Yes, if you do not have licensed architects, your firm will need to collaborate with another firm and/or one of our licensed faculty members.

It is impossible for any of us to predict what will happen in the future. We ask for a good faith effort to fulfill your commitment and good communication so we can explore options with as much advance planning as possible. See the agreement for terms of withdrawal from the consortium.

Our interns operate the same way as typical summer interns, so yes they certainly can work on billable projects. The practice internship is allowed to be billable, but we ask that the first priority be given to research goals and the second priority to the student’s AXP plan. The research internship component, supervised by faculty, cannot be billable. Final project research work cannot be billable.

We expect that each consortium member will participate in at least one semester pursuing a consortium-wide goal and at least one semester pursuing a firm-specific goal over the course of the three-year initial membership period. During the three-year period, there will be regular assessments by the program director to determine the appropriate balance of shared vs. specific goals.

This is a business decision for your firm. Common strategies we have seen from other models is payment for costs from marketing or research budgets. The most promising option we have seen is to explain the investment in terms of effort saved on projects or future projects. In this case, some of the costs may be assigned to project overhead.

In cases of non-profits or public entities, which are prevented by their structure to pay for these costs, we will partner with you to apply to foundations, many of which will only give to these entities. Our initial priorities are to approach foundations with interest in low-cost housing, sustainable design, and community-based design.

We believe the value is inherently tied to employing students in the summer and research practices internships, so during the course of a three-year membership, we expect at least three summer internship slots and three semesters of practice internships. Practice internships may be distributed at the discretion of the consortium member but are subject to student and faculty availability.

Some firms may wish for multiple interns to be employed concurrently and/or to have interns work continuously throughout the calendar year. We have some limitations in this capacity, but you can generally expect that we will fulfill demand for interns. The standard consortium annual fee covers up to two interns per academic year. Additional interns may be possible with an additional fee and pending availability.

The matching process is very important to successful outcomes. We enlist faculty expertise but cannot guarantee their availability will match firm needs. Depending on the project, the timing of the work may need to be accelerated or delayed to accommodate faculty availability. The firm has the right to reject a student candidate for any reason, and every effort will be made to make a positive match.

We make every effort to plan in advance and to effectively match students, faculty, and firms to ensure success. If something goes wrong, regardless of fault or not, program coordinators will pursue mediation efforts.