12/10/2015 ArchitectureInternshipsinIndiaandAbroadHowtogetone!

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Internship at Mattel Inc
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About author Sanchit Soni is a final year Welingkar Institute of
B.Arch (class of 2014) student at School of Management, Mumbai

Planning and Architecture, Bhopal.

Internship at Arcelor
Mittal Tarun from The
Internships in Architecture are of utmost LNM Institute of
importance, since internships help students gain a Information
relationship between the academic part of coursework and Technology, Jaipur

the pragmatic aspects of designing and building to the

Internship at Sristi
execution level. Broadly speaking, there can be two types of Summer Innovation
internship in Architecture School Yash from
Thapar University
1. Summer or winter internship (which lasts 1-2 months )
Internship at BOSCH
2. Mandatory semester internship as per the guidelines of
Aakanksha from
CoA (Council of Architecture) IGTC,Mumbai

Internship at Tech-a-
Summer or winter internships are basically individual
mania Anusha from
internships which are taken up by students at will. During
Anurag group of
the summers/winters when students are not occupied by
institutions(CVSR)
any other project, they can opt to have such internships.
Usually during these internships you will be given small time Internship at Vatsana
Technologies Alefiya
projects or will be asked to create small details (like a
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bathroom detail or a kitchen detail) for larger projects. from Institute of Engg

These internships would not earn you any academic credit & Tech(IET), DAVV,
Indore(M.P.)
but are definitely good to build up your CV and have a
pragmatic approach for your semester design project. Internship at Cotton
College State University
Mandatory semester internship is an internship which every Anirban from Gauhati

student enrolled in an institute affiliated by Council of University

Architecture has to undergo. The duration of internship may Baat toh Kar lo yaar!
vary, but it is usually for a semester. During this internship
period you have to take a leave from University and join the
respective office or firm where you are supposed to have
your internship, much like Medicine or Law students. Usually
the experience is similar to doing an actual job with
following all ethic codes of a professional environment.

Now the question is, where shall I do my internship?

Unlike Engineering or Science students, where they have the

option to do either a Corporate internship or a University
internship, most of the internships in Architecture are
supposed to be pursued in an Architectural office or firm.
University internships in Architecture are very job specific
and rare. The semester internship is specifically allocated for
internship in a professional office; hence many institutes like
to call it Professional Training. Now some might ask why it
is such that the internships in Architecture are more focused
towards professional office environment, the answer is,
because of the difference in level of execution between an
academic project and a live, real time project.

In an academic project, the brief or the design problem (the

detail and type of project you are supposed to design) can
be fictional or live, and the designing will be done for
execution as close and possible, but you will not actually
build it. Whereas in a live project in any office or firm, you
will actually build what you will design or draft. So the idea
of this professional internship is to introduce you with the
complexities involved in execution of any live project, which
you might be unaware of during the academic project.

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Appropriate time for internship

For summer or winter internship, any student of a first year

to a final year can pursue internship, but offices prefer
taking interns who have done at least four semesters of
undergraduate studies.

For semester internship, the institute decides in which

semester their enrolled students will go for internship, but
usually they are allocated for semesters of fourth or final
year.

The bigger question is, how do I apply for an Internship?

First and foremost, you have to develop two very important

components of your application. First is your CV or resume,
and second is a portfolio. The latter holds more importance
than the former. I think developing a CV or resume is not a
problem, but the trickier part is making a Portfolio.

What all should I include in my CV?

Your current education status, your previous internships,

software skills and research assistantships, achievements
and scholarships, academic projects and special short term
courses, workshops etc. can be included. If applying abroad
and you know any foreign language include that as well.
DOB and nationality are must. Special interests related to
Architecture and Design can be mentioned.

Special note on software skills: If you know AutoCAD avoid

writing it as Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture 2011,2012 etc.
Just write AutoCAD. AutoCAD is a platform and you dont
know which version of software firm uses, if you are good at
it, you must be equally comfortable in any of the editions.
For Adobe products, if you know Photoshop, illustrator,
InDesign and Bridge (which no office uses) you can mention
Adobe Creative Suite.

What all should I not include in my CV?

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Fathers name, house address (the only address that should

be mentioned should be of the institute), marital status,
percentage in 10th -12th and AIEEE rank should be avoided.
Special interest in Sports and interests of non Architectural
nature should be avoided.

How many pages should my portfolio have ?

The ideal length of portfolio cannot be standardized as such.

But keeping in mind that your potential employer doesnt
want to waste too much of time on your application, it will
be enough if you create a portfolio between 5-15 pages.
Another strategy is making a portfolio between 20-30 pages
and keeping limited content on each page.

How should be the format?

Follow Minimalism.

What should be the content of the Portfolio ?

For every project, try to show the whole process of

designing. Include a few sketches of your conceptual design.
If your design is based on certain algorithm, try to include
Graphical representation. An example is here.

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What type of drawings should I include?.

The thing is, that it all depends on you. If your design is

more focused on site and spatial planning, you may include
more of location and site plans. If your faade system is
more technical, try including more of elevations and
sections, and some details. Key is, trying not to include
everything and every piece of drawing and ending up with a
jam-packed portfolio.

