Future Architects
Every architect started by drawing a building they wanted to see.
Most people never meet an architect until they hire one. ALA's members would like to change that, one classroom, one shop floor, and one napkin at a time. Here is where to start at every age, and how to get a licensed architect in front of your students.
Grade School
Start with a pencil.
Draw the building you live in
The first assignment every architecture student gets is the one a seven-year-old can do: draw your house from the front, then draw the rooms from above. Two drawings, one building, and the idea that a plan and an elevation describe the same thing.
The Napkin Sketch Contest is open to everyone
One drawing on a five-inch napkin, judged by architects, with a General Public category. Kids enter beside licensed professionals and get judged the same way. Napkins and pens are on the table at Coffee with Architects.
An architect in the classroom
A member architect brings drawings, a model, and a hard hat to your class for 45 minutes and answers every question. Free, anywhere in Illinois or Wisconsin, arranged through the request form below.
High School
See the work before you choose the major.
Shadow day at a member firm
A day inside a working studio: the drawings on the wall, the site visit, the client call. ALA matches students with member firms near them. Ask through the form below; a parent, teacher or counselor should send the request.
ACE Mentor Program
A free after-school program where teams of high school students design a project with architects, engineers and builders over a school year. Chapters across Illinois and Wisconsin, and many ALA members serve as mentors.
Chicago Architecture Center
Student programs, design competitions and teacher resources from the city's architecture center, along with the river cruise that has started more careers than any lecture.
College
Student membership is free. Use it.
What a free student membership includes
- The Student Merit Awards: one project, judged blind by practicing architects, published beside the professional winners.
- YALA, the community for students and early-career architects, and Coffee with Architects.
- Every ALA tour and conference at the member rate, with learning units that count once you are licensed.
- The contract library, so you read a real owner-architect agreement before your first job asks you to.
Accredited architecture programs near ALA
A license requires a degree from a program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. These are the accredited programs in Illinois and Wisconsin; the full national list is at NAAB.
- Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
- University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign
- Judson University, Elgin
- Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee
After Graduation
The degree is the middle of the path, not the end.
Licensure takes an accredited degree, a record of supervised experience, and six exams. Most people who start the exams are 29; most who finish are 32; more than a third never finish. ALA runs a study cohort for every division and puts your name on the wall for every pass.
Request a Visit
Bring an architect to your students.
Teachers, counselors, scout leaders, parents: tell us the grade, the place and the dates that work, and the ALA office matches you with a member architect nearby. Classroom talks, career-day tables and shadow days are all free.
Architects: want to be on the list of volunteers? Write to ALA@licensedarchitect.org.