B.Arch Curriculum · Semester 9 · Practical Training

Practical Training

School teaches you to design; the office teaches you to build, deliver and survive — and the practical-training semester is your bridge between the two. This is the internship: months inside a real architectural practice, on real projects, with real clients, budgets, drawings, contractors and deadlines. This guide helps you get the most from it. Learn how an architectural office actually works and who does what; the journey of a real project from the client's brief through concept, schematic and working drawings to tender, site and handover; how working drawings and approvals turn a design into a sanctioned, buildable instruction; how structure, services, estimation and tendering integrate; and life on site, where a drawing meets the reality of materials and labour. Above all, learn how to LEARN from your training — to be proactive, keep a sharp logbook, and turn months of work into the maturity your thesis will need. Assessed by your logbook, portfolio and viva, not a written paper.

5Units

6Outcomes

InternshipReal practice

FreeForever

See the project journey All student courses

Unit II · What you came to see

The Journey of a Project

In school a project is a semester; in practice it is a JOURNEY that can run for years, through a sequence of stages every architect knows. Learn the total PROCESS a real project moves through — the client's BRIEF and inception; CONCEPT design (the big idea); SCHEMATIC and DETAILED design (making it real and coordinated); WORKING DRAWINGS (the buildable instructions); TENDER and contract; CONSTRUCTION and site supervision; and COMPLETION and handover. Learn what happens at each stage and — most importantly — what YOU, as a trainee, can do and learn at each. Seeing a project move through these stages is the core lesson of training. Try the project-stage explorer.

Work stagesBrief to handoverCost & commitmentTrainee's viewStage explorer

Open the lesson

The guide

Five units — getting the most from your internship.

Built from the practical-training syllabus and real office practice. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons, each with original diagrams, a self-assessment quiz and a logbook task.

Unit 1 — Inside the Architectural Office

Live

What practical training is and how to get the most from it; the architectural office and how it works; the roles and the team — who does what; your role as a trainee; and the logbook and portfolio that record your learning and are assessed.

CO1

Unit 2 — The Journey of a Project

Live

The total process a real project moves through — from the client's brief and inception, through concept, schematic and detailed design, to working drawings, tender, construction and handover; the work stages; and what a trainee does and learns at each.

CO2

Unit 3 — Working Drawings & Approvals

Live

Working (construction) drawings — the legal, buildable instruction set, and the specifications that go with them; reading and producing them to the office standard; and the statutory approval and sanction process a project must clear before it can be built.

CO3

Unit 4 — Integration, Estimation & Tendering

Live

How a building's structure and services are integrated and coordinated with the architecture; estimation and the bill of quantities; the tendering process that selects a contractor and a price; and how the architect coordinates the whole team.

CO4

Unit 5 — Site, Conduct & the Thesis

Live

Life on site — supervision, coordinating contractors and workmen, resolving site queries and the construction process; professional conduct and ethics in practice; and how the maturity gained in training prepares and strengthens the thesis project.

CO5CO6

Course outcomes

What you should be able to do after the practical-training semester (CO1–CO6, from the syllabus).

Understand

Explain how an architectural firm works and get the most from your training.

Understand

Describe the total process of a project, from brief to handover.

Apply

Read and produce working drawings and navigate the approval process.

Understand

Explain how structure, services, estimation and tendering integrate.

Apply

Explain site supervision, execution and professional conduct.

Apply

Document your training and carry its maturity into the thesis.

The architecture internship semester (Practical · full semester). This is a practical course assessed by your logbook, portfolio and viva, not a written exam — so this guide is about getting the most from real practice. Every diagram is original Studio Matrx work. For the academic side of practice see Planning Legislation & Professional Practice; the maturity you gain here feeds straight into the thesis.

Where a student becomes an architect.

The office, the project journey, working drawings, the site, and the thesis. Read the five units, study the diagrams, then test yourself.

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