How The Profession Is Organized In Illinois
OVERVIEW
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) regulates the legal practice of architecture—which includes consultation, environmental analysis, feasibility studies, programming, planning, etc., in connection with the construction of any private or public building, building structure, building project or addition or alteration, or restaoration—in Illinois.
In order to call yourself an “architect” or practice architecture in Illinois, you must be licensed.
As part of the process to becoming a licensed architect in Illinois, you will also interact with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (“NCARB”), a non-profit organization made up of the architectural licensing boards for 55 U.S. states and territories. NCARB plays a significant role in qualifying architects for professional licensing. Their services include:
- Tracking experience through the Architectural Experience Program (AXP);
- Skills assessment through professional examination called the Architect Registration Exam (ARE);
- National credentialing (i.e., NCARB Certification) that indicates the licensee has met the national licensure standard and can be used to facilitate licensing in other states; and
- Compilation and maintenance of training and credentials through an online subscription service.
The Job Market for Architects in Illinois
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for architects in 2021 was $80,180 per year. Employment of architects is projected to grow 3% from 2021 to 2031. While most architects in the U.S. are employed by architectural, engineering, and related companies, a significant number of architects—nearly 1 in 5—are self-employed.
Since architecture is closely tied to the construction industry, job opportunities can suffer in an economic downturn. The demand for different architectural services varies by region. Architects may pursue licensing in multiple states to expand the geographic territory of their practice. It is becoming more common for U.S. design firms to collaborate with overseas companies to complete CADD (Computer-Aided Design and Drafting) and related work at a lower cost than employing an architect in the U.S. This trend means fewer opportunities for junior architects to develop their professional experience.
Certain areas of architecture are stable or growing. For example, architectural work for healthcare and education may grow as the population ages and schools need to reinvest in buildings. A particularly high-demand specialty area in architecture is green building and remodeling—design that focuses on more efficient use of resources such as energy, water and materials.
The Job Search
What makes a successful career in this context? A competitive general skill set for architects is knowledge of CADD (Computer-Aided Design and Drafting) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies. Communication and organization skills are also critical because architects coordinate broad teams of specialists. Consider specializing in a niche area such as a part of the work process (pre-design, design, construction, facilities management) or a particular type of structure (hospitals, schools, factories).
Trained architects may also choose to adapt their specialized knowledge and transferable skills to related fields like industrial and interior design, urban planning, real estate development, or structural engineering. Note that if you plan to specialize in structural engineering, you will need to be licensed as a Structural Engineer in Illinois.
Eligibility For Licensing
OVERVIEW
This guide assumes that you are not licensed as an architect anywhere in the U.S. (If you already hold a license from another U.S. state, you can seek licensure by reciprocity.)
The requirements for licensing as an architect in Illinois are:
- Education: Foreign-educated applicants must either obtain an EESA evaluation of their degree, showing their degree meets the NCARB Education Standard (if seeking initial license), or complete the FA Program through NCARB (if seeking licensure by endorsement).
- Examination: You will need to pass the Architect Registration Exam (ARE), and you may need to pass the TOEFL-iBT (see below).
- Note: Applicants who attended an architectural program outside of the United States or its territories that was not taught in English must show passage of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet Based Test (TOEFL-iBT). Applicants who subsequently earned an advanced degree from aan accredited institution in the U.S. or its territories are not subject to this requirement.
- Experience: If you are seeking your initial license, you must meet the current NCARB AXP requirement. If you are seeking licensure through endorsement, you must meet the experience requirement in effect at the time of original licensure.
For more information about the Board and its licensing process, please see the Board’s website.
The Licensing Process
Establish a NCARB Council Record
Your first step is to establish an NCARB Record. The NCARB Record is a detailed, verified account of your education, experience, and examination history.
As of January 2023, the initial application fee for licensure candidates is $100, which covers the initial application for an NCARB Record, maintains your active Record for one year, and includes one free Record transmittal to support your application for initial registration. The yearly renewal fee for licensure candidates is $85 (as of January 2023).
