Summer Student Programs
For the past 50 years, SWA’s Summer Student Program has gathered emerging designers from a wide range of backgrounds to explore critical questions influencing the design industry at large—many of whom have become leaders within the firm and discipline.
Each year, we invite full-time, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, and architecture to apply. Applicants must be returning to their academic program in the following school year, meaning recent graduates are ineligible. Program locations and subject matter vary by year, but include a stipend and housing for the full duration of eight weeks. The program is an in-person commitment including site visits, lectures, discussions, and critiques.
Living on the Edge
Summer 2025
Selected applicants will receive a stipend and housing
for the eight-week duration of the summer student program.
Applications open until March 9, 2025
Exploring Southern California’s Wildland-Urban Interface
Whether they know it or not, nearly a third of the U.S. population lives in the “wildland-urban interface,” or WUI—a transitional zone where developed and undeveloped lands meet. Across these vast borders, tensions rise: rigid infrastructure meets dynamic ecology, sparking continual conflict over land, resources, and a changing climate.
In California, where urban sprawl races outward into increasingly fire-prone terrain, the WUI has become a flashpoint for urgent issues of climate adaptation, housing affordability, and environmental conservation. When designers and planners work in these highly contested areas, difficult questions arise: how can the state increase its affordable housing stock while safeguarding communities from wildfire risk? How can cities accommodate growth without compromising the resilience and health of natural systems?
SWA’s 2025 Summer Student Program invites a select group of graduate students to our Laguna Beach studio for an immersive exploration of Southern California’s WUI. Over the course of this intensive, participants will grapple with the complexities of these landscapes, developing bold, multiscalar design and planning strategies that interrogate and redefine the future of these precarious urban fringes.
Important dates
Submission deadline: March 9, 2025
Notification: Late March, 2025
Internship: June 1–July 31, 2025
Selected applicants will receive a stipend and housing for the eight-week duration of the summer student program.
Submission requirements
1 minute introductory video
Letter of interest
Resume
Contact information for 2–3 references
Portfolio (max. 10 pages)
Electronic submissions only
Taking on Extreme Heat in Downtown Houston
2024 was the hottest year in recorded history. In Sunbelt cities, the effect was visceral and deadly, disproportionately impacting communities reliant on public transportation, parks, and housing for cooling. In a world transformed by extreme heat, our public realm and buildings must adapt, and today’s designers and planners must rework the toolkit that created our overheated cities for a more just and livable world. In 2024, students worked alongside professional designers and community stakeholders to develop an actionable plan for Downtown Houston that weaves together open space improvements, climate adaptation strategies, and social infrastructure.
Learn more
Read the web story.
Reimagining the Future of North America’s Largest Container Port
In 2023, the students worked with North America’s largest port—the Port of Los Angeles—to reimagine an eight-mile stretch of the San Pedro Waterfront. As an extension of the San Pedro Waterfront Connectivity Plan, the program explored a variety of transportation methods and mobility solutions to get to the LA Waterfront and navigate among its areas and attractions. These recommendations include new and improved pedestrian and vehicular routes, transit, crosswalks, wayfinding signage, and open space, as well as active programming.
Learn more
Read the web story.
Read about the project in Urbanize LA.
Designing at the Epicenter of the Wildfire Crisis
As we confront a new era of megafires, designers and planners are instrumental in protecting disaster-weary communities. In 2022, the students investigated California’s escalating wildfire crisis and explored the new disciplinary approaches—both technical and ideological—that are necessary to address this challenge.
Learn more
Download the book.
Read the web story.
Visions for Shanghai’s Fuxing Island
In 2021, the students focused on Shanghai’s Fuxing Island: a forgotten territory once used as a ship-building center, port, and warehouse district. The group explored possibilities for reimagining the island’s potential as a transit-oriented urban center: examining its strategic location on Huangpu River, surrounding land uses, and specific placemaking ideas to enhance the island’s character beyond utility.
Learn more
Download the book.