Yentema Sambiani developed her spatial and portfolio design skills during her creative focused internship.
Why did you choose this internship?
When I joined Public and Applied Humanities and the required internship was brought up, I started thinking about what I could do that would benefit me the most. Having already completed a traditional architecture internship before, I felt like it’d be a great experience to pursue a more creative and tailored internship, with my focus of the experience being two-fold: 1) design a house for my brother; and 2) conceptualize and create an online portfolio that highlights my skills and best work.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
Throughout my internship, I spent most of my hours working on my brother’s house plans. It was a fun experience and due to the many changes and back and forth interaction with him and his wife, the design took longer than expected. Looking at the life he has and the one he envisions for himself in the future, I included rooms and features that brought activity to the site. I designed a pool, a mini gym, a barbecue place, an outdoor space, one living room and one kitchen on each of the two floors, bedrooms, an office, a walk-in pantry and a few more details.
Throughout my internship, I also sought advice from my mentor so that I could learn the basics of designing a website for my portfolio. My mentor (who lives abroad) and I spent hours on the phone, communicating over text messages and via zoom, deciding what worked best, reviewing portfolios to understand the styles and how it worked for the type of project. Finally, I picked the platform I was going to use to design my portfolio and now I’ve begun the build of the portfolio.
What new skills did you develop in this internship?
During this internship experience, I learned new skills and worked on some that I already had. Web designing was a new field for me, and now I am confident in designing websites on platforms like Google Sites and Wix. I also practiced patience, creative design, critical thinking which are very important in architecture and design fields. I also believe I practiced a lot of self motivation, resilience, and the ability to work with others in different settings (remotely).
What advice do you have for other students as they search for their internship?
After completing a creative internship, I really encourage students to think outside the box if your internship search starts to feel a little overwhelming. In other words, when it becomes hard to find a traditional internship that fits you or that aligns with what you want to do, it’s time to use your creativity to design your own internship. You get to make it be what you want, learning while enjoying it. And finding an interest can be the easiest thing because there are so many hobbies and passions of yours that you can explore and even turn into a permanent job. I read a book during the PAH 498 "Capstone" class that marked me, and this one sentence stood out to me the most: « let the beauty of what you love be what you do » - Segran