Evaluate Your Foreign Degree
NAAB EESA Evaluation
If you do not hold an architect license, you will need to have an EESA evaluation of your your education. Note that an EESA also allows for flexibility if you plan to seek licensure in multiple jurisdictions, as it is accepted by 46 other jurisdictions.
An NAAB EESA will compare your degree against the NCARB Education Standard, which consists of six subject areas spread across 150 semester credit hours:
- Liberal Arts (42 hours)
- History, Theory, and Human Behavior (12 hours)
- Design Synthesis (40 hours)
- Building Technology (27 hours)
- Professional Practice (12 hours)
- Electives (17 hours)
More information regarding the specific breakdown of required credit hours is available in NCARB’s Education Standard Guidelines.
To initiate the EESA evaluation, log into your NCARB evaluation and request eligibility to apply. If you are eligible, you will receive a notification from NCARB to complete the application and pay the EESA fee. As of January 2023, the evaluation fee is $2,500.
You will need to submit the following documents for your EESA evaluation:
- Academic transcripts from each post-secondary institution attended either in a foreign country or in the U.S. should be submitted electronically by the institution directly to NAAB.
- Transcripts that are not in English must include a certified translation. Translations should be uploaded on NAAB’s website.
- If you already submitted official transcripts to NCARB, you can request that NCARB forward the transcripts to NAAB.
- Descriptions of all courses taken from each post-secondary institution, including a description of the objective and outcomes of each course and the number of credit hours or contact hours per week.
- You should submit a certified English translation of these documents as well.
For any documents that require a certified English translation, the NAAB requires that that document include a signed statement attesting to the accuracy and completeness of the translation. The translator must be certified, and the document should have the translator’s seal showing his or her credentials. The American Translators Association maintains a list of ATA-certified translators.
An EESA evaluation takes up to 45 business days from the time that all of your required documents have been submitted.
If the evaluation finds that you have not met the NCARB Education Standard because of one or more deficiencies, it will identify the areas of those deficiencies. You may be able to satisfy those deficiencies through additional coursework, but you will need to seek pre-approval from NAAB regarding any proposed courses to determine if they will satisfy deficiencies.
The evaluation will state if your degree is equivalent to either a U.S. professional degree (B.Arch. or M.Arch. equivalent) or a pre-professional degree (technical school or 4-year Bachelor’s).
If you disagree with the EESA evaluation report, you may request reconsideration of the evaluation results within 60 days of receiving the report. You will be required to show that the evaluation did not account for factual evidence that was in your record when it was submitted for evaluation or that the evaluation process failed to comply with the established guidelines in the NCARB Education Standard. If the your request is granted, there is no additional fee for the reconsideration process. The results of a reconsideration evaluation is final and cannot be appealed.
If the response to your request for reconsideration is denial of reconsideration, you can initiate an appeal to the NCARB Education Committee within 60 days of receiving the denial of reconsideration. You will need to show that the response to the request for reconsideration was not supported by sufficient factual evidence cited in the record or that the review for the request for reconsideration failed to comply with established guidelines in the NCARB Education Standard. The results of a reconsideration evaluation is final and cannot be appealed.
For more information about the Reconsideration and Appeal processes, please refer to NCARB’s Education Guidelines.
Foreign Architect Program
If you hold a foreign license for architecture, you should contact NCARB and earn a NCARB Certificate for Foreign Architects.
You can request an NCARB Certificate for Foreign Architects through your NCARB Record. You will need to submit official paperwork showing your credentials and your university transcripts. All paperwork should be submitted in English, so you may need to submit certified translations of any documents that are not in English. More information regarding the NCARB Certificate for Foreign Architects, including an application checklist, is available on the NCARB website.