What type of Projects should I include?

Anything, from a bus stop to a Kiosk to a Shopping Mall, or

even any Product Design. Whatever you feel like. Try to
include 3-5 projects, but better keep a set of 5 projects and
compile it accordingly, as per specifications of the
application from the firm. If they ask to include only 3
projects, give the best ones out of your collection.

What type of Fonts should I use?

Usually students try to convince the employer that they are

really innovative and the first thing they do is search for an
amazing font , with some sketchy-drafting kind of graphics.

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Trust me, nobody cares. The trend for 2013 is to use very
simple and clean fonts, such as of San serif/Serif family. You
can use century gothic or Arial, or similar font style. There
are a number of fonts available on dafont.com

Amount of text: use minimum amount of text because

Architecture is about graphical expressions. If drawings
cannot convey what you want to express, the text will do no
good.

I am weak with software skills. What should I do?

The best thing would be to include whatever you know

without worrying about your rendering skills. Most creative
studios are interested about your approach to design, and
the way you conceive it. If you are good with handwork, scan
your handwork and compile it. If you know only one or two
software, try including projects you made with that software
properly. Remember, firms prefer your strength. Try to show
your strength in your portfolio irrespective of what it is,
handwork, software, sketches or drawings.

What should be the format and size of the portfolio?

All well equipped offices use 21-27 inch sized desktop

screens with 16:9 HD ratio. Try to make a portfolio which
follows the same ratio of length and width. The trick is, when
HR manager clicks on your file, it should open in a manner
that completely occupies the screen. If you think this stupid
trick holds no importance, try opening a panorama image on
your system and see how frustrating it is to zoom in and out
to see the details. For Hard bound portfolios (for walk-in
interviews), try getting high resolution images to have better
print quality.

Sometimes, Firms mention clearly that:

Portfolio should be in A3 format; Should not exceed 5 mb in

size ; Should only contain not more than 10 pages.

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My suggestion would be to have a bunch of your jpegs of

your Portfolio ready and compile them as per required into
a pdf. PDF,PDF and only PDF!

Controlling the size of the portfolio:

Get a jpeg image optimizer/size reducer application such as

Fotosizer, and then install a PDF binder program. PDF can
also be done via Ps or InDesign but it is comparatively more
difficult to control the size and image quality of pdf. Better
use the former method which is faster and hassle free.

What not to do in any Portfolio?

Never to squeeze too much content, never to show off your

rendering skills, never to use too many colors and
background templates. Keep it simple and effective, and
really what your style is. Always showcase what YOU are
capable of without worrying of meeting anybodys
expectation. As truly said, Art comes best when served
without calculation.

Go to issuu.com and search for Architecture portfolios. You

can find hundreds of portfolio it get an idea of designing a
portfolio.

After completing your portfolio and CV, the next challenge is

to find firms and send applications. Most firms prefer
accepting applications through email, but some firms also
prefer having a walk-in interview. Remember that it is
absolutely normal practice to apply for unsolicited position.
Offices usually have a small workforce of architects,
planners and designers and dont have a separate HR team.
So never worry about sending an unsolicited application.
Obviously some firms do post about internships (like
HCPDCM and Vastu Shilpa in Ahmedabad), but the numbers
are few. Firms would be needing an intern without actually
posting an ad or a notice for that, so you should send your
application to the firm anyway. Moreover because of the
legacy of mandatory six month semester internship, firms

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have a specific quota for interns for which they receive

applications without posting an ad.

For the email, make a decent Cover letter for the email body
including your area of interest and type of academic projects
done. Attach your CV and portfolio with the email body and
start sending emails to firms. It is a common practice to
include resume in one of the pages of portfolio or to attach
a separate CV. Both practices are acceptable. Keep your
attachment size under 5-6 mb.

Where to get the list of firms to apply?

Because CoA prohibits Architects to endorse their firms,

finding the contact details of Firms can be tricky, but here
are a few points which would help in getting a list of firms.

1. Famous architects like Charles Correa, BV Doshi, Raj

Rewal, HC Patel, Hafeez Contractor, Romi Khosla, Sanjay
Puri etc. can be simply Googled and you will find contact
details on the official website.
2. For listing of local firms, try using Justdial or similar
Yellow page directories. A simple google search like
Architects in Mumbai will also return favorable results.
3. Try fetching the list of architects from your seniors in
your institute, from the firms they must have pursued
their internship.
4. For students who are interested in Sustainable, Earth
and low cost architecture, Hunnarshala
(http://www.hunnarshala.org/WP/), Dharmalaya
(http://dharmalaya.in/), Costford
(http://www.costford.com/) , and Auroville Earth Institute
(http://www.earth-auroville.com/) are suitable options.
5. Try using architecture specific websites like Architizer,
ArchDaily, Archinect and Dezeen. These websites have
firm listings as well as exhibition of projects by Indian
and International firms.
A. For Internships in Europe, more specifically in
Germany,
try http://www.competitionline.com/en/jobs and

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search for intern/praktikant.

