14 Architecture Internships in Boston for High School Students
An architecture internship enables you to step into real workflows where sketches turn into plans, ideas get challenged, and projects evolve through feedback and constraints. You begin to build practical skills such as sketching, model-making, spatial thinking, and presenting ideas that are difficult to develop through coursework alone. In a city like Boston, where historic streets sit alongside contemporary design, internships also give you a built-in learning environment beyond the office or studio.
If you’re looking for particularly competitive internships, find a list in our blog here!
Why should I participate in an architecture internship in high school?
Participating in an architecture internship allows you to test your interest in the field before making long-term academic decisions, while also building experiences that stand out in college applications. You gain exposure to how architects think, how they analyze sites, respond to user needs, and refine ideas through multiple iterations. Many of these internships also give you the chance to create tangible work, which can later become part of a portfolio or supplement your application materials. Along the way, you develop transferable skills in problem-solving, collaboration, and visual communication that apply across architecture, urban planning, engineering, and design-related careers. You also begin to understand what working in architecture actually looks like day to day, from studio critiques to site visits and team discussions, helping you make more informed choices about your future path.
To help you sort through the possibilities, we’ve selected the best 15 architecture internships in Boston for high school students that offer meaningful project work, guided mentorship, and practical industry insight.
1. Bergmeyer – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: Bergmeyer, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; ~3 interns per year (varies)
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
At Bergmeyer, you work through a sequence of weekly design challenges that introduce you to architecture as an iterative process. Each challenge in this architecture internship in Boston for high school students begins with site observation and concept development, then moves into sketching, spatial programming, and presentation prep. The prompts focus on nearby spaces, so you can study how people actually use those sites and test whether your design decisions respond to local needs. The repetition built into the format helps you strengthen core habits such as analysis, visual communication, and time management from week to week. You also have the option to take one design further, sometimes into 3D modeling or portfolio-ready development.
2. Ladder Internship Program
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world
Cost/Stipend: Cost varies depending on the program type; financial aid is available / No stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 70–100 students per cohort
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the cohort; Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November)
Eligibility: High school students, undergraduates, and gap year students who can work for 10–20 hours/week for 8–12 weeks
Ladder Internships places you with a startup team, where your work is shaped by the company’s needs rather than a pre-set classroom assignment. While the program is not architecture-specific, it can still be relevant if you are interested in design strategy, operations, product thinking, or the business side of the built environment. You work closely with a manager and a Ladder coach on a defined project, which means you are expected to contribute to something concrete and then present your work back to the company. Depending on the placement, you may also build research, presentation, and problem-solving skills that transfer well to architecture and design pathways. The final presentation helps you practice explaining your work clearly to professionals.
3. Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) by Sasaki Foundation
Location: Sasaki Foundation, Boston, MA (Metro North region option)
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; ~40–50 high school students
Dates: Six weeks, early July to mid-August
Application Deadline: Mid-April
Eligibility: Current high school students (grades 9–12), residents of Boston or Metro North region (prioritizing Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, Somerville)
This architecture internship in Boston for high school students introduces you to design through a team-based project that reflects how architecture, planning, and landscape work often happen in practice. You spend the summer moving through charrettes, sketching sessions, and drawing exercises while learning how professionals define a problem before jumping to solutions. The group format means you are constantly discussing ideas, comparing approaches, and revising your work based on feedback. You also spend time with professionals from multiple design disciplines, which helps you understand how architecture overlaps with planning, interiors, and public-space design.
4. Designing Environmental and Social Impact (DESI) – Sasaki Foundation
Location: Boston and Metro North region, MA
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; around 12 students
Dates: January – April
Application Deadline: Late Fall
Eligibility: Students in grades 11 and 12 who live in Boston, Belmont, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Revere, Somerville, or Watertown
DESI centers on an independent project, giving you more ownership over the direction of your work than a typical group-based design program. You begin by identifying a social or environmental issue connected to your community, then develop a response using drawing, design software, and visual communication tools. The architecture internship in Boston for high school students encourages you to connect design decisions to real conditions, local organizations, and the people affected by the issue you are studying. The project is guided by a professional mentor who provides ongoing feedback while still shaping the work around your own perspective and observations. Workshops, critiques, and site-based exploration help you refine your ideas while also building technical fluency.
5. Finegold Alexander Architects – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: Finegold Alexander Architects, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 1 intern
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
At Finegold Alexander, your time is split between developing your own design project and learning from active project teams inside the firm. The independent assignment is built around a nearby site, which allows you to study conditions on the ground and shape a proposal that responds to actual place-based needs. At the same time, you rotate through sessions with different teams, gaining exposure to how design, meetings, and site visits fit into professional practice. You also benefit from being placed near emerging professionals, which can make feedback and day-to-day questions feel more accessible. Additional conversations about college and career pathways make the experience useful not just for skill-building, but for understanding what comes next.
