Archinect - News

Foster + Partners chairs Trailblazer Group, the UK's first model maker apprenticeship program

2024-08-22T11:58:00-04:00

A brand new apprenticeship opportunity will grant aspiring workers in the UK's architecture industry the chance to learn professional model-making skills in an initiative chaired by Foster + Partners in collaboration with a group of other British universities and design firms. The three-year Trailblazer Group program is officially a Level 6 qualification (equivalent to a bachelor's degree).

Apprentices will earn a salary and other benefits while they learn. As the firm's announcement notes, this is meant to spur greater diversity in the profession. It coincides with the movement to reform pathways into architecture that has recently been taken up by RIBA and factored extensively in the body of fundamental overhauls proposed by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) last year.

New European Bauhaus Academy launches skills training network

2024-04-30T14:59:00-04:00

The New European Bauhaus Academy has launched a learning initiative called NEBA Alliance, a network of skills training hubs across the European Union meant to accelerate “up- and re-skilling” activities for workers in the AEC fields and adjacent professional industries. The news was shared via a press release earlier this month that included statements from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who announced the formation of the NEB Academy in November 2022.

Fourteen partners from industry and higher education have signed up to support the effort, which is meant to enable the 160,000 new jobs that are being added to the building sector as part of an inbound "Renovation Wave" in Europe.

"Setting up a central portal and database of certified training materials, courses, and modules, along with a selection of best practices in pedagogies, it will enable widespread scaling of training on bio-based materials in sustainable construction," the announcement states. "The curat...

AIA applauds new building-specific provisions in the Senate infrastructure bill

2021-08-12T12:33:00-04:00

The AIA is applauding Congress as the latest iteration of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate this week includes for the first time key provisions that it says will help modernize the built environment at a critical junction for building safety and adaptability nationwide.

Speaking in a press statement, AIA President Peter Exley said that “to meet the challenges of the 21st century, our nation’s infrastructure funding needs to move beyond roads and bridges to include schools, hospitals, homes and more, especially as buildings contribute nearly 40 percent of worldwide carbon emissions.”

He added: “This bipartisan legislation represents an important step toward improving our nation's buildings. However, we urge lawmakers to ensure greater funding for building improvements is included in the Budget Reconciliation package. By doing so, we can make meaningful progress on reducing the built environment’s impact on climate change."

Previously on Archinect: The deadli...

Mobile games help employers teach potential recruits about construction safety and building protocols

2019-12-24T09:00:00-05:00

While finding the right employee hires is a key concern for any business, less attention has been paid, until recently, to streamlined training and workforce development initiatives. Yet, with the growing sophistication and proliferation of online training services and mobile apps that can assist with employee development, it's no surprise one company has found a way to help the construction industry with their onboarding processes.

The Pittsburgh-based educational app developer, Simcoach, has created an app that helps potential construction hires with basic safety and equipment usage. Zachary Phillips of ConstructionDive reports, "Mobile games encourage continued usage by promising prizes, levels, and rewards for advancing through challenges. Construction managers are capitalizing on younger generations' interest in these types of games, especially on mobile platforms, to recruit and promote safety through educational construction apps."

Image © Simcoach Games

Games such as Harnes...

Architecture apprenticeship model launching next month between UK schools and firms

2018-08-23T14:58:00-04:00

The first group of architectural apprentices will start at leading practices such as AHMM, Hawkins\Brown and PRP next month as a major new sector initiative gets underway. Practices AtelierWest, GPA (Get Planning and Architecture), Ingleton Wood, and To-Do Design are also pioneering two types of apprenticeships as a route into the profession in collaboration with London South Bank University.

Following the architecture apprenticeship initiative led by Foster + Partners, the first group entering the ‘earn while you learn’ program will begin next month in the UK. This approach will offer both professional experience and tuition-free academic training, while also providing a salary to apprentices.

