5,000 participating students at over

2,000 companies in over 43 countries.

Iowa State University offered architecture courses since the institute first

enrolled students in 1869 in Ames, Iowa. In 1914, architecture officially became its

own department in the College of Engineering. The College of Design was created in

1978 when architecture, community and regional planning, art and design, and

landscape architecture were brought together. By combining these departments

into one College they “Joined the small number of comprehensive design schools

which offer outstanding opportunities for both disciplinary and interdisciplinary

design education”. This comprehensive college how has 1,906 incoming architecture

students every year. Their Bridge Studio was designed to “Create bridges between

often-disconnected aspects of design work including education and practice,

architectural design and community building, and sustainability and affordability.”

Nadia Anderson who is an assistant professor of Architecture founded the Bridge

Studio in the fall of 2007. This program is available to for the undergraduate and the

graduate level students at Iowa State University. The program is available to all

architecture students with different majors including, architecture, landscape

architecture, and interior design. The students in this program collaborate with a

range of individuals including “interns from local firms, consulting practitioners,

and a range of building industry professionals.” All of these people work in

cooperation to develop projects for different organizations and communities to

integrate environmental and socially sustainability design within suitable and

economic realities.

Iowa States’ Bridge Studio had some major goals that where covered by this

program. The first one was to encourage the integrated thinking that promotes

design, technical and theoretical knowledge as a combination of design education

and practice. Their second main goal was to build a team-based understanding of

design practice. The third goal of the Bridge Studio was to develop a good line of

communication and proactive leadership skills between the students and young

professionals. Their last main goal was to advance the “enriched mission” of

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architecture as a primary shaper of values and community and a driver for

sustainable living. In the fall of 2009, The Bridge Studio received an Excellence in

Green Building Education Recognition Award. The Bridge Studio also received the

2009 Grand Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy.

This honor was awarded by NCARB, National Council of Architectural Registration

Boards. Iowa State’s undergraduate architecture program tied for 18th among 56

accredited programs in the United States.

The Intern Development Program has a very structured system to transition

architecture students into licensed professionals. This program puts the intern in

different architecture roles to help the intern along the path to becoming licensed.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Board and The American Institute

of Architects founded the Intern Development Program (IDP) in the 1970s. The

people involved in this process are registered architects who supervise the interns,

mentors who meet periodically with the interns during their training process, the

IDP coordinators who communicate between the AIA and NCARB, and the interns

themselves who is working toward meeting the training requirements that the

registration board have laid down for them to complete. All these different roles and

people work simultaneously as one to guide the intern along their path to help them

achieve what most architectural students are looking forward to do after they

graduate. The Intern Development Program is based on a points system, where the

intern tracks their experience based on a variety of different activities, which

include contracts, client contact, working drawings, design, field supervision, and

other tasks that architects will perform as part of their professional responsibilities.

These different activities help an intern learn the ins and outs of what it takes to not

only work at an architecture firm, but what it takes for the head architect to do to

stay in business.

Since the early 1990s the Intern Development Program Awards Program are

awarded to architectural firms across the country who “Actively embrace the Intern

Development Program and demonstrate their commitment by making the path to

licensure an integral part of the firm’s culture”. Each firm has to meet certain

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criteria including Mentoring, Supervising, Training Opportunities, Commitment to

IDP, and ARE Support.

Commitment to the Intern Development Program and ARE support is

definitely something that is needed if a firm is to win one of these awards. They

must not only ensure that all design staff is actively pursing licensure-using IDP but

they must link the completion of IDP and the AREs to financial and professional

awards. Creating an IDP and ARE study group is a good start to becoming a firm that

is serious towards moving interns towards licensure. They must also provide time

off for ARE study and some pay for the expense of the test itself. After an intern

architect completes the Intern Development Program, they are then allowed to sit to

take for the Architectural Registration Exam. These exams where first introduced in

1965 by the NCARB. There have been many changes and additions made to the

exam to update the questions to reflect current architectural practices and to utilize

technology that more accurately assesses the ability of candidates.

