Page Southerland Page

Overview

At Page, we promise design that makes lives better. We’re actively seeking talented people to join an empowered employee environment. Page provides architecture, engineering, interiors and consulting services on large, complex projects around the world. We credit the success of our projects that build communities to the global diversity of our people’s backgrounds and experiences. We’re seeking highly creative, committed team members to help us deliver on our promise of making lives better through design. As our market sectors and services grow, we continuously add new opportunities. Will you join us?

Responsibilities

Overview:

We are seeking an intern to join The Page Foundation sponsored Page’s Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Tool (PILAT) initiative. PILAT is a collaborative initiative designed to elevate the role of Indigenous knowledge in contemporary architecture. Its goal is to bring authentic and meaningful Indigenous land insights into the earliest stages of site research and design—informing decisions around materials and strategies that are site-specific and culturally responsive.

This position works closely with Page’s Research & Innovation Group which is embedded in cutting-edge research and innovation ecosystems, harnessing advances in life sciences, engineering and the physical sciences to reimagine the built environment and shape the future of our industry. We collaborate with visionary partners and future-ready clients to create the conditions where innovation thrives. Our work enables Page to anticipate emerging challenges, unlock new opportunities, and catalyze transformative change. The Group also partners with The Page Foundation to help advance their organizational goals of driving innovation and prioritizing ethics, equity, and social impact.

Responsibilities:

The Visual Computational Storytelling Intern will help uncover patterns and characteristics embedded in Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural practices, and material traditions across different regions. The ideal candidate will work with the data amassed by the PILAT team, identifying meaningful ways to translate site-specific insights into spatial expressions. These expressions should evoke the presence and history of Indigenous communities in thoughtful, non-appropriative ways—offering design cues that are culturally respectful, contextually grounded, and educationally impactful.

Ultimately, this internship aims to advance a methodology for culturally attuned, data-informed design—one that contributes meaningfully to both the architecture profession and broader educational conversations about place, identity, and memory.

• Analyzing Indigenous data for recurring themes, symbols, material systems, and ecological knowledge;
• Exploring strategies for representing these insights through form, texture, or spatial organization;
• Defining design rules or logics that can be translated into parametric scripts (e.g., using Grasshopper or similar)
• Prototyping the story telling parametric design tool
• Analyze and interpret Indigenous knowledge and site-specific cultural data gathered via PILAT
• Identify symbolic, material, ecological, or spatial patterns across different Indigenous contexts
• Explore ways to translate these patterns into architectural form, texture, or material language
• Support the development of rule sets that can be translated in scripts and parametric modeling, generative design, and simulation workflows for storytelling purposes
• Document findings and present them in visually compelling, critically aware formats
• Collaborate with designers, researchers, and Indigenous consultants in an iterative process

Qualifications

• Actively enrolled in, or have recently completed, a graduate program (master or doctorate)—or be an undergraduate with exceptional skills aligned with the requirements—in one of the following (or a related) fields: Computer Sciences, Computer Engineering, Engineering, Math or Applied Physics, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Design & Applied Arts, Sociology, Art History, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Museum Studies, Product Design/Packaging, Digital Communication, City/Urban/Regional Planning, Geography, Game Development, Design Computing, Data Visualization, Indigenous Studies, Computational Design, Digital Fabrication, Anthropology, Cultural Geography, with an interest in Sociology, Anthropology and Computational Design.
• Sharp computational skills and a strong interest in cultural storytelling, computational design, and architectural materiality
• Rule Definition & Parametric Design: Proven ability to translate raw data into explicit design rules—mapping patterns to forms, materials, textures, and spatial logics—and implement those rules in Grasshopper (or equivalent) and scripting (Python, C#, etc.)
• Visual & Textual Research: Strong research and analytical skills for uncovering themes, symbols, and ecological insights within Indigenous knowledge systems
• Cultural Sensitivity & Ethics: Deep respect for Indigenous perspectives; skill in crafting non-appropriative, site-responsive narratives that honor cultural contexts
• Communication & Storytelling: Excellent written, verbal, and visual storytelling—able to document methodologies, present findings, and articulate design narratives with clarity and nuance
• Background in bioregional materials or sustainable design principles is preferred
• Prior community engagement or cultural storytelling projects preferred
• Minimum 20 hours per week and duration is up to 6 months**

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