Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms

1. Complete at least 96 semester hours (144 quarter hours), with 32 semester hours (48 quarter hours) in architectural courses, toward your degree in a professional or pre-professional architectural program.
    
2. Contact the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards NCARB)
    

   Mail:         1735 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20006
   Phone:      (202) 879-0500
   Web Site:  www.ncarb.org.

   Click here to request or download an application for a Council Record from NCARB
    

3. Fill out the application for your Council Record and send to NCARB with a check for $50.00 (or $265.00 if you want to pay the whole IDP Council Record fee up-front). Copy this to the Alabama Board For Registration of Architects. Your file must, in addition to all other requirements, be open for two calendar years in Alabama before you may take the Architectural Registration Exam.
    
4. After you have reached the minimum educational level in step 1 above, get a job working for an architect and carefully complete time cards to keep track of the number of hours you spend working in the 16 IDP Training Areas listed in the IDP Guidelines and summarized on the next page. Your current employer now becomes your employer under IDP Guidelines and the Registration Board. Note that under certain conditions you can also get some internship credit by working for a contractor, an engineer, an interior designer, a landscape architect or a planner.
    
5. Select a licensed architect who is not your boss to serve as your mentor. If you need assistance, contact your area coordinator. (In Birmingham, your area coordinator, Everett Hatcher will assign you a mentor.
    
6. Every tri-mester (January, May, and September) fill out an IDP Training Report, have your employer and your mentor sign it and send to NCARB and the Alabama Board for Registration of Architects. NCARB will verify it and give you an update on your status toward completion.
    
7. Periodically meet with your employer and mentor to review your training progress and discuss your career objectives.
    
8. If you are in the IDP program longer than 3 years from when you enrolled, pay a $35.00 yearly maintenance fee to NCARB.
    
9. Complete your Degree in Architecture.
    
10. At your discretion, join the American Institute of Architects as an Associate Member in order to benefit from networking with your peers and meeting potential future employers and mentors. Take advantage of supplementary education available through the AIA Intern Services Coordinators.
     
11. Complete the required number of "IDP Training Units" depending on which degree you have or will receive (note that you can begin to earn Training Units before completion of your degree).

700 TU's with an NAAB-Accredited B. Arch. or M. Arch. degree

1170 TU's with an Architectural Pre-Professional Degree (B.A. or B.S.)
 

1. Call the Alabama Board For Registration Of Architects in Montgomery to request an application for admission to the Architect Registration Examination. Their phone number is (334) 242-4179. Note that you must have completed all required Training Units and received your degree prior to admission to the exam.
    
2. Complete the application for admission to the Architect Registration Examination and submit to the State.
    
3. Pay NCARB the remainder of the Council Record application fee ($215.00 if you just paid $50.00 up front) to have them transfer your Council Record to the Alabama Board For Registration Of Architects to show that you are eligible to take the exam.
    
4. Take the exam by making an appointment with a local Sylvan Learning Center.
    
5. Pass the exam and a registration number will be assigned.
    
6. Apply for and receive your license to practice architecture in Alabama after paying the required registration fee.
    
7. Once you are licensed in Alabama, you should do the following:
   • Apply for and receive NCARB Certification -- this will greatly facilitate licensure in other states and in Canada.
      
   • Advance to Professional Member of the American Institute of Architects.
      
   • Begin earning minimum of 36 "Learning Units" of continuing education per year as a requirement for maintaining your AIA professional membership.

TOP