These exams where meant to toughly test an architect in many different

aspects of architecture. Since no single examination could test for all aspects of

architecture, the AREs are just one requirement to become a licensed architect. This

test concentrates on aspects related to service such as public health, safety, and

welfare. Early in the early years of the Architectural Registration Exam, candidates

were required to take all nine divisions over a four-day period. The exam was only

offered once a year in major cities across the United States. These days, the AREs are

offered year round at most computer testing facilities. This format allows for more

interns to become licensed and for more opportunities to take the test. During the

late 1980s, as the practice and design of architecture moved into the computer age,

NCARB began to develop a computer-based exam. The last paper-and-pencil test

was issued in 1996 and in 1997 the first computer-based exam was introduced. This

introduced the ARE 4.0 that began in 2008. The new ARE 4.0 consists of 555

multiple-choice questions, which are divided into seven different divisions. These

divisions include; Programming, Planning, and Practice, Site Planning and Design,

Building Design and Construction Systems, Schematic Design, Structural Systems,

Building Systems, and Construction Documentation and Services.

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The reason people take the Architectural Registration Exam is for

professional status. The situation is best compared to being in a hospital and having

your doctor stand above you, with the scalpel in hand. They look down and say

“Don’t worry, I’m a professional”. You know that the doctor has gone through

medical school, spent many years in training, and has successfully passed the

rigorous medical exams. Being a professional architect means more than just having

experience in architecture. A professional architect is one who has graduated with a

master’s degree, gone through the Intern Development Program and passed the

Architectural Registration Exams. The clients who hire architects are always looking

for the most professional architects. They look for architects who belong to certain

groups and memberships such as the AIA, NCARB or LEED Certification. These

credentials provide architects with a solid architectural background that allows

potential clients to see architects as professionals.

The activities that are included in the Intern Development Program can be

hard to fulfill based on the size of the firm that an intern is working at. The bigger

the firm is in size and projects, the more an intern can be placed on different

projects throughout the firm. The small firms run into a problem because there may

not be that certain activity at that firm, such as field supervision or experience in the

construction of a building that the firm was in charge of designing. That is why big

firms like the S/L/A/M Collaborative have the capability of having multiple interns

working on completing their IDP at one time. Architects take a lot of pride in what

firm they are working with. Architecture firms have a good reputation in general for

helping an intern architect turn into a professional architect. There are some

architects who prefer to work with smaller firms in order to assist in aspects of a

project. Crosskey Architects and Silver Petrucelli + Associates are two firms that

show an architecture can be small enough for an architect to work on different parts

of a project, but big enough for an architect to have more work than most

professionals can handle. There are larger firms, like S/L/A/M Collaborative and

Centerbrook Architects, that have plenty of projects but they also have plenty of

staff to work on each aspect of them. This could lead an architect to working on only

a portion of projects rather than working through an entire project. Since Intern

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Development and continuing education are very important to an architect’s career,

there are some firms that rely heavily on their own programs that help each staff

member with keeping up on their architectural education whether they just

graduated or have been working there since they were founded. The IDP has an

award for Outstanding Firms and the firms from Payette Associates and Einhorn

Yaffee Prescott are just a few of them to have received this high honor.

Crosskey Architects was founded in 1980 after William Crosskey had

graduated from Syracuse University with a master of architecture. Their firm of

seven is considered to be a small sized architecture firm. These types of firms

require principal architects to be good at networking and dealing with relationships

between firms. While in college, William Crosskey, learned from many different

ways of teaching. Crosskey’s major influence was during his studio critiques. During

these critiques, visiting professors and professionals would come and visit the

studio to help with critiquing the student’s projects. Some of these professors and

professionals where from other countries and these architects would not have a full

grasp on the English language, so they would communicate through sketching and

drawing. This is very similar to later in his professional career, when clients, who

don’t know much about the profession of architecture, would need to communicate

their ideas to Crosskey Architects. The only way that these clients knew of

communicating their ideas, where through sketching and drawing out their

thoughts on paper.

Crosskey Architects pride themselves with the IDP and ARE benefits they

offer. One benefit for interns is their use of time sheets. Since they regularly fill out

their own time sheets they can easily track their experience. They allow time off for

interns to take the Architectural Registration Exams. Crosskey Architects have

regular “Lunch and Learns” for employees to satisfy their continuing education

credits. “Lunch and Learns” are hour-long seminars about a variety of topics.

