Earlier this summer, we welcomed three fourth-year undergraduate students from the University of Utah’s School of Architecture into a newly launched micro-internship program, to give students a glimpse into the inner workings of our architecture studio and provide our team members valuable experience teaching and mentoring.
To highlight community and an architect’s role in developing inclusive spaces, we spent the first day at Publik Coffee Roasters on West Temple. It was a fitting place to connect over artisanal toast and drinks while we learned more about the students’ backgrounds and what drew them to architecture. Next, we toured an adaptive reuse project, Granary Campus, and they sketched how new design features adapted to the historic space. While architecture is about seeing the big picture, it’s also essential to understand the subtleties of how small details resolve.
The program was shaped around common day-to-day tasks to prepare them for their future careers. Over the next two weeks, the interns participated in various activities, including a construction site visit, a business development skills workshop, a sustainability meeting, and a project review pin-up. One highlight was attending a client meeting and engaging with the whole team to gain a glimpse into the design process.
For one of our current projects at Maple Grove Hot Springs, we asked the interns to develop new ideas during a design charrette. They explored site layouts for the outdoor courtyard, the new cafe, and the bathhouse and then presented these to the team. A fresh perspective was a valuable resource for challenging our existing perceptions.
The interns spent their final week building a physical model for a home in Sundance and visiting a completed residential project, the Emigration Creek House. In their post-experience interviews, students shared their observations, noting that drawing sets were far more detailed compared to what they had produced in school. They were also pleasantly surprised that their fears this experience would be a series of “grunt tasks” did not materialize. Instead, they participated in real conversations and were exposed to the differences between architectural theory and architectural practice, particularly when selecting building materials with client input.
We’re excited to see how we adapt and expand this program next summer while keeping the intentionality of the experience. With several applicants this year, we confirmed our hunch that there’s a different way to host interns that becomes mutually beneficial for all involved.
We enjoyed mentoring and getting to know these bright students. They reminded us of our own paths within the field of architecture and gave us fresh perspectives on our work. We're already thinking about next year's internship and how we can grow and expand this program for the benefit of tomorrow's architects.
