If you’re a high school student interested in architecture and design, you may already enjoy sketching ideas, thinking about spaces, or exploring how buildings and products are created. Architecture and design summer internships for high school students can help you move beyond school projects and understand what it’s like to work in a real design environment.

Imagine spending your summer working on design concepts, assisting with model-making, or learning how architects and designers approach real projects. Picture collaborating with professionals, using design tools, and presenting your ideas in a studio-style setting. These internships offer early exposure to how creative ideas are developed into real-world outcomes.

How do you choose the right architecture and design summer internships for high school students?

Multiple universities, institutes, and organizations offer architecture and design internships, and it can be difficult to identify the best programs. That’s why it’s crucial to get the correct information, so you can pick the opportunities best suited for you.

Across these internships, you might take part in studio work, collaborative projects, and portfolio development. You could design spaces, build models, create digital concepts, or present your ideas, gaining both technical skills and creative confidence.

You’ll learn from experienced architects and designers, collaborate with peers, and develop essential skills such as creativity, communication, and problem-solving. Along the way, you’ll build a portfolio, strengthen your college applications, and gain a clearer understanding of what studying architecture or design might truly involve.

To help you get started, we’ve curated a list of 15 Architecture and Design Summer Internships for High School Students. They’ve been selected for their hands-on opportunities, strong mentorship, and ability to provide meaningful early exposure.

For related options, consider the architecture summer program, the online architecture program, and the fashion & design summer program.

15 Architecture and Design Summer Internships for High School Students

1. BSA Arch/Design High School Internships

Location: Various architecture firms across Boston
Stipend: Provided
Dates: July 6th – August 14th
Application Deadline: Opens February 20th
Eligibility: Rising 10th graders through newly graduated students from Boston Public Schools

As a foundation that is part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Boston Society for Architecture aids high school students like you who have a passion for architecture/design to find internship opportunities that give an insight into the field. As a participant in the program, you would be joining an architecture firm in Boston for six weeks during the summer.

You are allowed to apply to the program multiple times, thus having the opportunity to explore different local architecture firms and how each differs from one another. Additionally, interns get to visit different architecture firms by participating in the firm crawls. 

Why it stands out: Students learn from real-world examples by going on field trips to explore different architectures within the city.

2. Immerse Education’s Architecture Summer School

Location: Cambridge, Oxford, Singapore, and Online
Cost: Varies; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts with rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students around the world aged 15-18

Among the various architecture and design summer internships for high school students, Immerse Education’s Architecture Summer School is a strong option if you already have design ideas and want to learn the skills needed to turn that vision into reality. The program will introduce you to some fundamental concepts in architecture, including but not limited to spatial design, structural engineering, and sustainability.

Apart from the theoretical part, this summer school will also engage you in hands-on design projects, studio sessions, and site visits. By having you participate in different activities, this program aims to enhance certain aspects of you, like creativity, technical skills, and visual thinking, that are highly valued in the world of architecture. 

Why it stands out: In addition to preparing you for a college major in architecture, this program also gives you a chance to explore architectural research and design theory.

3. Hideo Sasaki Foundation Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED)

Location: Hideo Sasaki Foundation, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15 per hour
Dates: July 6th – August 14th
Application Deadline: February 18th – April 17th
Eligibility: High school students who are residents of Boston or the Metro North region

The Hideo Sasaki Foundation welcomes high school students who dream of becoming future architects to a place where they can learn to execute their design ideas. SEED provides you with hands-on experience by involving you in group projects. Apart from that, you will have the opportunity to learn from architectural professionals in the foundation by participating in design charrettes with them.

These design charrettes are quite beneficial to you as they teach you hand sketching and computer drawing skills, and many more. By the end of the program, you will have learned about the different design tools that architecture experts use in their work on a regular basis. 

Why it stands out: SEED introduces you to multiple design-related careers, including architecture, interior design, planning and urban design, landscape architecture, and more, thus helping you figure out the best career option for you. 

4. DPR Construction Build Up High School Internship

Location: Construction projects across the US
Stipend:  $21 – $20 per hour
Dates: 8 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: April 15th
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th graders plus recent graduates who can legally work in the US, whose household income is at or below the 80% HUD Median Family Income (MFI), and can commute to the construction site every day

The Building Up High School Internship program is an eight-week summer program that allows students to dive into the field of construction while gaining work experience in the field. You would be part of a project team working in a job trailer where you will get to contribute to a commercial construction project.

By immersing yourself in such a major project, you gain practice and learn to manage a multimillion-dollar project. You also familiarize yourself with the technology that industry experts use to plan, schedule and design. In this program, you will also discover the different professions that are involved in completing a construction project. 

Why it stands out: Interns typically take the role of a project engineer, doing actual on-the-field work and being exposed to new challenges that become a learning experience. 

5. Open Studio Seattle Summer Internship

Location: The Miller Hull Partnership, Seattle, WA
Stipend:  $21.30 per hour
Dates: July 27th – August 21st
Application Deadline: May 1st
Eligibility: Students who have completed 11th or 12th grades; international student eligibility not disclosed

This is an extremely competitive internship opportunity where only one student is selected per year to join The Miller Hull Partnership for a work experience. The four-week summer program will give this student the opportunity to gain an in-depth and practical understanding of the field of architecture and design.