Crosskey Architects usually chooses subject matter that will be applicable to current

or upcoming projects. These seminars usually result in achieving most of the

required credits needed annually. Crosskey Architects make it easier for staff to

become licensed by scheduling work for employees so that they have exposure to

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varying aspects of the profession. This will not only give the intern the experience

they need for IDP it gives them experience that will be tested on in the Architectural

Registration Exam. This experience helps to round out their professional experience

quickly and it also gives the firm about the interns abilities so they know how to

assign them work in the future.

Silver Petrucelli + Associates is an architectural and planning firm located in

Hamden, Connecticut. They are a mid-size firm with four head architects, William

Silver, Dean Petrucelli, David Stein, and Kenneth Sgorbati. They founded their

company around the principal that everyone on their staff should offer diverse,

challenging work experiences and professional advancement. This firm although at

a medium size, is very knowledgeable about making it easier by offering “as many

experiences in all phases of work for the individual, based not only on their skill-set

but also on their drive and motivation to ‘soak it all in’ and striving to be the best

they can be, rather than holding them back for illogical reasons”.

Their Intern Development Program is a major part of Silver Petrucelli +

Associates firm structure. They make sure that one registered architect is always

available to be an in-house mentor. They also budget time for them to meet and

complete the IDP planning in the intern’s first three years. They would prefer this

sort of experience be finished at their firm instead of outside of it. They make sure

that the intern has an opportunity in their first three years to gather the experience

and hours in all of the experience groups required by IDP, including programming,

design, bid phase, and construction administration. After two years there, they find

that the interns are exposed enough to do the smaller or less complex projects on

their own, with little to no supervision. 

Silver Petrucelli + Associates also are encouraged to hold “Lunch and Learns”

with outside vendors and sales reps. Although these take a bit of corporate time and

effort to set up they are well worth the learning experience that the staff has on-the-

job training. They actively encourage the staff to see off-site seminar and learning

experiences, and reimburse them for the expense, pay them for their time at these

functions and also pay for the seminar fees.  Sometimes it involves travel to the

Midwest or other locations, or to the AIA conventions, and the firm will reimburse

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the individual. They also pay for High Education learning if the degree is

architecture related. They also provide ‘flex time’ for the employee to attend classes

during the workday. These employees can also make up the time during ‘off peak’

times.

S/L/A/M Collaborative is a very large firm consisting of 160 employees at

their location in Hartford, Connecticut. The firm was founded in 1976 during an

economic downturn. They also have two satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia and

Boston, Massachusetts. These smaller satellite offices have around 20-30 people

working in each location. This is a good resource for the Hartford location because if

their satellite firm will usually have the experience and knowledge they are looking

for. S/L/A/M Collaborative works on many institutional projects such as education

and healthcare.

S/L/A/M Collaborative has a unique organization of its firm. The firm is

made up of studios; each studio sits and works together. These studios consider

themselves to be individual and small firms within the larger firm. The different

types of firms are made up of Marketing, Interior Design, Education, Healthcare,

Landscape, and Structural. They also have a separate construction company that

does most of S/L/A/M’s projects along with other construction projects to stay

significant and consistent. Throughout all of these studios, interns are spread

throughout to ensure that the intern has a mentor to help assist them throughout

the project. When a project is given to a team, which is made up of different people

from different studios, that team works on the project until completion. Their studio

structure enables principals to maintain a personal connection with staff members,

which encourages communication and mentoring on all levels. The IDP is a major

part of their training framework. They pay application fees and provide much

needed mentoring. They also grant time off to take the Architectural Registration

Exams. They offer regular in-house AIA-accredited programs, which can include

monthly design rounds, and forums led by senior principals.

S/L/A/M Collaborative serves as a team leader for the Hartford Chapter of

the National ACE Mentoring program, which is a successful after-school program for

urban high-school students. They provide staff, meeting space, materials and

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ongoing financial support for the program. Continuing Education credits are gained

by having weekly Thursday vendor luncheon seminars. S/L/A/M also makes funds

available for employees to acquire their credits, such as paying for an employee to

attend an architecture convention or attend courses on architectural programming.

Centerbrook was first conceived in 1975 as a place where architects could

work together to advance architecture and the craft of building. Centerbrook

Architects and Planners have received 323 national and regional awards for design

excellence since it’s founding. Centerbrook Architects and Planners office is run out

of a renovated wood boring bit factory mill. This unique office provides plenty of

space for all of the 67 on staff to have a separate space for their individual job. The

mill itself was designed to test and research innovating green and sustainable

technologies. The mill is equipped with hydroelectric, solar and geothermal systems

used to generate forty percent of its energy. The main type of work that

Centerbrook is responsible for doing is Civic, and Educational projects. These

projects require the insight from clients and the future users of the buildings.