6. Goody Clancy – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: Goody Clancy, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 2 interns
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
Goody Clancy organizes the internship around a mix of independent studio work, mini-courses, workshops, and visits that expose you to several sides of architectural practice. You get to build your own project while also learning skills such as site analysis, sketching, and model-making through structured sessions. The architecture internship in Boston for high school students also uses workshops to introduce areas beyond core design, including graphics, sustainability, and other functions that shape how architecture is communicated and delivered. Weekly site visits add another strong layer, allowing you to also use those visits to sketch and analyze spatial conditions.
7. HMFH Architects – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: HMFH Architects, Cambridge, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 2–3 interns
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
HMFH centers the internship on a design project tied to a site across from the office, which allows you to revisit the location and observe how it changes as your proposal develops. Working on a manageable site scale helps keep the project focused while still teaching you core design methods such as sketching, site analysis, and model-making. The program also includes regular interaction with staff from different parts of the firm, so you gain a better understanding of the range of roles that support architectural work. That can be especially helpful if you are still figuring out whether your interests lean more toward design, graphics, communications, or another related field.
8. Page (now Stantec) – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 2 interns
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
This architecture internship in Boston for high school students is built around a central design project that develops alongside weekly lessons on how architecture moves from concept to execution. You start with analog methods such as sketching, diagramming, and model-making before gradually adding digital tools into the process. The daily structure also covers independent work blocks and mentor check-ins, which mirror the rhythm of a studio environment more closely than a typical job shadow experience. The program places emphasis on desk critiques and self-guided work, both of which give the program a real pre-college studio feel. Expert lectures and conversations with professionals across the office broaden the experience beyond architecture alone.
9. PAYETTE – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: PAYETTE, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 2 interns
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
At PAYETTE, your week is organized around recurring lessons, project work, mentor check-ins, and office-wide engagements that help build consistency over the course of the internship. The central project asks you to design a small pavilion, giving you a focused way to practice spatial thinking while applying new skills as you learn them. Design lessons introduce core concepts, while workshops help you build both analog and digital representation skills that support the project. The mentor lunches and off-site tours are especially useful, since they connect project work to real buildings and real career paths and show how architects collaborate with people in different roles across a firm.
10. RODE Architects – BSA High School Internship Host Placement
Location: RODE Architects, Boston, MA
Stipend: $15–$18/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 2 interns
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; students must apply through the BSA/PIC/FutureBOS pipeline
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 10–12
RODE structures the internship around an independent pavilion project, giving you a concrete way to test ideas while learning the fundamentals of architecture. The project is rooted in a nearby park, so you can observe site conditions such as sunlight, circulation, and user behavior before deciding how your design should respond. Each morning focuses on a new skill or task connected to the project, while afternoons give you time to work independently and track your progress through daily check-ins. The internship also includes weekly pinups, where you are required to present unfinished work, take critique seriously, and refine your thinking in public. In addition to design exercises, you also contribute to routine office tasks.
11. Architecture / Design Thinking Week at Boston Society for Architecture
Location: BSA Space, Boston, MA
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 20–43 students per year
Dates: February 17 – 20
Application Deadline: January – February (via Boston Private Industry Council)
Eligibility: Boston Public School students in grades 9–12
Architecture / Design Thinking Week gives you a short but intensive introduction to architectural thinking through a shared studio-style design prompt. Over several days across the internship, you work inside a temporary design studio, developing ideas through sketching, model-making, discussion, and presentation. The workshop is led by local professionals, meaning you also get direct exposure to how architects explain design decisions and guide creative problem-solving. The final share-out gives you a chance to present your work and practice communicating your ideas to others.
12. YouthBuild Boston – Designery Program
Location: Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts
Stipend: Paid biweekly, amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohort scale
Dates: Five-week after-school sessions offered several times during the school year and a seven-week summer session
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Boston-area high school students interested in design, architecture, and related fields; ages 16–24, with emphasis on under-resourced communities
In this program, you join the Designery as an Intern Designer, working through the full design process on real client projects for Boston nonprofits and community groups. You explore architecture, urban planning, interior design, and landscape design while examining how thoughtful design can drive social change and meet community needs. You build fundamental skills in graphic design, physical and digital modeling, public speaking, and design thinking, and you gain exposure to professional software used by architecture firms, including AutoCAD, Revit, and Adobe Creative Suite. Mentorship from practicing architects, designers, and university co-op students guides your work and connects you to AEC career pathways.
13. Artists For Humanity – Teen Employment (design studios)
Location: Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, Boston, MA
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; about 7–20 teens
Dates: School-year and 7-week summer sessions available
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Enrolled in and regularly attending a Boston Public School or a resident of Boston (including night, day, homeschool, or G.E.D. programs); authorized to work in the U.S.
