Each year, internship opportunities with highly-acclaimed, international architecture firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) are available to graduate architecture students from select institutions. Under the direction of a senior architect, the interns spend a semester abroad at the RPBW offices in either Paris or Italy. The internship involves a combination of work and study, including professional training, workshop seminars, and multi-cultural experiences.
Camila Lohezic, a fourth year FIU architecture student, was fortunate enough to receive this a once of a lifetime opportunity to participate in this much-coveted internship, offered to her this past September. For the past 2 months, she has been living in Paris, France interning at the RPBW offices and indulging in Parisian culture on her free time.
Each day, Camila is tasked with preparing documents and boards for exhibitions, meetings, and new projects.
“FIU has prepared me extremely well with programs, design comprehension and integrated building systems. The first week they held a Revit workshop for us and I was extremely familiar and comfortable with nearly every topic covered. I certainly know the most programs out of the interns and that makes me feel quite confident and comfortable, which makes work enjoyable!”
Camila has also delved into model making, picking up innovated methods and techniques which she’ll apply to her skills when she returns to FIU.
“I’ve learned so much about making models quickly and beautifully using hot-wire machines, plexi core, tree-pins and voila! So many other simple techniques that make me wonder “how haven’t I thought of this before?”.
Aside from her internship duties, this experience has exceeded Camila’s expectations on a personal level as well. She was included in Renzo Piano’s birthday celebration and even received the chance to converse with him during an intimate meeting with RPBW interns.
“I cannot think of a way to appropriately to thank the Department of Architecture for having chosen me for this internship. This is a dream come true! Pinch me!” said Camila.
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