{"id":44812,"date":"2026-09-18T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architect-us.com\/blog\/?p=44812"},"modified":"2026-09-20T12:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:32:37","slug":"never-close-a-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architect-us.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/never-close-a-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Never close a door"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you had told me a few months ago that I\u2019d be packing my bags for New York<\/strong> to work at Morphosis<\/strong>, I probably wouldn\u2019t have believed how the pieces fell into place.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Jacobo, an architect<\/strong> fresh out of ETSAM<\/strong> in Madrid<\/strong>. Spending years in those classrooms is an intense ride, but looking back, it was genuinely a wonderful experience. Architecture is a beautiful discipline, and after countless studio marathons, endless iterations, and diving headfirst into design challenges, I finally feel completely equipped to take everything I\u2019ve learned and test it in the real world.<\/p>\n

Getting the Arquia Foundation scholarship<\/strong> was already a huge milestone, but my sights were locked on one place: New York City<\/strong>. The challenge? Arquia\u2019s studio roster was divided between NYC<\/strong> and Los Angeles<\/strong>, and the initial slots weren’t lining up the way I had imagined.<\/p>\n

Here is where listening to the right advice changed everything. The Architect-US<\/strong> team urged me not to narrow my options and pushed me to take an interview with Morphosis\u2019s Los Angeles studio. Even though it wasn’t the city I had prioritized, I went for it. The conversation clicked immediately, but there wasn’t a direct placement open at that exact second. Then came an unexpected plot twist: another firm in New York suddenly canceled their internship slot. Because that first interview with Morphosis had gone so well, the stars aligned\u2014Morphosis opened up a spot through their New York office specifically for my Arquia placement.<\/p>\n

Because this reshuffle happened so late in the game, the visa situation suddenly became high-stakes. The firm had a strict onboarding deadline, meaning even a small bureaucratic delay would have killed the entire opportunity. That pressure could have easily turned into a logistical nightmare, but the Architect-US team moved with incredible precision. They handled every detail of the J-1 process<\/strong> so efficiently that what should have been a nail-biting scramble went off without a hitch.<\/p>\n

Now comes the bittersweet, chaotic ritual every traveler knows well: emptying my room, deciding what fits into two suitcases, and packing up years of life in Madrid into cardboard boxes. Looking around at half-bare walls while holding an approved visa makes it all feel shockingly real. In just a few days, it\u2019s time to board that transatlantic flight.<\/p>\n

Stepping into a studio that constantly pushes architectural boundaries like Morphosis, set against the backdrop of New York’s sheer urban energy, is the most thrilling challenge I could have asked for. Next time I write, it\u2019ll be straight from Manhattan\u2014stay tuned!<\/p>\n

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