Centerbrook stages community wide workshops; these allow people who are

involved in the early stages of projects to experience these modest to extensive

workshops in hopes that they will push them to help plan their own cities and

buildings. Centerbrook’s solution to community design problems would be to create

many different solutions and take the best part or two from one and add it with the

best parts from a different solution. They considered that the total process was

more important than the final product because the community helped design the

project. They also considered architecture to be a very collaborative process, this

lead to them adopting technologies that will help in this process.

Centerbrook received the AIA Intern Development Program Award in 2008,

they also received the AIA IDP Award for Outstanding firm in 2008. This award was

in recognition of the firm’s “Exemplary environment for interns pursuing licensure”.

Centerbrook Architects have an in-house training facilities and mentor, Russell

Learned, who was a past president of AIA Connecticut. He is responsible for

monitoring and assisting interns to guide them through the three-year internship.

Centerbrook encourages all of their staff to become professionally licensed

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architects. They believe it conveys a commitment that is not only good for the

individual but as the office as a whole. Centerbrook maintains a vast collection of

ARE guides and books that are big helps for studying and eventually passing the

exam. Centerbrook Architect’s believes in continuing education as a means of

informing their staff of different construction methods, sustainability issues and

management issues.

Supervisors and training opportunities must be presented to every intern.

Some elements of this training must include actively integrating the Emerging

Professionals Companion in a unique way, participating in cross-firm partnering to

create opportunities for interns, and also provide time off for IDP Supplementary

Education opportunities. Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, recipients of the 1995 IDP

Outstanding Firm Award, utilizes site visits with lessons to teach critical project

management skills that are difficult to gain in an office environment. Einhorn Yaffee

Prescott Architecture and Engineering was founded in 1973 and is located in

Albany, New York. The company had grown from two people to eight hundred at its

peak. EYP is a design firm that works collaboratively with teams of architects,

planners and engineers. These teams respond to design problems in a creative and

program-specific intent. They specialize in higher education, historic preservation,

government and corporate projects. EYP has consistently been ranked among the

top twenty Architectural Engineering firms in the United States since the companies

founding. They incorporate each site visit as a teaching tool in their offices. EYP

realized that seeing the building that an intern has worked on is a great reward of

this profession. Experiencing construction through all phases firsthand is a great

learning experience and should be taken advantage of at all architectural offices.

They use one of their recently completed buildings to host these tours to give the

interns the opportunity to walk the job site and to discuss the building’s structure

and exterior details. The site visits usually help interns, who are not that familiar

with the construction part of architecture, a close up and in person view of the

complex coordination issues that are not easily understood in office discussions.

After the site visits, they would often have follow up meetings called “Lesson

Learn.” This time would be spent going over what they saw on their previous trip

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and they would go over what the interns where expected to learn and what they

actually did learn. The firm principals learned that the staff appreciated these

opportunities to learn in the field. Some of the comments about this program

include, “It provided significant information in dealing with construction

administration and submittals” and “Site visits have been one of the greatest assets

in being employed at EYP.” Einhorn Yaffee Prescott has even gone so far as to

incorporate ‘Virtual Visits’ in the interns learning. These visits include comparing

presentation drawings with construction photographs. This type of learning was so

helpful that during one of these discussions the Lesson Learned breakfast continued

well past lunch.

Mentoring is an integral part of a firm’s culture. All of the award winning

firms provide all interns with a mentor, they also provide assistance in matching an

intern with a mentor outside of their firm and they provide mentor support groups

where mentors meet with each other and share the best practices. An example of

this is a firm-wide program called “Mentoring Interns: A Firm Commitment” by

Payette Associates. Payette Associates was founded in Boston, Massachusetts with

130 people in 1975. Payette has become one of the nation’s most award-winning

architects for high technology science and research buildings. They have over 100

design awards including five Excellence in Planning and Architecture Awards from

the AIA. They also received many awards for their firm structure such as Best Green

Practices from SMPS Boston and the winners of the 2002 IDP Outstanding Firm

Award. Payette is organized in three distinct architectural design studios. The

studios include landscape architect, interior design, and environmental graphics.