B. For internships in Germany
http://www.ar.tum.de/aktuell/ausschreibungen/externe_stellen/
C. For internships in Europe and abroad,
http://www.world-architects.com/en/jobs/open-
positions is another useful website.
D. For internships in Singapore
http://www.sia.org.sg/member-firm-listing.html
E. For European countries, try going to their local
Google search, such as Google.de or Google.fr, and
search Internships in Architecture translated in
local language. For instance, searching Praktika in
der Architektur or Architekturbros in
Deutschland in Google.de will produce more
favorable and local results for Germany than
searching for Architecture Internships in Germany
on Google.co.in. The same goes for All European
states, Far East and Oceania.

Hope this helps, if you have any queries and comments,

please drop a mail : Sanchit.soni@outlook.com
Did you like this article? Share it with your friends!

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6Comments Sortby

Addacomment...

BipashaDekaGuwahatiCollegeofArchitecture
Nice
LikeReplyOct17,20156:44pm

JuhiSinghSunderDeepcollegeofArchitecture327.
thankyousomuch.
LikeReplySep12,20158:50pm

JainalKuvadiaLateBhausahebHireyCollegeofArchitecture
Veryinformative.
LikeReplyJul3,20152:23pm

SathyaAnanthTheInstituteofCharteredAccountantsofIndia(ICAI)DelhiChapter
Nicewriteup!
LikeReplyNov10,20142:19pm

SathyaAnanthTheInstituteofCharteredAccountantsofIndia(ICAI)DelhiChapter
Teju!
LikeReplyNov10,20142:18pm

NiyatiShah
Vidhi,Checkthisout!!
LikeReplyNov3,201312:03pm

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12 Responses to "Architecture internships (India

and Abroad)"

Jyoti says:
July 24, 2014 at 5:08 PM

this is really helpful.my doubts are cleared. I am 3rd year student and

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12/10/2015 ArchitectureInternshipsinIndiaandAbroadHowtogetone!

searching for internship, info will really help me.

Reply

saadve says:
January 9, 2015 at 7:55 PM

hey hi..this was very very useful thanks.. And how do i apply for an
internship..I want to do my internship in singapore in any of the
firm..Please somone reply if you knw the procedure..And should i pay
any amount to join or jus mail them my portfolio?? Please reply..

Reply

Internshala says:
January 14, 2015 at 5:35 PM

Hi Saadve,

For internship opportunities in Singapore, you may want to

visit here http://www.internshala.com/internships/keywords-
singapore

Thanks

Reply

Sanchit says:
March 8, 2015 at 10:04 AM

Go to Singapore Institute of Architects homepage (SIA) and

their you can see listing of architects practising in Singapore
along with their contact information. Prepare a cover letter,
attach portfolio and start sending emails to those firms. Thats
all. If you have some recommendation letter/letters you can
attach them as well.

Reply
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Reply

Juan Salamanca Balen says:

April 15, 2015 at 4:42 AM

Hi Sanchit, that was very useful. My name is Juan Salamanca, im from

Colombia and im searching for an internship in India. Ima final year
student of architecture in Bogot. Do you know any page or
organization that can help me with this? Thanks!!

Reply

Sanchit says:
May 26, 2015 at 11:53 PM

Hi Juan,
Just shoot me a direct mail and I will provide you some contact
information. Also you can browse through Internshalas
website to look for more
internships.http://internshala.com/internships/architecture-
internship

Reply

charan says:
June 6, 2015 at 10:28 PM

hi please !! help me out i am looking for internship in usa

present i was doing thesis on housing.!!!

i was good in 3d skills and many more

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D0%BD%CE%B1%D1%8F%CE%B1%D0%B8%CF%89%CF%83%D1%8F%D0%
3/343968955766902

plz help me out to apply in good firms out of india i need plz suggest

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me :(

my contact number is +91 7032368624

Reply

deepak khandelwal says:

June 17, 2015 at 9:57 PM

Sanchit sirthanxthis was really helpful

is their any language problem if i know only English and Hindi
..when i apply for internship singapore

Reply

Internshala says:
June 23, 2015 at 4:50 PM

Dear Deepak,

Sanchit might not be following this post. You may try

contacting him via social media Facebook/LinkedIn.

However, if you know English, you are good to go! Results show
that English is a well-known language in Singapore. :)

Good luck
Team Internshala

Reply

Benazir says:
October 1, 2015 at 12:34 PM

Hi,

I am Benazir doing my 3 rd year B arch in Tamil nadu near coimbatore

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i have to do my internship can you please help me find a company

where i can apply internship with stipend.

Reply

Benazir says:
October 1, 2015 at 12:35 PM

Hi,

I am Benazir doing my 3 rd year B arch in Tamil nadu near coimbatore

i have to do my internship at CHENNAI can you please help me find a
company at CHENNAI where i can apply internship with stipend.

Reply

akash nory says:

December 10, 2015 at 1:29 PM

hi

Sanchit, this was really helpful.

iam doing my 3rd year in SRM and i want to do internship in india,
iam looking to see where i stand as in architercture, and what i need
to do to become better

Reply

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