Pass the TOEFL-iBT
Applicants who attended an architectural program outside of the United States or its territories that was not taught in English must show passage of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet Based Test (TOEFL-iBT) for licensure in Illinois. Applicants who subsequently earned an advanced degree from aan accredited institution in the U.S. or its territories are not subject to this requirement.
The TOEFL-iBT is an approximately 3 hour exam that tests the competency of your English in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. For more information and to register for the exam, please refer to the ETS TOEFL-iBT website.
Pass ARE Testing
The Architect Registration Examination (“ARE”) is developed by NCARB and tests candidates’ knowledge, skills, and ability to provide the various services required in the design and construction of buildings. You will need to pass this exam for licensure in Illinois.
To register for the ARE for Illinois, you will first need to register for the Illinois Direct Registration and submit your completed application, including an application form, application fee ($100 as of January 2023), completed affidavit, your educational evaluation, and TOEFL-iBT scores (if applicable).
The Board will notify NCARB whether you are eligible. NCARB will send eligible candidates an email confirmation that you are authorized to test. Your testing eligibility remains valid as long as you are active in the active in the examination process (i.e., you have taken one ARE division within five years of being determined eligible or since the last exam).
You will schedule your ARE test through NCARB at a test center.
You must complete each division of the ARE within a five-year rolling clock period. The current divisions of the ARE are:
- Construction and Evaluation
- Practice Management
- Programming and Analysis
- Project Development and Documentation
- Project Management
- Project Planning and Design
As of January 2023, the fee for all six divisions of the ARE is $1,410. Individual divisions and retakes are $235.
More information on ARE testing is available in the Test section of this guide. Please also see the NCARB’s ARE 5.0 Guidelines.
Complete the Architectural Experience Program (AXP)
Architectural Experience Program (AXP)
You will need to report real-world experience through the Architectural Experience Program (AXP) for licensure in Illinois.
As of January 2023, to complete your AXP by documenting hours, you will need to report a total of 3,740 hours across six practice areas:
- Practice Management (160 hours, 16 tasks)
- Project Management (360 hours, 32 tasks)
- Programming and Analysis (260 hours, 18 tasks)
- Project Planning and Design (1,080 hours, 17 tasks)
- Project Development and Documentation (1,520 hours, 7 tasks)
- Construction and Evaluation (360 hours, 6 tasks)
1,860 of these hours must be gained while you are employed by an architecture firm legally practicing architecture and under the supervision of an architect licensed in the United States or Canada. More information about the AXP is available in NCARB’s AXP Guidelines.
You may begin reporting AXP hours once you turn 18 or the equivalent of a graduate from high school. These hours can be completed concurrently with your completion of the ARE.
If you are an experienced professional who has worked for firms in the past and are currently unable to complete the AXP because of the reporting requirement, you may be able to complete the AXP requirement through the AXP Portfolio. For more information about the AXP Portfolio, including eligibility requirements, please see NCARB’s AXP Guidelines.
Complete Application for Licensure
Once you have passed the ARE, you will be able to apply for licensure with the Illinois Board.
Tests
You will need to take the Architect Registration Exam (ARE) in order to become a Licensed Professional Architect in Illinois.
Architect Registration Exam (ARE)
The Architect Registration Exam (ARE) 5.0 is a computer-administered exam developed by the NCARB that you will take at a Prometric test center.
The ARE evaluates your knowledge and skills in six different divisions, tested separately. You must pass all six divisions of the ARE within five years in order to successfully complete the ARE. If you do not pass a division of the ARE, you must wait 60 days before you can retake the failed division. Further, you may only take the same division of the ARE three times within any 12-month time frame.
As of January 2023, the fee for all six divisions of the ARE is $1,410. Individual divisions and retakes are $235.
For more information regarding the ARE, be sure to consult NCARB’s ARE 5.0 Guidelines.
ARE Test Divisions and Test Structure
There are six ARE divisions covering different areas of competency that you must pass.