Their in-house studios allow them to serve their clients with a wide variety of

services. Payette’s main philosophy revolves around planning and designing spaces

and buildings for the users of each building.

Payette Associates are committed to supporting the development of the

design staff; Payette’s Young Designers Core provides resources and experiences for

continuing education and community services, fostering the high levels of

professional ability and coordinate individual career growth. The YDC is structured

around presentations by Payette staff and outside consultants, construction tours,

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and community service events, YDC seeks to complement daily project work with

new experiences and learning opportunities. Recent YDC events include

presentations, Manufacturing Tours, Discussions with civil engineers and touring

the New Institute of Contemporary Art.

Payette’s ‘Mentoring Interns’ program is a nice complement to the group

setting of the YDC. The mentoring program enhances staff development by fostering

supportive mentoring relationships in the office. This one-on-one mentoring

program serves to address the designer’s specific professional development issues

and helps to encourage individuals to reach their fullest potential. Growth and

continuing education in the architecture profession is an evolving program at

Payette Associates. Their staff is regularly trained with the latest software, project

management techniques, and construction administration practices. They run

discussions and meetings through Women in Design groups and sustainability

groups to enrich their practice by encouraging discussions on topics that are

relevant to current projects. Payette uses weekly continuing education seminars;

they bring in experts from equipment and consulting fields to present the newest

thinking in materials and products to our project teams.

The Continuing Education System was developed by the American Institute

of Architects to organize the professional development required for AIA

membership. This program enables members to keep current on issues in the field,

to master new skills, plan for the future, and most importantly to meet the role

society entrusts to a professional architect. Active AIA members must complete 18

learning unit hours for each year, with eight of the learning units relating to health,

safety, and welfare (HSW) and four must be earned in sustainable design.

Continuing Education, for professional and practicing architects, is very

crucial in the career for maintaining an architects education and learning. Most

architecture schools offer classes and courses for adult professionals who are in

need of this advanced education. Most architecture firms take responsibility and

cover some or most of the continuing education costs. Besides classes at school, the

office or online, other ways to get learning unit hours are to attend ‘Lunch and

Learns’. This type of learning is the next necessary step for professional architects.

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Architects must continue to learn and maintain the knowledge they gain from their

days of architecture school to the information they attain from continuing

education. It takes more than graduating from an architecture school to become an

architect. It takes time and effort to finish your masters of architecture. It takes

determination to track the time you spend on certain tasks for the Intern

Development Program. It takes studying and research for the Architectural

Registration Exam. Finally it takes great willpower to maintain and update this

knowledge that one learns from all of this education. Architecture is a profession

that is constantly changing and evolving. The architects that don’t help mentor

interns or attend ‘Lunch and Learns’ will fall to those who embrace learning.

Architecture isn’t simply a profession for one to start but one to pursue.

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References:

2009. AIA Continuing Education System; Survival Guide. www. aia .org/education/ ces / AIA B080737

2010. Architectural Registration Exam; The Burning Question – Why do we need an ARE anyway?

Volume 13, Issue 1. http://www.ncarb.org/ARE/~/media/Files/PDF/Direct-Connection/2010-1/

burning_question.pdf

May 2008. AIA Best Practices; Carrier Johnson A Commitment to IDP.

www. aia .org/ aia ucmp/groups/ek_public/documents/pdf/ aia p037907

May 2008. AIA Best Practices; Fostering Growth at JG Johnson Architects

www. aia .org/ aia ucmp/groups/ek_public/documents/pdf/ aia p037906

December 2006. AIA Best Practices; Mentoring Interns: A Firm Commitment

www. aia .org/ aia ucmp/groups/ek_public/documents/pdf/ aia p037906

December 2006. AIA Best Practices; Site Visits: Seeing is Believing and Learning

http://soloso.aia.org/eKnowledge/Resources/PDFS/AIAP016542?dvid=4294964362

Special Thanks to:

William W. Crosskey II, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, Principal of Crosskey Architects LLC

James Childress, FAIA, NCARB, Partner at Centerbrook Architects

Casey Nixon, Assoc. AIA, Regional Associate Director, S/L/A/M Collaborative

William R. Silver, AIA, President and Principal of Silver Petrucelli + Associates

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