What an architect seal is for
An architect seal is the mark a registered architect applies to drawings and specifications they are responsible for. Like an engineer’s, it names the architect and their registration number in the layout their state board sets, and applying it is a professional act rather than a formality: it identifies who is answerable for the work.
Registration is by state, and so is the seal. The board that registered you decides the wording, the shape and usually the size, and an architect stamp made to another state’s design is not a substitute for the right one.
Where the rules come from
Each state board publishes its own specification, and the differences are in the detail: whether the design is round or rectangular, what wording surrounds the name, whether a registration expiry has to appear on the face. An architectural seal that misses one of those can have a submission returned.
We publish a state page only when someone here has read that board’s rule at its own source and recorded the URL and the date. No architect state page is ready yet, so every state above shows as coming soon rather than offering a design nobody has checked. That is deliberate, and it is the same rule the engineer pages follow.
What you will need
Your name exactly as the board holds it, and your registration number. Some boards also require an expiry date on the face of the seal. Everything is made to order, so the details you type are the details that are manufactured, and the live preview on each state page exists to catch a mistake before it becomes a die.
Mounts are the same range as the engineer stamps: self-inking for everyday use, pre-inked for a sharper impression, a traditional wood handle for occasional sealing. An architect seal stamp and an embossed seal carry the identical design and differ only in how the impression reaches the paper. Which you choose is a question of how often you seal, and of what the offices you file with prefer to receive, rather than a question of what the board will accept.
Architect seal questions
- Is an architect seal the same as an architect stamp?
- They are two words for the same thing. The seal is the impression your board specifies; the stamp is a tool that makes it.
- Can I use one seal in more than one state?
- No. Registration and the seal design are set state by state, so you need one for each state in which you seal work.
- Why is my state not available yet?
- Because nobody here has read that board’s specification at the board’s own source. We would rather show a state as coming soon than sell a seal made to a rule we have not checked.
- Does a landscape architect need a different seal?
- Usually yes. Most states license landscape architecture separately, with its own wording on the seal. Check your board’s specification, which is the same source we would use.