Co-op provides on-the-job education: Sudbury architecture students get their hands dirty with the industry co-op.

AuthorMyers, Ella
PositionDesign-Build

This summer, Laurentian University's architecture students are more likely to be found building an ivory tower than dwelling in one.

During the academic year, students can be found not only sketching, drawing and coming up with conceptual designs, but also hoisting beams and getting dusty building benches and saunas, or burning wood with traditional Japanese methods to improve its lifespan.

This bustle of activity extends into the summer for students between their first and second years, as students complete a mandatory, but paid, co-op term, which can be anything from mining to fabrication to working at Science North.

"Imagine you're a first-year student learning about architecture and then you're on a construction site," said Gillian Schultze, who ficoordinated the placements.

"You're the low man on the totem pole, but what you're learning is profound in terms of your ultimate goal of becoming an architect," said Schultze. "What it's done for Northern Ontario is bringing some highly skilled, exceptionally skilled students into industry."

Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi brought her skills to the Home Depot on in Sudbury, where she cycled through the lumber, paint, seasonal and mill work departments. Ekiyor-Katimi has always loved to make things, and work with her hands, and Laurentian's build-heavy program was a way she could experience that while learning some design.

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In the co-op, Ekiyor-Katimi said she gained valuable math skills, and fully designed a floating deck for a client.

"It's important to know the industrial side," said Ekiyor-Katimi. "In design, you think everything is going to work, but it's not that simple."

Noemie Lavigne has wanted to be an architect since she was six, and is one of the students who found herself thrust into industry. Lavigne said HATCH welcomed her with open arms into their structural engineering department in the summer of 2015.

Lavigne, who worked on a computer drafting project on a Sudbury mine smelter, said the experience was a reality check after the first year of academia.

"Sometimes, you're trying to create a design that's not realistic," said Lavigne, who enjoys the design and drawing aspect of architecture. "The...

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