Summer Internship Program for Architecture and Interior Design Students | Shapiro & Company Architects
The Summer Internship Program at Shapiro & Company is a unique opportunity for architecture and interior design students to create a real-world impact in the design world.
Over the course of our 3-month program, interns are exposed to the innerworkings of our residential design firm, which has studios in Multifamily Architecture, Single Family Architecture, and Interior Design.
Our mission is to guide design students through real-world experience, and to give them an opportunity to make a real-life impact at our firm.
What Makes our Summer Internship Program Unique
Interns at Shapiro & Company Architects are given a fully rounded experience that helps them develop their future careers. We offer a complete immersive experience where students get the same experience as full-time employees through site visits to our projects (including both Multifamily and Single Family studio projects), one-on-one mentoring with firm leaders, involvement in office meetings and lunch-and-learns, and exposure to our design process.
Additionally, our firm has a unique summer research project that all interns participate in. The research project spans the 3 months of their internship where interns will develop a relevant topic of their choosing with the guidance of one of our studio mentors. The goal of this project is to not only expose our interns to current topics affecting the design industry but is also designed as an opportunity for interns to hone their personal presentation skills and teach our firm new insights we can put into practice based on their findings.
Summer Research Project
The summer research project follows a roadmap designed to mimic design development processes students will be exposed to in their architecture and design careers.
1.) Choose a Research Topic
Interns will be given a comprehensive list of emerging topics that developers, designers, and industry leaders are noticing. From this list, our interns will select a topic that they find most interesting to develop over the next 3 months.
2.) Develop Research
After selecting a topic, interns will be matched with a studio mentor and research coordinator to guide them through their research. Alongside being a resource to interns, mentors will conduct weekly meetings with their intern and research coordinator to make sure research timelines and themes are on track for their mid-summer review with leadership, and their final presentation at the end of the summer.
3.) Site Studies and Case Studies
Interns will be given ample resources to conduct their research, including access to in-depth site studies, case studies, and personal conversations with developers our firm has close working relationships with.
These studies are a unique opportunity for interns to have access to information on real-life projects and have access to the designers who developed those projects, which helps the interns apply their research to real-world applications.
4.) Creating a Deliverable
After organizing all of their research into their final presentation, interns will also be tasked with creating an actionable deliverable. This deliverable will be a resource for staff at our firm to use when implementing their research, further increasing their confidence and pride in their work.
5.) Final Presentation
At the end of the summer, interns will present their research to the entire staff, including Principals and leadership. They have the opportunity to answer questions, explain how their research will be used within the firm, and expand on their overall experience.
Site Visits and Real-Life Experience
Along with their summer research, interns get a chance to explore facets of our firm that give them real-world experience in residential design. This summer, our 2026 summer interns attended site visits with our Multifamily and Single Family studios.
At our 220 South Multifamily project, an in-progress workforce housing development in Memphis’s Medical District, interns got to walk the site with the lead architects and the project contractor. Our interns had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and participate in different behind-the-scenes discussions that lead to a successful completed project.
The Value of the Summer Internship Program
We believe that the value of an internship is not just what we can teach our interns, but also what they can teach us. An internship at Shapiro & Company Architects is unique because of our belief in their abilities. Our approach is to guide interns through developing their own individual interest in design and give them the tools to create a significant impact.
For the firm, the benefits to this approach are in the fresh insight students bring, and the vital research they provide. For the interns, the benefits extend past the benefits of a typical internship. Interns still get the workforce experience, resume building, and guidance other architecture internships provide. Beyond that, interns at Shapiro & Company Architects get a sense of pride that their abilities and insights are valued and make a genuine difference.
Interested in our Summer Internship Program?
Applications open in February. Check back in to our website next year to learn how to submit your application.