If you are the selected student, you would spend your time in the program visiting construction sites, being part of office meetings and learning what it is like to work in a professional setting. The program will simultaneously help you in putting your work together, thus ensuring you have a portfolio to show for your contributions by the end of the program. You will be presenting this on the last day. 

Why it stands out: Your role would come with various responsibilities, including research, conceptual design and more that equip you with design, problem-solving, critical thinking and presentation skills. 

6. Met High School Internship Program

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Stipend: $1,100
Dates: July 7th – August 7th
Application Deadline: March 13th
Eligibility: 10th and 11th graders who reside in and attend a high school or home school in either New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and can provide working papers and either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)

This summer internship opportunity offered by The Metropolitan Museum of Art creates a space for high school students to connect with and learn from professionals across art, museum and creative industries. The program aims to provide you with the work experience that ensures that you are equipped with the professional skills needed to perform well in the field.

The Met welcomes students of varying interests, such as curatorial, social media, education, imaging, design, and more. Ultimately, the program aims to prepare high school students like you with an interest in design and other related fields for a role in the museum. 

Why it stands out: The Met schedules one-hour biweekly sessions during which you would interact with other participants and exchange your experiences with each other while also meeting with your mentors and working on your job-readiness skills. 

7. UH Design Experience Summer Programs: The Idea Factory

Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX
Cost: $500 per session
Dates: June 8-12 (Session I: 2D to 3D) and June 15-19 (Session II: CAST)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Open to high school students around the world

In this one-week summer design program, you will learn the process of designing and making a product. If you join Session I (2D to 3D), you would be working on a project where you make a cardboard stool or a chair that is both functional and comfortable to use. In the process, you will familiarize yourself with various design techniques, including cutting, folding, joining, reinforcing the corners, and more.

Session II (CAST) will focus on teaching you to make a concrete lamp while educating you about its unique properties and casting techniques. You will also gain a better understanding of negative and positive space in design. The ultimate goal of this session is to make a working lamp that is also visually appealing. 

Why it stands out: The Idea Factor lets you explore industrial design while diving into the importance of form and function, creativity, materials, and fabrication methods.

8. From the Ground Up

Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX
Cost: $1,500 (financial need-based scholarships available)
Dates: June 15th – July 17th
Application Deadline: January 1st – June 1st
Eligibility: Rising 10th through 12th graders and recent high school graduates worldwide

If you aspire to become an architect, this University of Houston program offers a studio-based route into the various architecture and design summer internships for high school students. In this month-long program, you will learn what architecture is by working in a studio, developing a portfolio and going on field trips.

You will sit in daily lectures where you learn architectural history, discovering the different techniques and styles that architects have used from ancient to modern times. While mornings are spent in lecture rooms, you will be working in a studio in the afternoons, designing two small projects which can be a café, bookstore, aviary, gallery, or something of that size. 

Why it stands out: The program will give you the opportunity to explore different buildings in Texas and help you understand the different aspects that make these constructions stand out.  

9. Museum of Arts and Design: Artslife

Location: Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York, NY
Stipend: $16.50 per hour
Dates: 6 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Typically in April
Eligibility: Rising 10th and 11th-graders who are enrolled in New York City public and charter high schools

This summer internship program is made for students who have plans of pursuing a career in art and design. You will spend the first week participating in team bonding exercises and getting acquainted with other interns. In the following five weeks, you will spend your time working on a group project alongside Museum staff, local designers, and arts professionals who will guide you through every step as your mentor.

You also get to produce a podcast series focusing on a topic of your choice. As an intern at MAD, you will also be welcomed to participate in the museum’s public and private events that are only open to the staff. Moreover, the program equips you with presentation, communication, and public speaking skills

Why it stands out: It will expose you to the various career opportunities available to you in a museum, including in departments like education, curatorial, development, communications, marketing and more. 

10. URBN Home Office Internships

Location: URBN (Urban Outfitters, Inc.), Philadelphia, PA
Stipend: Provided
Dates: June 1st – August 7th
Application Deadline: November 3rd
Eligibility: Open to high school students across the US

Urban Outfitters offers annual summer internships that are aimed at students of varying interests, including design. If selected to become a temporary summer intern for URBN, you would be working in one of its departments within its home office. The company posts its internship openings on its job page, and you can apply to one that best suits your interests.

In your case, it can be something offered by the design department or other design-oriented roles offered by other departments. You will also be invited to participate in various enrichment activities, like field trips, leadership meetings, and more, that are especially designed for interns like you. 

Why it stands out: You will not just gain work experience but also learn new skills that are essential when you work in a fast-paced environment. 

