Indian architect and Wallmakers founder Vinu Daniel has defended the use of unpaid internships, which he claims have an important educational benefit, following criticism on social media.

Daniel defended his position following several comments on a post on his Instagram account, which has since been deleted, which criticised the practice.

Daniel confirmed to Dezeen that people join his studio unpaid but said that he considered them to be students and that his studio starts paying them once they have gained the necessary skills in the sustainable construction techniques that the studio specialises in.1

Daniel said that people joining his studio were trained by architects along with other skilled tradespeople to gain skills in sustainable construction.2

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• 1. "Anyone who enters our practice is essentially a 'student'. Wallmakers is an unconventional sustainable practice operating without an office," Daniel said. "We travel from site to site with our skilled masons and workers, building our projects. Unfortunately, architectural colleges in India do not teach or practice sustainable technologies. Therefore, anyone who enters our practice is essentially a 'student' and we have to teach them our techniques," he added. "After learning, they become salaried members of the firm."
• 2. "The learning process is rigorous," he said. "In addition to the fact that we can take only a limited number of people at a time, life at the site is hard, strenuous and not everyone's cup of tea. They are not just taught by architects and supervisors alone, but by the masons, fabricators and carpenters on site, who we strongly believe are 'teachers' too," he continued.