Charles Egbu, dean of London Southbank’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment stated, "These apprenticeship courses will provide an alternative, more cost-effective route to ARB registration, while diversifying the profession and strengthening ties between the architectural industry and academia."

London Southbank’s School of Architecture will be the only one to offer Level 6 apprenticeship. Participating schools also include De Montford, Northumbria, Oxford Brookes, and Portsmouth offering Level 7 qualification.

Firms with wage bills of more than $3.8 million a year have been charged 0.5% of their total wage bill to fund these new apprenticeships. Smaller firms outsi...

Training refugees to conserve their monumental heritage

2018-03-20T15:43:00-04:00

The problems: how to conserve extraordinary monumental heritage in Iraq and Syria [...]. The issue is exacerbated by the depletion of skilled craftspeople; once the dust of conflict settles, there will be few able to carry out restoration. At the same time, thousands sit in refugee camps, lives on hold, seeking a future. The solution: train refugees to become the craftspeople and conservators of the future. Give them a skill to help restore their nation’s heritage.

Photo: World Monuments Fund.

Learn more about the World Monuments Fund’s new stone masonry training center for Syrian refugees in Mafraq, Jordan (backed by the UK government’s Cultural Protection Fund) here.

Architect-US: An Innovative International Architectural Training Program Calling For Host Firms Across The US

2015-07-13T14:40:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Architect-US.

In a globalized market, it is increasingly important for design firms to have the contacts, skills and cultural sensitivity to work across borders. There are global issues affecting everybody that intersect the world and the industry is needed of platforms that promote cross-pollination and encourage global dialogues, breaking down bureaucracy and immigration barriers.

Conceived as a liaison between rising global architectural talents and U.S.-based firms, Architect-US is a groundbreaking professional career training program, that sponsors highly qualified bi/multilingual international architects and engineers to work in the U.S., as part of the U.S. Government J-1 Exchange Visitor Program. The program offers US firms a valuable resource to connect and deepen ties with designers in emerging and established markets, with young professionals -from Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East- eager to learn from American techniques and me...

Progressive Designers Need a Learning Experience to Match

2013-11-20T17:18:00-05:00

This sponsored post is brought to you by Digital-Tutors:

You are a Progressive Designer. Seeking out new ways to grow your skills and push your creative limits is what you do. When you need to learn a new design software or subject, watching random YouTube videos or paying hundreds of dollars to learn what you could have read in a book, if you even had time to read it, is not what you do. You need training for The Real World.

At Digital-Tutors, delivering relevant and reliable project-based training to you every week is exactly what we do. Watch introductory tutorials to quickly get up to speed. Or, enhance your design skills with advanced training on integrating applications like Revit, 3ds Max and Photoshop into your workflow, from drafting to visualization. With complete access to every tutorial in the Digital-Tutors library, you can customize your learning experience to fit your exact needs.

Progressive designers need progressive tools. Save your notes and tag a...

Fast, cheap and... accredited? "Competency-based" higher-ed

2013-10-29T21:11:00-04:00

What if you could earn a degree as quickly or slowly as you can learn, regardless of whether you plodded through 80 hours in a classroom lecture? That could be the next wave of higher education, as schools come under more pressure to cut costs while proving the value of expensive degrees and competing with the growing number of high-quality free online courses. Call it the decoupling of instruction and testing.

"Competency-based education" is the radical new initiative where students pay institutions (pending admittance) a flat, per-semester rate to attend whichever college courses they like. Degrees are awarded when a student passes a "competency" test, regardless of how many units they took or how well they performed in class.

The University of Wisconsin, one of several institutions to develop this type of educational format, is set to launch its highly scrutinized "Flex-Option" pilot program this November. The program targets adults who have yet to acquire a bachelor degree, which could mean drastically altering the demographics of higher education, as well as grade-based degree systems. The model could also help turn the process of school-degree-job on its head, as students can overstep course-requirements by using work experience to pass department tests.

The experimental option only extends to a few bachelor programs, but will certainly expand if successful. Should this apply ...