Winnipeg Centennial Library Addition – Patkau Architects

To be registered as an architect in BC, you need to meet entry requirements, or demonstrate their equivalents, in each of three areas - commonly referred to as “the three Es”:

Education: A degree in architecture recognized through certification by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB);

Experience: Work experience as an Intern Architect; and

Examination: Architectural Registration Examinations.

If you do not have one or more of the three Es, you can still register by demonstrating the necessary equivalencies. Most foreign-trained or alternatively qualified practitioners will need to demonstrate equivalency in one or more of the categories.

The descriptions below should help to explain what is required to demonstrate equivalency.

Education

Each provincial regulatory body, including the AIBC, works with the CACB to accredit architectural degree programs in Canada. To be accredited, a program must meet the Canadian Education Standard (CES) for Architecture. You can find the CES through the CACB website. Once there, click on the appropriate form as listed under the title “Degree or Diploma not accredited by CACB - for graduates of foreign schools of architecture. Request for Assessment of Academic Qualifications”. The CES is spelled out in detail on pages 14 – 21 of that form.

The AIBC also works with its counterparts in the United States through the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) and its subsidiary National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) in order to recognize many Architectural degree programs from the U.S.A. If you have a degree from a program accredited or certified by the CACB or NAAB, you will have met the education requirement for registration.

If you have a professional degree in architecture from a program that has not been accredited, you will most likely be required to have your degree certified by the CACB. You can download the necessary application form through the CACB web site.

If you have a professional degree and have been a registered and practising architect for at least 15 years, you may be eligible to have the CACB degree certification requirement waived. The decision as to whether or not to grant such a waiver is solely at the discretion of the AIBC and will depend on the strength of your academic record as well as the length, breadth, and depth of experience you can demonstrate.

Waiver of CACB certification will not relieve you of the need to demonstrate education equivalency. Rather than having equivalency assessed through the CACB certification process, you will need to demonstrate it through your portfolio of architectural experience and professional works. The same holds true if you do not have a professional degree but are eligible to apply for registration as an Alternatively Qualified candidate.

Experience

Throughout Canada, architectural graduates are expected to gain work experience while registered as an intern with one of the provincial regulators, such as the AIBC. Each of the provinces have agreed to a common, standardized Internship in Architect Program (IAP) through which Intern Architects must gain both the requisite number of hours of experience and the appropriate range of experience. These requirements are explained more fully in pages 18 – 31 of the AIBC’s IAP manual available online.

Experience requirements can be fulfilled by participation in the IAP. Credits are recorded by logging the requisite number of hours of experience in each of the required categories in the Canadian Experience Record Book.

If you are applying as an Alternatively Qualified candidate, you will need to demonstrate equivalency of the experience requirements described in the various sections of the IAP manual through your portfolio of architectural experience and professional works.

Examination

While there is ongoing discussion in Canada about examination standards, the current requirement for architects is to pass each of the nine divisions of the Architectural Registration Examinations (ARE) administered through the NCARB. Each of the nine examinations is described in pages 33-50 of the ARE Guidelines found on the NCARB website.

If you are applying as an Alternatively Qualified candidate and have not taken the NCARBs, you will need to demonstrate equivalency through your portfolio of architectural experience and professional works.