Architectural internships are rather plentiful which bodes very well for the prospective architect cum intern. Almost all require very good written and verbal communication and AutoCAD skills; most seek interns who are self-starters with excellent follow-up abilities. After choosing which city you’d like to study in, shine up the resume or CV and tailor it to your internship of choice.
Henn Architekten
With offices in Munich, Shanghai, Beijing, Berlin, and Dubai you have a wide choice of internships and they are hiring now. Henn has strong German roots and is world-renowned currently looking for motivated and creative interns. If you can’t speak any language other than English, don’t worry as they require fluency in English as one of their criteria. They are also looking for skills in Maya/Rhino, Adobe Suite and prefer Scripting experience. They desire candidates to be resourceful, enthusiastic, motivated and with a proactive mentality. Candidates need to own strong graphic and design talents with the ability to consistently alter conceptual thinking into an architectural language.
If interested, send resume to [email protected] with ‘internship’ marked in the subject line and include dates of availability. They also request you format all materials into a single PDF file with a maximum size of 6MB.
3tarchitects Internship
Located in Albany, New York this internship is perfect for someone with at least two years of experience behind them already. All candidates must demonstrate “principled passion with precision,” along with good management and communication skills, AutoCAD and REVIT experience, and to be a team player who is just as comfortable and productive working alone if necessary.
This firm is currently going through a lot of controlled growth and many opportunities have opened up due to its expansion. 3t is rare in that it offers a competitive benefits package and salary. It also boasts a great working environment. Submit work samples and résumé to Alicia Germano at [email protected].
Rex- Intern Architect/Designer
Based in New York City, Rex is an international architecture and design firm and they are seeking an immediate intern for their creative, challenging and stimulating work environment. They also have a specific approach that each candidate should know inside and out and be able to start work immediately. Please make sure you can fulfill their list of demands as they require a professional degree in architecture, professional work experience in competition (0-2 years), superior concept design abilities documented with iterative models and diagrams and the ability to execute amazing presentation deliverables (physical models, AutoCAD, Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite) within a rapid project schedule and preliminary and schematic design.
All candidates need be either US citizens or have a US work visa and complete the REX application available at http://rexny.com/contact/employment. Please submit your completed application, cover letter, résumé (or CV), and work samples in PDF format to [email protected]. Be sure to put only your full name in the subject line.
Cadiz Design Studio
With two internship openings available year-round, this one is great as a revolving option with a little less competition from others. Plus, Cadiz is a green firm dealing in the commercial and hospitality sectors of spas, hotels, offices and the like. The internships are part time and unpaid, but offer a great opportunity to work further with environmentally friendly architecture. You will need proficiency in verbal and written communication skills, to be a forward thinker with good organizational skills, proficient in AutoCAD and Microsoft Office, and of course excellent follow up skills are critical.
The responsibilities partly include developing their Sustainability business leadership forum and developing sustainable content for their marketing and social media strategy. In return you get outstanding hands-on experience in a big firm with an open, progressive atmosphere and the personal attention of a small firm. You will have to log-in to the site linked with the firm’s name to apply.
Marion Mahony Griffin,The First Lady of Architecture
The world of architectural achievement has ever been lopsided in its representation of the sexes; simply few women compared to men enter the field. In recent years the station of architect is still misrepresented, but even worse for those few gifted ladies a century ago who were anything but taken seriously. Despite that, there must always be a first for everything and the first woman to be issued an architectural license in the state of Illinois was an MIT graduate named Marion Mahony. While she was not the first female architect or even the first female architectural graduate, Marion nevertheless deserves recognition for her many accomplishments.
Marion Griffin nee Mahony, a native of Chicago, lived between February 14, 1871 and August 10, 1961. In 1894 she graduated from MIT, or Massachusetts Institute of Learning, a prestigious institution of science and knowledge and was only the second woman to do so. From there she went on to a very respected position with Frank Lloyd Wright, an architect who achieved vast fame and was even awarded the title of Greatest Architect in the World. Marion became well known for her sumptuous watercolor and pencil renderings of the projected building. Using a stylized approach to her art, she produced romanticized versions of houses and buildings graced with a frame of detailed trees and flowers. The renderings were impeccable and impressive, commended by all who viewed them and saw her hailed as the “greatest architectural delineator of her generation” by architectural writer Reyner Banham.
She did more than magnificent artwork; she also designed and created light fixtures, home furnishings, mosaics, leaded glass decoration and murals for clients’ homes. After 14 years of working with Wright to achieve a new vision of the American architectural future, things ended badly when he abruptly sold his business and ran off to Europe with a woman for whom he had left his wife. Marion was hired by the new company owner and finished most of Wright’s incomplete works, often serving as lead designer. She met her husband,Walter Burley Griffin, in the Chicago Studio where Wright held his business. Also forgotten and abandoned by Wright, Griffin and Mahony married in 1912, eventually moving to Australia to oversee the building of the new capital city, Canberra, which Griffin had designed and Marion had rendered. From a private office in Sydney, the talented couple also worked on many private commissions. Later they moved on to India where Marion supervised the construction of over a hundred Prairie-style houses, the very style she had helped Wright invent and develop but for which she received little credit until recently.
In 1949, Marion compiled a massive book that boasted over 1,400 pages and almost 700 drawings. Titled “The Magic of America,” it was too unwieldy to publish so she dropped it and several hand-typed copies off at The Ryerson and Burnham Libraries. An amazing window into architecture of the time, it is available online and definitely worth reading.