2026 Spring Shadow Studio SUCCESS!

2026 Spring Shadow Studio SUCCESS!

Last month in March, AIA Coastal Virginia held its second year of the Spring Shadow Studio externship program. Organized by a modest committee consisting of members in the Hampton University Department of Architecture, VANOMA, and AIA CoVA, the Spring Shadow Studio is an externship program consisting exclusively of first and second-year architecture students of Hampton University, pairing them with local architecture firms during the entirety of their spring break week.

During the inaugural year last year, six downtown Norfolk architecture firms participated in the externship program, each receiving two student-externs. This year, the program expanded to two cities—returning to downtown Norfolk and welcoming the Town Center of Virginia Beach, consisting of a total of 10 architecture firms and 21 externs.

The students rose early each day, being transported to-and-fro by two Hampton University-provided shuttle vans, driven by student-leaders and Hanbury IPAL interns Ariana McCoy, fourth-year, and Nelanie Anderson, third-year, and by a Hampton University staff member.

The externs’ daily schedule for the week is staggered, with the morning being “Shadow Time”, and the afternoon being “Design Challenge” time. The shadow periods of the day are for the externs to have intentional time allocated to shadow their architects and attend the pre-scheduled program workshops. The Design Challenge period is for the externs and their architects to collaborate on the program’s studio design project.

Design Challenge:

This year, the externs focused on designing a livable 300 square-foot 12 ’wide x 18’ deep x 12’ tall micro cabin, set at a grassy lot near the Virginia Beach Town Center, complete with a sleeping area for minimum two people, an eating and cooking area, bathroom, and workspace. The final design work was to be compiled on at least one 24x36 board.

Quick highlights of each day:

Monday morning March 9, 2026 opened with the externs embarking on the site visit for the Design Challenge project site at the Central Park in the Virginia Beach Town Center. The externs were joined by featured guest speaker Henry Gaston of the economic development non-profit organization Hampton Roads Alliance to share his expertise with the externs about the future of economic development of Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads region, as it relates to the Design Challenge. After the site visit, the externs were welcomed by their respective firms and spent the remainder of the first day at their offices.

Tuesday began with the externs participating in a presentation on storytelling in architecture. The Virginia Beach Town Center externs gathered at the Clark Nexsen office, presented by architects Willie Cooper and Lizzie Criss, and the downtown Norfolk externs gathered at Work Program Architects (WPA), first receiving the Clark Nexsen presentation virtually, followed by their in-person presentation given by Thom White of WPA. At the conclusion of the presentation, the externs returned to their respective offices for the remainder of the day.

Wednesday morning started off with all the externs participating in the 2-hour Field Sketching Workshop, one set at the Hanbury office for the downtown Norfolk externs and the other set in the Virginia Beach Town Center facilitated by Elijah Muhammad of AECOM. Later in the afternoon, all the externs attended the AIACOVA Hard Hat Tour of the Old Dominion University (ODU) baseball stadium renovation.

On Thursday morning, all the externs from both Virginia Beach and downtown Norfolk participated in the 2-hour VANOMA Professional Development Workshop, facilitated by Erin Agdinaoay of Work Program Architects (WPA) and Sonny Joy-Hogg of Baskervill, hosted at Burgess & Niple. The workshop prepared students to polish up their resumes and portfolios, and provided tips on preparing to jumpstart their careers. The volunteering architects in attendance were engaged with the externs to review their portfolios and resumes and conduct mock interviews. This workshop was a favorite among last year’s externs. After the workshop, the externs returned to their firms for the remainder of the day.

On Friday, all the externs remained at their respective offices the entire day to complete their Design Challenge work for a strong finish.

Two weeks later on Tuesday March 24, the Final Presentation Exhibit was hosted at the Bemis architecture school at Hampton University to formally close-out the 2026 program and showcase the externs’ Design Challenge project work. The event was heartily attended by all the externs and their partnered architects, the student body and faculty, and committee members.

Acknowledgements:

A very special thank-you to our IPAL interns Ariana McCoy and Nelanie Anderson for their tremendous contributions to making this entire week and transportation of the externs possible, and to Ms. Veronica Bruny (Hampton University) for her transportation assistance, and to all the workshop facilitators: Willie Cooper (Clark Nexsen), Lizzie Criss (Clark Nexsen), Thom White (WPA), Erin Agdinaoay (WPA), Sonny Joy-Hogg (Baskervill), Elijah Muhammad (AECOM), Rob Reis (Hanbury), and to all volunteering architects for your invaluable contributions, and to Henry Gaston (Hampton Roads Alliance) for imparting his industry expertise, and to both to Michael J. Johnson (Capital Design & Construction, Old Dominion University) and William Arrington (Facilities Management & Construction, Old Dominion University) for their coordination and facilitation of the AIA CoVA Hard Hat Tour of the Old Dominion Ellmer Family Baseball Stadium.

A big shout-out to the devoted committee members for their extensive planning efforts and coordination throughout the year: Ariana McCoy (Hampton University), Nelanie Anderson (Hampton University), Ayesha Shaikh, Associate AIA (VIA Design Architects), Elijah Muhammad, Associate AIA (AECOM), Brian Gore, AIA (Gensler, VANOMA), Ian Vaughan, AIA (Clark Nexsen, VANOMA), Bernadette Keplinger (AIA CoVA), Briana Smith-Stiff (RRMM), and Jeffrey Butts, Jr., AIA (Hanbury).

And a resounding thank-you to the partnered architecture firms for being so generous of their time to mentor the students for the entirety of the week—thank you to Clark Nexsen, Hanbury, HBA, Livas Group, Mason & Hanger, Moseley, Saunders & Crouse, Tymoff & Moss, VIA Design, and Work Program Architects (WPA).

-Spring Shadow Studio 2026 Committee

The Spring Shadow Studio is an externship program consisting exclusively of first and second-year architecture students at Hampton University, pairing them with local architecture firms during spring break. The development of this externship program was made possible through the collaborative partnership of the Hampton University Department of Architecture, AIA Coastal Virginia, and VANOMA.