11. ArtXpress Internship Program

Location: Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Stipend: Provided
Dates: July 7-31
Application Deadline: May 22nd
Eligibility: 11th and 12th graders (aged 16-18) who attend a high school in Milwaukee, pass the background check, are legally authorized to work in the US and have a checking/savings account opened in their name

This initiative, started by the Milwaukee Art Museum, welcomes teenagers interested in art to design a mural that represents a particular social issue in Milwaukee. Working on this project, you will find yourself collaborating with some established artists from the city and aspiring ones like you who share your passion for art. The program encourages you to take a look at its exhibitions to take inspiration for your work. Your finished mural will be displayed on a Milwaukee County Bus. 

Apart from working on your mural, your responsibility as an intern also includes mentoring elementary school students from Milwaukee Public Schools. You will also become a docent for them, showing them the museum’s collection and guiding them in completing artworks. 

Why it stands out: Given that this internship program is not looking for talented artists, it can be a perfect opportunity to explore art without the pressure of needing to be good at it. 

12. Art@Work: Marwen’s Summer Internship Program

Location: Marwen, Chicago, IL and various internship sites in Chicago, IL
Stipend:  $16.20 per hour
Dates: 5 weeks, from July to August
Application Deadline: April 11th
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 to 18 by July 1st who reside in Chicago, have a Social Security number or employment tax ID number, and have taken one Marwen course

This five-week creative internship, targeting teenagers in Chicago, places you in an organization or a business focusing on the arts. The company you will be matched with will typically be something that caters to your interests, strengths, and creative skills. By giving you the opportunity to work at one such art-related institution, Marwen ensures that you are in an environment where you can try your hand at art while figuring out future career plans in the field.

Some of the locations you may find yourself interning in include 3ARTS, Englewood Arts Collective, Hull House Museum, Maria Pinto, Sullivan Gallery, Yollocalli/National Mexican Museum of Art, and others. 

Why it stands out: In addition to interning at your internship site, you will also be spend 2.5 hours in Marwen, where you will participate in professional development workshops. 

13. ArtWorks Summer Internship

Location: MDC Koubek Center, Miami, FL
Stipend: $14 per hour
Dates: June 16th – July 25th
Application Deadline: May 1st
Eligibility: 9th to 12th graders who are at least 14 years old, reside in Florida, and meet I9 work eligibility requirement; if you are not a Florida resident, you may receive community service credit hours

Arts for Learning’s ArtWorks Summer Internship offers high school students a chance to spend their summer break working on art projects while simultaneously developing their professional skills. In this program, you will have the option to choose from internship opportunities across various art forms, including visual art, dance & theatre, music production, creative writing & film, and animation.

Regardless of your choice, you receive the mentorship of a professional artist and Arts for Learning staff. Your mentor will typically be an artist who is an expert in the field of your choice. Ultimately, the program ensures that you gain exposure to the art world and also have an insight into what it is like to choose art as your profession. 

Why it stands out: Through your participation in the program, you will not just enhance your artistic skills, but you will also develop your teamwork, time management, and problem-solving skills. 

14. Architect of the Capitol (AOC) Summer Internship Program

Location: Architect of the Capitol (AOC), Washington, DC
Stipend: Provided
Dates: 12 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: November – January
Eligibility: Students from across the US

Whether you are a student in a high school, college or any other educational institute, the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) gives you the opportunity to gain work experience by working in its office. If selected for the program, you would take one of the many roles offered to interns, including architecture aide, communication aide, audiovisual aide, law aide, and others.

Depending on the department you join, you will be assigned special projects and assignments to complete as part of your team. Apart from work, students also engage in some fun activities like touring the AOC campus and participating in a scavenger hunt within the location. 

Why it stands out: By interning for the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), you learn what it is like to work for the federal government. 

15. SCA High School Summer Internship Program

Location: Various SCA departments and business partner companies across New York
Stipend: $17 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; cohort size varies by year
Dates: July 6th – August 14th
Application Deadline: March 6th
Eligibility: High school students who are enrolled in a New York City public high school and are legally authorized to work in the US; required to submit original unexpired I-9 documentation; not open to international students

The SCA High School Summer Internship Program is one of the broader architecture and design summer internships for high school students, offering work experience in fields such as architecture, engineering, construction management, business, public administration, and many more. As an intern, you might be working in one of SCA’s internal departments, and considering your interest in architecture or design, it can be Architecture & Engineering, Design Construction Innovation Management, Construction Management, Building Code Compliance, or something else.

If not within SCA, some interns may even be placed at partnering companies like CTA Architects, Ivan Brice Architecture & Urbanism, JMV Architect PLLC, Velocity Architectural & Engineering Group, and others.

Why it stands out: As an SCA intern, you are considered a professional staff thus completing actual work that has a real-world impact rather than working on simulated projects made for the sake of the internship. 

Use Design Internships To Shape Your Future

Design internships help you move beyond ideas on paper and see how spaces, products, exhibitions, and construction projects take shape professionally.

The 15 architecture and design summer internships for high school students featured here include architecture firms, museums, studios, construction sites, and public art projects.

Through model-making, site visits, portfolio work, and professional mentorship, you can start identifying which creative environments actually suit your strengths.

Ready to turn that experience into clearer career direction? Explore our Career Exploration blogs for pathways, skills, study routes, and industry insights.