I think almost any would respond favorably to direct appeal. Why not target the best firms directly?

I would but I am not sure what the best firms in my area are

olson sundberg recently won best firm in the world. Maybe you can get someone there to answer an email (iffy). others worth checking out? miller hull/mithun/suyama peterson deguchi/johnston arch's/weinstein a|u....

What kind of work do you want to do? I think the key, especially with the larger more well known firms, is that you find your way around the hr people (they are getting killed with unemployed architects) and make a direct appeal to the principals of the firms you want to work with. To familiarize yourself with the firms this is a good place to start:
http://folio.aiaseattle.org/
or
http://aiaseattle.org/node/3093

I would like to get into commercial architecture, so preferably job shadowing a firm in that arena, but thanks for the info LML and David, I will check out those firms and the websites to see if I can contact anyone around here, thanks!

What kind of commercial? High rises? Drive throughs? Law offices? Banks? Hospitals? Coffee Shops? Corporate Campuses? Whore houses? Hotels? Fast Food? Big Box stores? Strip Malls? Prisons? Retirement Homes? Zoos?Department Stores? Sports Stadiums? There are firms that specialize in all these commercial types in Seattle. Except maybe whore houses (my firm only did one).

If you listed a combination of those types we could recommend a group a firms that actually do what you are interested in. Oh, and I should add Wineries, Airplane Hangars, Ad Agencies, Movie Theaters, Spas, Grocery Stores, Casinos, Ski Lodges, Restaurants, and Airplane Interiors to the list.

ha, damn it and the only one I was looking for is whore houses, jk but on a serious note...My definite interests are skyscrapers/high rises, hotels, malls/strip malls, restarants and sports stadiums... if you know of any in those fields that be awesome.

nbbj, bohlin cywinski jackson...
you could probably do a strip mall right now--but you could go to any taco time for more inspiration.

Nbbj is the obvious one for sports stadiums, high rises, hotels, retail.
Callison for malls, retail, maybe high rises
Mulvanny for high rises, malls
ZGF and Weber Thompson for high rises I guess..
Degan&Degan, Jensen Fey for interiors for hotels, possibly restaurants.
Restaurants I don't know, but Heliotrope did a nice one recently.

Some commercial firms have more of a shell focus, other have a more interior focus. It is a very important distinction in the work experience. And if a firm has both they probably have specialists within.

Strip malls is an odd one...you probably want to stay away from that.

I thought the bcj commercial stuff came out of california.

Sounds good, I can try to contact these firms thanks for your guys knowledge and input! Now i gotta get one of them to take the bite.

BCJ has offices in California, Seattle and Pittsburgh I believe.

I know this is a little old but I just saw it. Most firms are pretty open to job shadows, we've done several in the last few years.
Olson Sundberg's fairly easy to get a hold of. Either address your email to Stacy Upton or call and ask for her. There are quite a few employees and former employees lurking on these forums.

Ditto on Nbbj being the place to go see how big buildings are built. LMN is fairly open as well

As far as young and doing a range of projects (XS to L)... you might try Chris Pardo at Pb Elemental. Not sure how open they'd be to a job shadow.

Thanks for your suggestions architecturegeek!

Article on Pb Elemental: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/02/24/pb_elemental_abandoning_its_hq

how the hell did you find that, orochi?

one of the few archi-slog postings holz hasn't commented on...

I ran across it a few months back. Design-build firms are one of the things I tend to check out the most is that they are more than likely the only ones who need planners.

I really liked that firm.

meh, their work is banal. no exploration, just the same moves over and over for the most part.

[Their planning was no where near as good as their architecture.]

Well, where I live... the only design-build firm is... is... is KB Homes.

to add to the seattle architecture community, i'm wondering how i can get (voluntary) internship experiences.

i'm a third year undergrad student at UW, and i don't have any family network here. i want to see what a firm does (job shadowing), which is one thing, but i also want to participate in real-life design processes. i can do layouts, and i'll be taking rendering classes in the winter, i can do modeling...

are those strong enough skills, along with my active interest in architecture, to go up to firms and ask for an internship?

not to ego up or anything, but i consider myself pretty good for the class that i'm in. should i mention that too?

luke,

with the way the economy is, you should look into volunteer opps w/ arch for humanity and arch without borders.

i wouldn't tell someone you are pretty good for the class you are in.

im pretty sure there are still hundreds of unemployed architects/designers in seattle. my old firm just had more layoffs and might have a 3rd round. without any tight connections i'd think the chance of getting an intern is very small...