Leeland McPhail is founding principal of Here Here, a practice with one foot in community advocacy and the other in architecture. From his work with Ghana Free Community Libraries, he brings experience navigating the complex interrelationships of labor, ecology, economy and theory and a belief that the discipline of architecture has a responsibility to support and lift up communities.
Prior to founding Here Here, McPhail’s work ranged from research on and design of mass timber construction with Gray Organschi to large-scale affordable housing developments with Bernheimer Architecture to obsessively designed and detailed commercial, cultural and institutional work with BLDGS. He also sees the need to step out of the pristine, controlled environment of the office and into a sometimes messy community. He’s done this most recently in Atlanta, where he lived and practiced for the past few years, by leading projects for Neighbor in Need to combat gentrification and by organizing within his community to combat predatory development practices.
Before practice, McPhail was the Frederick C. Bland Scholar at Yale School of Architecture, where he earned his MArch. He earned his BSArch at Georgia Tech, where he was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi medal and was a President’s Scholar. He works both locally and globally, and his work has been exhibited internationally.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
ARCH 2199-01 - ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP
ARCH-2199 is the required summer internship. It may be completed in any summer prior to entering the final year. Total hours required are 280. This internship can count for NCARB Architectural Experience Program AX-P. The internship hours for ARCH-2199 can be used towards architecture licensure through the NCARB Internship. Student's intent upon becoming registered architects in the USA after graduation should enroll in the AXP as soon as possible. AXP is the internship program required by all registration jurisdictions. The work experience accomplished during ARCH-2199, the department's minimum Internship experience (280 hours) can be recorded as acceptable experience in the AXP (3740 hours) and thus accelerate one's pace towards architectural licensure. Visit the NCARB website for more information. Register through RISD Careers website (ArtWorks).
Registration is not available in Workday.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
These studios, three of which are required for graduation, are offered by individual instructors to students who have successfully completed the core curriculum. They are assigned by lottery. Once assigned to an advanced studio, a student may not drop studio.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Fee: Some advanced studio sections have a fee for course supplies or field trips. The fee is announced during the registration lottery held in the department.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
Wintersession 2025 Courses
ARCH 2199-101 - ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP
LevelGraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
Period Wintersession 2025
Credits 3
FormatInternship
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
ARCH 2199-101
ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP
LevelGraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
PeriodWintersession 2025
Credits3
FormatInternship
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2025-01-03 to 2025-02-06
Instructor(s): Leeland McPhailEnrolled / Capacity: 1Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
ARCH-2199 is the required summer internship. It may be completed in any summer prior to entering the final year. Total hours required are 280. This internship can count for NCARB Architectural Experience Program AX-P. The internship hours for ARCH-2199 can be used towards architecture licensure through the NCARB Internship. Student's intent upon becoming registered architects in the USA after graduation should enroll in the AXP as soon as possible. AXP is the internship program required by all registration jurisdictions. The work experience accomplished during ARCH-2199, the department's minimum Internship experience (280 hours) can be recorded as acceptable experience in the AXP (3740 hours) and thus accelerate one's pace towards architectural licensure. Visit the NCARB website for more information. Register through RISD Careers website (ArtWorks).
Registration is not available in Workday.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
The second core studio addresses the agency of the building to simultaneously construct new spatial, social, and material orders in the context of the contemporary city. The second core studio situates architecture as the strategic interplay of spatial and constructive concepts towards specific aesthetic, social, and performative ends. The studio seeks to create a productive friction between abstract orders (form, pattern, organization), technical systems (structure, envelope), and the contingencies of real-world conditions (site, climate, politics). The studio asks students to link disciplinary methods to extra-disciplinary issues, with concentrated forays into the realms of structure, material, and critical preservation. Students iteratively develop architectural concepts, ethical positions, and experimental working methods through a series of focused architectural design projects with increasing degrees of complexity, culminating in the design of a mid-scale public building in an urban context.
Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Architecture Students.
