Architecture

Building a Future Through New Experiences

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Jannis Acbard has always been fascinated with the design process and exploring new countries. While pursuing a degree in landscape and garden architecture, New York always stood out as the perfect place to gain work experience in a new and fast-paced environment. Thanks to his exchange program, Jannis was able to live in New York while interning with Joanna Pertz Landscape Architecture (JPLA).

During his internship, he worked on a variety of tasks, including drafting landscape plans, writing maintenance and planting reports, and assisting with on-site planting and installation. JPLA allowed Jannis to be part of a design team, improve his English, and gain skills necessary to further his studies and career in landscape architecture.

We recently caught up with Jannis to hear more about his internship and his time in New York!

What impact has your exchange experience had on your life and your career?

​I gained a lot of experience working at JPLA working with the most familiar programs (Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCAD) to me. This made me better and faster at working with these programs. It also gave me a nice life experience of living by myself and living in another country.

What is your favorite memory from your exchange program?

​Living in an entire new city outside of Europe. Getting to experience a totally different lifestyle and pace of life. It has been a really nice time getting to explore everything that NYC had to offer and I never had enough of it.

What was your favorite cultural activity to do in New York?

​I enjoyed visiting museums and architectural landmarks. Besides that I always enjoyed just walking and discovering new things in my neighborhood or in another part of the city.

What advice can you offer to future exchange visitors coming to the United States?

​If you are going to the United States, be sure to plan everything way ahead and have a second plan in case anything doesn’t go as planned. If you come from Europe, it will be quite the opposite for you when visiting but everything is so nice there!

What does cultural exchange mean to you?

​It means getting to experience a different culture of an entire new city and country. Discovering the way of living, the way people are and live, and tasting the food and culture.

Host Spotlight: WORKac

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WORKac, based in New York City, is interested in positing architecture at the intersection of the urban, the rural and the natural. WORKac has achieved international acclaim for projects such as the recently completed master plan for the New Holland Island Cultural Center in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wieden+Kennedy’s 50,000 sq ft, three story New York offices, the Blaffer Museum in Houston, Texas, the Children’s Museum of the Arts in Manhattan and the Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216 in Gravesend, Brooklyn.

We got in touch with Sarah Dunham, Director of Communications at WORKac, to hear her thoughts about being one of our host organizations.

Q: What are some of your favorite things about hosting exchange visitors?

We love having a diverse group of international people in our office! Hosting J1 exchange visitors allows us to work with architecture students from around the world, which brings fresh perspectives to our office on a regular basis.

Q: What are some of the neat work-related tasks that WORKac interns get to do?

Interns at WORKac are involved in nearly every phase of the design process for projects that they work on. In addition to 3D modeling and rendering, interns are crucial to the physical model-making process, which is an important part of the design process at WORKac. Helping to translate design ideas into physical models allows the team to test ideas quickly and understand the spatial implications of a range of design options for various aspects of a process.

Q: What are some of the cultural activities that WORKac interns get to take part in?

Depending on what part of the year they have joined the office, interns generally get to enjoy the annual summer party out in Rhode Island which involves camping, kayaking, beach days, and good food, or the annual holiday party which has featured epic karaoke in the past. Every so often interns will get to visit some of our recently completed projects including the new offices for Wieden+Kennedy New York and the Edible Schoolyard Project at PS216. Rarely (but it does happen!) interns may get to attend an event hosted by Zero + Maria Cornejo, a brand whose retail stores we designed a few years back. In addition, we tend to have happy hours in the office every few weeks and we always send interns off with a small get-together to say thanks!

Q: What should people do if they are interested in applying to the WORKac internship program?

We receive applications on a rolling basis so they can send any materials to hr@work.ac. We are not able to host a ton of people at a time so spots are a bit limited but we would love to talk with any interested students!

You can view WORKac’s portfolio here.