Goo on The Unpaid Architecture Internship
This past Friday, a question was posed to the panelists at the Columbia GSAPP event “What is the future of the architectural studio?” regarding the use of unpaid interns. This past spring, the following essay appeared in the publication Goo, produced in part by students at GSAPP.
The Unpaid Architecture Internship and the Culture of an Architectural Education
“Thank god for people who are unpaid interns. When I started in architecture, I was an unpaid intern. I think the practice is fabulous. People who move up in the world all start as unpaid interns.” – Peter Eisenman.
Internships are a fundamental component of an architectural education. The Internship is an opportunity for curious undergraduates to explore the profession before delving into expensive institutional learning, for eager architecture students to learn from well-seasoned senior architects, and, for those who are on a path to receive a license, to complete the Intern Development Program (IDP). However, many of these internships are unpaid, opening the door to more job opportunities in a competitive market as well as complaints over legality and morality.
Are unpaid internships legal? Some are and some (deemed exploitative) definitely are not. The line is drawn with several, very tenuous, guidelines, including a requirement that the employer “derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.” (2) I would argue (and hope), however, that in most cases, the intern does bring something to the table and should be expected to contribute to the company or firm for which he or she has been working. Ultimately, legality, in my opinion, is hardly the issue, particularly when architecture students willingly and eagerly accept positions at firms that will not pay them a dime for their work. If labor laws were more strictly enforced, many of the opportunities available to young and aspiring architects would be lost, which could be detrimental to the well-established system of an architectural education.
Beyond legality, I believe the issue of unpaid internships is an ethical one. Whether we like it or not, architects are often accused of being elitist, and, the unpaid internship certainly raises issues of accessibility. In many cases, students who are able to accept unpaid positions at firms typically have the financial support from their parents (or elsewhere) to do so. I recently finished an architecture internship that required 10 hours of work a day, 5 days a week (unpaid) in New York City, leaving very little, if any, time to make an outside income. Do I regret this opportunity? Absolutely not. I worked on projects that gave me extremely valuable experience, in my opinion. Projects that I would not have had the opportunity to explore on my own. However, if it weren’t for the financial support of my parents (not to mention that they are both architects, and therefore, understand the “rules of the game,” so to speak) I would definitely not have had that opportunity. Unpaid internships, therefore, deny students who have a professional eagerness but lack the financial support to gain access to opportunities that allow them to compete in the race for experience and the development of a robust network. Educational institutions that encourage internships as a fundamental component of an aspiring architect’s development should endeavor to offer additional financial support. Furthermore, firms that hire interns should assess the value of these students’ contributions and offer at least a very small stipend.
Beyond the issue of financial access, it seems that the system of unpaid internships requires a re-evaluation of the culture surrounding the continuation of architectural education into the professional realm. The IDP Program, overseen by NCARB and a prerequisite for taking licensing exams, attempts to institutionalize the education of young architects in various practice-related areas, but it ultimately is just a checklist. Architects should recognize that with interns comes a responsibility to teach – they automatically enter into an unspoken mentorship. Education, within or beyond the institution, takes time and consideration from both the pupil and the teacher. While an attitude adjustment (for some, not all) is difficult to enforce, the practice of mutual evaluations, which is prevalent in the institution particularly between a studio critic and his or her student, should be sustained in the context of the professional field, providing interns with an opportunity to evaluate their mentors and vice versa. By giving interns both the financial opportunity to take an unpaid internship position and a voice to evaluate their mentoring architect, the culture of architectural internships can focus on its educational benefits rather than its exploitative plights.
1. In response to a question posed at a 2007 lecture at Harvard GSD. Beyond a few comments, Eisenman refused to elaborate because the question, in his opinion, “was meant snarkily.” Eikongraphia, “Peter Eisenman on unpaid internships,” March 2008.
2. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. “Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act,” April 2010. 1.
written by an unhappy intern.
