If a firm skims your portfolio for 30 seconds and still cannot tell what you designed, they will pass. Grab the free Architecture Portfolio Starter Checklist, then use this list so your first studio set does not get rejected for the same reasons we see every cycle.

1. No clear project story

Lead with the problem, your role, and the final outcome. Dumping every drawing without a one-line brief makes reviewers guess.

2. Drawings that fight the page

Keep a consistent grid, margins, and scale. Cropping plans at random, mixing line weights, and stacking unlabeled diagrams is the fastest way to look unfinished.

3. Process with no sequence

Show 3–5 steps that actually changed the design. Mood boards and 40 unused sketches do not count as process.

4. Unreadable type and missing labels

Title, north arrow, scale, and a short caption on every sheet. Tiny grey text on a busy render is not documentation.

5. Renders that hide the architecture

If the lighting, people, or filters outshine the plan, cut them. Firms hire people who can draw space, not just atmosphere.

6. No evidence you can work in a studio

Include one sheet that shows a drawing set: plan, section, and a detail that line up. Internship reviewers look for that more than a hero image.

Organize it this way: cover, 2–3 projects max, each with brief + drawings + one process spread. Export PDF under 15 MB. Name the file LastnameFirstnamePortfolio.

When you are ready to turn this into a worksheet you can fill in, the Architecture Internship Portfolio Builder Worksheet is $20 at /portfolio-worksheet.

Welcome, architecture students. Introduce yourselves and share what you’re working on in studio this semester.

This first discussion: Share your biggest studio model-making challenge this semester.

Post a short intro, then tell us what’s been hardest with physical or digital models (materials, scale, time, detailing, presentation). Drop photos or a description of the issue so others can give practical feedback.