My internship with HKS Architects


Name: Matheus Da Silveira

Hometown:  Sao Paulo, Brazil

Degree/Major: Interior architecture

Where did you intern? What did you do there? I’m an intern at the HKS Architects. Because I already have a bachelor’s in architecture, I do all kind of work related with the field. I work with different phases of the design project — from design concept to construction documents and client meetings.

How did you get your internship? I got my internship after the first semester of my master’s program.

What advice do you have for those beginning the internship process? Be curious, be open for new point of views, be humble and be persistent.

What projects do you work on? I work with the health care department. I did some interesting projects with a children’s hospital, a physiotherapy clinic and hospital renovation.

How did your internship connect back to your coursework? I’m doing my master’s in interior health care architecture and my internship is at HKS’s health care department.

What was the coolest thing about your internship or that happened during your internship? Two interesting cases happened during my internship. First, the Pulse Night Club project. We did a conceptual design in memory of the victims, survivors and families of the Pulse Night Club terrorist attack, and we won an AIA Design award for it. Second, this semester, I’ll participate as a professor assistant at the interior health studio that that will take place once a week at the HKS Miami office.

What did you like most about your experience? The nicest part of my internship was a trip to Jacksonville to receive the AIA Design Award with my teammates.

What did you learn about yourself? I learned to be open to new challenges, to be a positive person and to never give up of my dream; if you try hard, good things will happen.

How did the position increase your professional confidence? The trust my co-workers have on my work, allowing me to have more freedom to create my own design ideas, gives me more professional confidence.

How did you expand your professional network? I expand my professional network making as much contacts as possible, going to architecture events such the AIA health chapter, the Health care Design Expo, attending to the firm lunch and learns and getting connected to the main architectural events.

How did it help you prove yourself in the “real-world?” Every day I need to prove myself in the “real world”, especially because it gets more competitive every day, that’s why I see the internship as a “safe place.” The internship it is a place to learn from more experienced people. It is a place to test your skills and a place to share information, preparing you for what you are going to face after your degree.


Follow the Department of Interior Architecture on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.