In this program, you join Artists For Humanity's 3D Design Studio, the program track most closely aligned with architecture, where you turn spatial concepts into built objects and installations. Working beside professional designer-mentors, you brainstorm ideas, build prototypes, and deliver finished products using a fully equipped woodshop, laser cutters, water jet cutters, and 3D printers. You contribute to real client commissions, including large-scale public installations sited in Boston's Fort Point district, while learning fabrication workflows, structural problem-solving, and design presentation. You build hands-on skills translating drawings into three-dimensional form, alongside professional habits like collaboration, client communication, and project management. The paid, mentored structure ties your design work directly to Boston's built environment.
14. Architecture Constructions Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program – Greater Boston
Location: Greater Boston, Massachusetts; in-person sites in Boston (Fenway, State Street area) and Cambridge (Inman Square, Central Square), plus a virtual (Zoom) option
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; cohort size not specified
Dates: Late October – Early March; roughly 15 weeks with weekly after-school team meetings
Application Deadline: Typically, early-to-mid October
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12; located in the Greater Boston area
As a participant in ACE Greater Boston, you join a team of students from multiple schools and work alongside volunteer architects, engineers, and construction professionals to develop an end-to-end design project, such as renovating a subway station or improving a neighborhood's climate resilience. You explore architecture by moving from concept through schematic design, learning how a building idea becomes a buildable plan while collaborating across the design and construction disciplines. You take part in hands-on activities, including a Trade Day, construction site visits, and special events with partners like the National Organization of Minority Architects. Graduating seniors may also earn college scholarships.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Most of the BSA-hosted firm placements (Bergmeyer, Goody Clancy, HMFH, PAYETTE, RODE, and others) look very similar in structure. How do I choose between them?
While they share a common pipeline and pay range, each firm shapes the experience around its own specialty and culture, which is worth weighing carefully. PAYETTE and RODE both center on a focused pavilion design project, ideal if you want a clear, hands-on deliverable to build into your portfolio. Page (now Stantec) and Bergmeyer lean into a structured weekly rhythm that closely mirrors a professional studio, which suits students who want to feel like they're truly working inside a firm. Goody Clancy and HMFH stand out for breadth, exposing you to graphics, sustainability, and multiple firm functions beyond core design, which is valuable if you're still narrowing down your specific interest within architecture. Since acceptance is highly competitive across all of these and you apply through a single BSA pipeline, it's worth ranking your preferences based on which structure excites you most rather than assuming they're interchangeable.
2. I'm not a Boston Public School student. Are there still strong options for me on this list?
Yes, several. The Sasaki Foundation's SEED and DESI programs are open to a broader set of Boston and Metro North towns, including Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and others, so you don't need to be a BPS student specifically. YouthBuild Boston's Designery and Artists For Humanity both welcome a wide range of Boston-area students, including those in homeschool or GED programs, making them some of the most accessible options here. The ACE Mentor Program is open to any high school student in the Greater Boston area regardless of which school you attend, and even offers a virtual option, broadening access further. Ladder Internships is the only fully remote option on this list with no Boston-area residency requirement at all.
3. None of these internships pay particularly high stipends, and a few don't pay at all. Is the experience still worth it without strong compensation?
For architecture specifically, yes, and often significantly so. The real value in these programs lies in the portfolio-ready work, mentorship from practicing architects, and the kind of access to professional studio environments that high school students rarely get otherwise. Programs like PAYETTE, RODE, and DESI give you a tangible design project you can carry directly into a college application portfolio, which is often worth more long-term than the hourly wage. The ACE Mentor Program, while unpaid, connects graduating seniors to college scholarships and partners with organizations like the National Organization of Minority Architects, adding real career value beyond the program itself. If a stipend matters most to you, Bergmeyer, Finegold Alexander, Goody Clancy, HMFH, Page, PAYETTE, and RODE all pay $15 to $18 per hour through the same BSA pipeline.
Key Takeaways
This list covers 15 architecture internships in Boston for high school students, anchored by a strong roster of firms participating in the BSA High School Internship Host Placement pipeline, including Bergmeyer, Goody Clancy, HMFH, PAYETTE, and RODE, alongside standout standalone programs like the Sasaki Foundation's SEED and DESI, YouthBuild Boston's Designery, and Artists For Humanity. The firm placements all pay $15 to $18 per hour over the same six-week window in July and August, giving students a consistent way to compare programs based on project structure and firm culture rather than pay, while DESI & ACE Mentor Program stand out for unpaid but high-value mentorship, scholarship access, and community-design experience. For students outside Boston Public Schools specifically, the Sasaki Foundation programs, YouthBuild Boston, Artists For Humanity, and the ACE Mentor Program offer the broadest eligibility, while Ladder Internships remains the only fully remote option for students who want design-adjacent business experience without needing to be based in Boston at all.