An architecture degree provides the foundations of the discipline, but the transition into professional practice often extends well beyond the classroom. Building experience, developing a portfolio, and navigating the realities of architectural offices are challenges that many graduates face in their first years of practice.
Yacademy is a post-graduate institute aimed at bridging the gap between the classroom and the professional world by offering young talented designers the opportunity to connect with the greatest masters of contemporary architecture. With an extensive program of lectures, hands-on workshops, on-site visits, and a guaranteed proposal for collaboration with one of the firms in its network, Yacademy allows young architects to take their first steps into their professional career with valuable qualities to boast in the market.
Building a Professional Network
University professors keep a distance from their students, but every educational or professional journey begins with people. For this reason, Yacademy offers its students a sense of belonging to a network that brings together some of the world’s most renowned architects and practices.
Yacademy’s high-level training courses include moments of informal discussion and design reviews that give students valuable inspiration and the opportunity to personally get to know and work closely with the architects who are shaping the future of architecture.
Some of the professionals who will join the school’s panel of lecturers in the upcoming months work at world-renowned firms such as Herzog & de Meuron, ZHA Architects, SANAA, David Chipperfield Architects, Foster + Partners, Morphosis, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, and Snøhetta, and they might be available to chat after the lecture or even to record a podcast episode.
Working on Real Design Challenges
Collaborating with peer young architects coming from different countries and backgrounds, being able to defend your architectural ideas and design choices in front of demanding clients, respecting the deadlines: Yacademy’s design workshops were conceived to help students refine these skills.
Moreover, they focus on a real design challenge that is brought up by real clients and are tutored by illustrious architects. The tutors of the current educational offer are ZHA Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, Carlo Ratti Associati, and Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects, and the partners include the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Urban Up | Unipol, AIPAI, wienerberger.
Being able to interpret the client’s needs and to develop real design proposals that match the client’s expectations is determining in the architectural practice. With this offer, Yacademy teaches students what working in a professional studio really is like.
Developing a Portfolio for Practice
Theoretical notions are important, but being able to showcase your ability is sometimes what gives you the edge. Many junior architects struggle with their portfolio because they have little experience to leverage on and do not know how to make their profile look stronger in the eyes of architectural firms.
Yacademy offers its students the opportunity not only to enrich their portfolio with relevant experience, but also to receive personal feedback on their portfolio. For the entire duration of the course, students will have the chance to meet Yacademy’s Art Director for a one-to-one live portfolio review and thus improve their portfolio with the experience of the school’s staff. This opportunity is also open to applicants who have already completed their application procedure for one of Yacademy’s courses.
Connecting Education with Professional Practice
To help students find a place in the competitive job market, Yacademy’s placement program grants each student a proposal for collaboration with one of the renowned firms belonging to the school’s network after the course. The goal is to offer students a preferential channel of access to the world’s top firms. Over the past couple of years, 84% of the students eligible for placement accepted the first proposal presented by the school, and over 70 students started a collaboration with Pritzker Prize-winning firms.
Furthermore, for the 2026/2027 educational offer, Yacademy has implemented a series of new agreements granting collaborations with some of the firms belonging to its network, such as BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, David Chipperfield Architects, SANAA, Snøhetta, Kengo Kuma & Associates, Aires Mateus, Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects.
