National Discussion of Public-Interest Architectural Internships

Bridging the GapLeads Nat ional Discussion

by Georgia Bizios and Katie Wakeford

At NC State and universities across the country, architecture students enthusiastically participate in service-learning studios, community designbuild workshops, and study-abroad experiences focused on humanitarian issues. Unfortunately, graduates discover a scarcity of similar opportunities in internships, the required professional development phase between receiving an accredited degree and completing licensure. Creating publicinterest internships allows architecture graduates to apply their valuable energy and design skills to current social, economic, and environmental issues and have a powerful influence on the future of the profession and our communities.

Bridging the Gap: Public-Interest Architectural Internships, an essay collection edited by Professor Georgia Bizios and intern architect Katie Wakeford brings together twenty-two contributors across the United States to address a broad range of considerations regarding publicinterest internships.

In the foreword, celebrated public-interest designer Sergio Palleroni elegantly summarizes the values of the collection by reflecting upon the critical need for public-interest internship opportunities. Palleroni writes: Within the pages of this book – which is essentially a road map to significant change – you will find a thoughtful selection of useful perspectives on the issue of public-interest internship, from the ethical reasons why we need such internships to the experiences of a star lineup of the leading figures attempting to create these opportunities. Their stories, combined with the compelling, eloquent firsthand accounts from the trenches by the interns and young practitioners engaged in these pioneering programs and practices, make this book the first one to substantively contribute to solving this difficult problem. [Palleroni, Foreword, page xi]

The collection includes an essay by Dean Marvin Malecha, FAIA, which emphasizes the power of the internship process for the individual and the discipline. Malecha writes, “The seed of the profession’s evolution will be sown when its future leaders are inspired to conceptualize practice in new ways with a transformed purpose.” Bizios and Wakeford’s [M.Arch. 2005] essay examines the benefits and challenges of university-based internships like those sponsored by the College of Design’s Home Environments Design Initiative. To date, Bizios has supervised the equivalent of more than five years of full-time public-interest architectural internships at NC State with the initiative.

Luke Perry [BEDA and BID 2000] coauthored an essay recounting his internship experience at the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless Peachtree-Pine facility. Perry writes: Far beyond the pen, paper, or computer, it was there in the personal space of compassion, struggle, empowerment, and justice where the greatest triumphs occurred. As such, this ‘internship’ went far beyond typical professional training, setting a very high standard for what I believe architecture could and should do. [Perry and Clark Tyler, Architectural Immersion: The Peachtree-Pine Experience, page 198]

While the collection is not intended to be exhaustive in its findings, the breadth is sufficient to fuel a vibrant conversation in the hopes of inspiring the creation of new public-interest internships and informing the ongoing updates to the Intern Development Program [IDP].

“Bridging the Gap: Public-Interest Architectural Internships” was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts along with additional funding from The NC State University College of Design’s Faculty Development Program. The NC State University Office of Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development made it possible to develop internship opportunities that inspired this publication. The book was designed by Kelly Murdoch-Kitt [MGD, 2009].