Internships
The Department of Landscape Architecture takes pride in our connections with alumni and the design community that offer opportunities for our students to develop their design experience outside the classroom.
We also invite our partners and supporters to share open posts for internships, fellowships and entry-level positions. If you or a colleague would like to be included in our listings, please email Kristopher Penrose at kapenrose@cpp.edu.
To get a glimpse of recent experiences told from the perspective of our students, check out the sections below.
Tippet Rise is a 10,260-acre conservation land in Fishtail, Montana that interweaves science, art, and nature. Visitors often express their awe towards the intimate integration of land art, classical music, agriculture and sustainability in just one place.
Before the Halstead couple established their vision upon this land, it was a scattered collection of post-homestead ranches that have been long-abandoned due to the harsh climate. The Olivier Music Barn at Tippet Rise utilizes a geothermal heating and cooling system supported by thirty solar wells. These solar wells go four hundred feet deep into the ground in order to sustain a fixed temperature for our twelve Steinway pianos. The parking lot pavilion is made of solar panels that directs stormwater into an underground storage, which later irrigates the campus. My duties as an operations intern included assisting educational workshops with local communities, set-up and break-down of music concerts, communicating with visitors, giving sculpture tours, and occasionally serving as a ranger to assist hiker/bikers. Towards the end of my internship, I proposed a custom bike rack with seating function and constructed a prototype.
Living in Montana for three months taught me how to respect and coexist with livestock, fire, and the power of nature; which I would not otherwise have in an urban environment. I was very fortunate to witness a successful execution and appreciation across multiple disciplines including ranching, engineering, design, art, and geology.
I applied and was accepted to fill one of two internship positions last summer at Fallingwater, the family residence designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Located in the southwest region of the state within the Appalachian Mountain Range, the home was designed to coexist within an ever-changing environment and draw from the color, texture and local material to create a site that humbly complements its surroundings. The eastern temperate forest was a backdrop and source of inspiration for both Wright and the Kaufmanns, and continues to be a source of inspiration for visitors and design professionals from around the world.
The residence is in the process of becoming a World Heritage Site after nomination papers were filed in 2016.
The nonprofit organization that supports Fallingwater tries very hard to promote inter-departmental collaboration as one of the main goals for its employees. My fellow intern, Rene, and I worked closely together with Linda Waggoner, the director of Fallingwater, the maintenance team and our supervisor, Ann Talarek, to complete the design of two projects on the property. This involved assessing both sites, exploring typologies, and taking inventory of materials and vegetation using various representation methods. Throughout this process, Rene and I had formal critiques and presentations to communicate our work. During the final week of our internship, we presented our work to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. In a nutshell, this has been an unforgettable experience. I was able to make lifelong connections and friendships with Rene and other interns. And I feel welcomed to visit this magical place any time.
Three months, 613 hours of work and 210 hours in traffic. My internship at SWA Laguna Beach was worth it. Every day was different. I never fell into a routine. I fear routines. I didn't even feel like an intern because there's no sense of hierarchy. Positions are indistinguishable. Working on competitions, small-scale, largescale, local and international projects made me appreciate the firm's flexibility.
The principals bring in a variety of projects. Depending on an individual's interests, they could work on projects they believe they could thrive in. The various projects that I was a part of educated me about my own culture, and cultures that I didn't know much about. Sometimes, I would be so invested in a project that I would forget that I was in Laguna Beach.
Walking out and taking breaks by the beach always gave me peace of mind. Walking around a small town in work attire was almost uncommon, but I enjoyed the mystery in the eyes of the locals and tourists. I didn't feel like I was working in a corporate bubble, but rather I somehow fit into this small town. The best part of my experience was that it was far more than just landscape architecture, design and planning. It was always more; and that more will always be a part of me because I was a part of it.