Division | Number of Items | Test Duration* |
Practice Management
| 65 | 2 hr 40 min |
Project Management
| 75 | 3 hr |
Programming and Analysis
| 75 | 3 hr |
Project Planning and Design
| 100 | 4 hr 5 min |
Project Development and Documentation
| 100 | 4 hr 5 min |
Construction and Evaluation
| 75 | 3 hr |
* Listed test duration does not include allowed break time.
For each division, the general structure of the exam will be the same: a number of discrete standalone questions at the beginning of the content portion followed by case studies located at the end. Each division is broken down into 4-5 based topic sections, which are further divided into objectives.
You will encounter several types of questions during the exam, in both the standalone and case study items: multiple choice, check-all-that-apply, quantitative fill-in-the-blank, hotspot, and drag-and place. Each item is worth one point, and there is no partial credit.
For a detailed breakdown of the test content, please refer to NCARB’s ARE 5.0 Guidelines.
Preparing for ARE
NCARB publishes free, full-length practice exams for each division of the ARE 5.0. These practice exams are available through the Practice Exam Dashboard in the Exams tab of your NCARB Record.
Additionally, you may consider taking a course with an NCARB-approved test prep provider. A list of approved test prep providers is available on NCARB’s website.
Time And Costs
How long it takes and how much it will cost to become licensed as an architect in Illinois will depend on many factors including:
- The completeness of your educational and professional records;
- The efficiency of your home country’s system in compiling and transmitting your university and professional records;
- The quality of your relationships with architect mentors and their responsiveness to your requests to certify your experience;
- Your performance on the Architect Registration Exam (ARE); and
- The time and money you have available to devote to the process.
Other Careers And Credentials
Preparing for licensing takes a significant amount of time, money, and effort. You may choose to seek lower-level positions as you pursue your licensing goals. A job with fewer responsibilities but the ability to gain experience may offer some distinct advantages, such as:
- Building job security;
- Polishing technology skills;
- Adapting to the US workplace culture in a lower-pressure environment; and
- Having more energy to focus on preparing for the licensing exams.
You should be honest with your employer about your long-term plans and be sure that they understand how you can contribute to their company’s objectives.
- Architectural Detailer – Computer-aided Design and Drafting
A position as an Architectural Detailer requires mastery of CADD software. If you do not have these skills, you can take specific training courses at a technical school. Since most U.S.-educated CADD Detailers have only a technical school education, you may appear overqualified by comparison. You should consider being upfront with potential employers about your long-term goals for licensing as an architect.
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification Professional
Green building is a growth area in the architectural field. The LEED certification, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, is the accepted standard for evaluating green building—design that focuses on more efficient use of resources such as energy, water, and materials—and rehabilitation projects. You may wish to consider becoming a LEED professional.
- Project Management and Professional Certification
If your prior experience included managing architectural projects and you have particularly strong communication and organizational skills, you may want to consider qualifying for the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute. The PMP is a widely recognized credential that pairs well with a background in architecture. It is one way to work actively in the architecture field without holding professional licensure.
Beyond Licensing
Maintaining Licensure
Your Illinois license expires on November 30 of each even numbered year. You can renew the month prior to that date by paying the renewal fee and meeting your continuing education requirements. As of January 2023, the renewal fee is $30 per year.
To maintain licensure, you will need to complete your Continuing Education requirements prior to your expiration date. For each 24-month period, you will need to complete 24 hours of continuing education, with at least 16 hours related to public protection subjects and 1 hour of sexual harrassment prevention training. Beginning with the period starting November 2024, you will also need to complete at least 1 hour of continuing education related to design practices that reflect improved understanding of high winds or natural disasters. Be sure to confirm the specific continuing education requirements to make sure you are in compliance!
Joining a Professional Association
State and national associations for architects provide opportunities for professional development and networking. They also help set acceptable working conditions for the industry and give information and opinions on policy in Illinois and across the U.S. They also often offer CE opportunities.
