Just a few days after we had offered several students summer internships, universities across the U.S. shut their doors and ordered students to stay home because of COVID-19.  We went from excitement to nervousness as we were suddenly unsure how we would make this work for our interns.

The environment in which landscape architecture students typically learn their craft is very hands-on and collaborative. The days of huddling shoulder-to-shoulder over a drafting table and sketching out ideas were over. Learning from home meant that students had to adapt to new ways of connecting, brainstorming, and sharing information. And guess what? They made it work.

In fact, from our perspective, they nailed it. Several of our designers acted as guest jury on year-end student design reviews and we were thoroughly impressed at how amazing the student work was and how seamlessly they were able to share their presentations remotely. It gave us an idea.

After witnessing how easily the students had adapted (and how well our own staff had adapted to working remotely), we decided to take a different approach and offer our first ever 100% remote working internship. While it’s disappointing to not have the interns be a part of our in-office culture, we see this as a tremendous opportunity to learn new ways of working. Plus, since our interns are from all over the country (Purdue, Ohio State, University of Georgia, and the University of Florida), this opportunity actually saves them the hassle of having to move cross-country for a summer.

We developed a project plan for the interns that would give them the opportunity to act as their own studio unit and manage the project as a team. We set up a design challenge for them: to provide a community vision plan for the Lake Ivanhoe district in downtown Orlando. The intern studio will learn to manage a project by following a project schedule, using the 6D design process to develop their designs, communicating their design ideas to the client (Dix.Hite) at key milestones, and managing change as the project progresses.

This project will involve some innovative research techniques, forcing the team to perform inventory and analysis without physically visiting the site. One intern who lives in Florida was able to drive to Orlando and film the location using a 360-degree camera and by taking thorough notes to share with the rest of his team. Much of the rest of the team’s research can be done online and through client interviews. We also scheduled a series of remote presentations from experts in the area who gave the interns a broad perspective on the needs of the community.

While the challenge of physical distancing certainly changes the way we work, it has also shed some clarity on what is truly important in our profession – people and passion. Having the drive, passion, and motivation to use our skills and knowledge to help shape our communities is a key element in becoming a great Landscape Architect – one that we’re able to see in each of our interns. We truly value the fresh ideas and energy that student interns bring to our office environment and we’re feeling grateful to have this opportunity with them this summer. Stay tuned as their community vision project comes to life.