PlayCore Internship Gives INDD Students Real World Experience

Students design innovative play, recreation and outdoor spaces; learn to interact with clients; and work in a design office. Tom Norquist is the College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s (CADC) first named Professor of Practice and the Senior Vice President of Innovation at PlayCore, which places him in a unique position to provide both the students and the college with a valuable experience. Norquist was named a Professor of Practice by the College in 2019.

Norquist credits the inception of the program to Tin-Man Lau, Industrial Design Graduate Program Officer and PlayCore Professor, who thought it would be valuable opportunity for students to gain practice experience prior to graduation working alongside and learning from a long-time industry partner. It has become a tradition that has benefited both students and PlayCore, with the program expanding as its success has grown.

By the summer of 2023, the program had expanded to seven interns per semester. Then in the summer of 2024, PlayCore hired 12 interns, four of whom were undergraduate students and eight of whom were graduate students. This past summer, PlayCore hired three interns to be full-time designers, combined with nine interns.

Norquist finds the intern partnership between CADC and PlayCore rewarding in multiple ways.

“The value in this program is that PlayCore works with interns who already have fabulous training and backgrounds and who are extremely dedicated and motivated to do a great job,” Norquist said.

In addition, the students are able to take real-life opportunities and work on them with guidance from both Norquist and the clients. In these situations, the interns feel like team members, having weekly meetings with engineers and designers. Students also learn about the manufacturing capabilities of each project facility.

Students in the internship program learn about various stages of product development while working at the PlayCore Studio. They start with the discovery stage of product development, which includes learning about user experience and design, as well as customer learning. They then define and develop the actual product, which includes refining the finer details of said product.

“The goal of the program is for interns to grow in their careers and at the same time, love what they do,” Norquist stated, observing the students’ interests while they are in studios during the academic year and connecting them to similar projects over the summer.

All of the designers and interns utilize the newly developed PlayCore offices in the Research and Innovation Center in the Auburn Research Park, a space that most would envy. In addition to a remarkable atmosphere, the PlayCore Studio also has a host of assets to aid the summer interns. Some of these assets are large-format 3D printers. Norquist states that having the capability to 3D print helps the interns better understand the concept of modeling. Another asset includes rendering stations; these stations provide students with opportunities to learn rendering software that they can use in real-world work situations.

The students also learn the importance of being open to new ideas and new ways of accomplishing work. Students experiment with new software as well as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) while working at the PlayCore Studio. These benefits help the interns to gain more knowledge while still applying what they have learned during their time in the CADC.

PlayCore is expanding their current workspace, building out space on the fourth floor of the Research and Innovation Center. This new space will feature a larger and more creative environment for PlayCore interns and staff to work on projects and is projected to be completed in early 2026.