Indiana · Architect seal requirements
Indiana Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Architects in Indiana seal under 804 IAC 1.1-2-7 (Architect's seal); IC 25-4-1-13, administered by the Board of Registration for Architects and Landscape Architects. The seal reads “REGISTERED ARCHITECT”. The architect seal shall be not less than 1⅝ inches or more than 1⅞ inches in outside diameter.
Indiana splits the three professions across three boards, all administered by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency: engineers under 864 IAC 1.1, architects and landscape architects under 804 IAC 1.1, and surveyors under 865 IAC 1. Each of the three seal rules prescribes its design by incorporating a picture rather than by listing words, so the wording has to be read off the figure: all three figures carry "REGISTERED", "No." above a rule line, "STATE OF" and "INDIANA" inside the inner circle in addition to the profession wording in the outer band. The legend recorded here for each profession is the profession wording its own source fixes — "professional engineer" by statute for engineers, "registered architect" by statute for architects, and "LAND SURVEYOR" from the figure for surveyors, whose statute prescribes no wording at all. Only the surveyor rule regulates electronic signatures in detail — 865 IAC 1-7-4(c) demands unique identification, verifiability, direct control and a retained permanent digital copy — while the engineer rule accepts an electronic signature with no such conditions and the architect rule still speaks of the person's "original signature" beside the seal. Because 864 IAC 1.1-7-2, 1.1-7-3 and 1.1-7-4 were renumbered by the Legislative Services Agency as 865 IAC 1-7-1, 1-7-2 and 1-7-3 when surveyors were separated from the engineers' title, older material citing "864 IAC 1.1-7" for a surveyor's seal now points at the engineer rule; the code's chapter heading at IC 25-21.5-2 likewise still reads "State Board of Registration for Land Surveyors" even though IC 25-21.5-2-1 establishes the state board of registration for professional surveyors. Rule text here was read in the 2026 Edition of the Indiana Administrative Code and in the 2026 Indiana Code.
Indiana Architect seal
- Legend
- “REGISTERED ARCHITECT”
- Diameter
- The architect seal shall be not less than 1⅝ inches or more than 1⅞ inches in outside diameter.
- Expiration date
- The statute fixes the impression's contents as the name plus "registered architect" and "state of Indiana"; the rule's design adds only "No." and the registration number.(IC 25-4-1-13; 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a), (c))
- Signature date
- Unlike the engineer and surveyor rules, the architect rule calls only for the original signature adjacent to the seal (or elsewhere on the sheet inscribed "This document is certified by _____") and asks for no date. Nothing elsewhere in 804 IAC 1.1 requires a document date.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(h); IC 25-4-1-13)
- City on seal
- The rule does not require a city on the seal.(IC 25-4-1-13; 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a))
- Every registered architect shall have a seal or design authorized by the board, the impression of which shall contain the name of the architect and the words "registered architect", "state of Indiana", and shall stamp with this seal all working drawings, reports and specifications prepared by the architect or under the architect's supervision.(IC 25-4-1-13)
- The design incorporated by the rule splits that statutory phrase across two bands: the architect's name runs across the top of the outer band and "ARCHITECT" across the bottom, while "REGISTERED", "No." with the registration number, "STATE OF" and "INDIANA" sit inside the inner circle.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a))
- The seal may be embossed, electronically applied, rubber stamped, or otherwise permanently affixed to the document, and shall conform with the incorporated design. It may have a milled edge, as shown, or two concentric circles with outer and inner circles corresponding with the respective edgings of the milling.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(b))
- The name and registration number inscribed on the seal shall correspond to the name and registration number inscribed on the certificate of registration, except that "AR" may be excluded in the certificate number.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(c))
- Whenever the seal is affixed it shall include the person's original signature directly adjacent thereto, not across the seal; alternatively the signature may be at another location on the sheet provided it is inscribed, "This document is certified by _____".(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(h))
- The seal shall be affixed only while the registration is current and in good standing, and only to documents created by the registrant, regularly employed subordinates, or subordinates under the registrant's direct supervision. The registrant is responsible for seeing that the seal, however affixed, is legible.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(g))
- The architect in responsible charge applies the seal and signature on the title or cover page of the specifications and each sheet of the drawings; a person not in responsible charge of the entire work may apply the seal and signature and denote the part of the work as "COVERING_____________DESIGN."(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(i), (j))
- Landscape architects are registered by the same board and use a separate seal of the same 1⅝ to 1⅞ inch design, with "LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT" in the outer band and "LA" optionally excluded from the certificate number. The landscape architect's statutory legend is "Registered Landscape Architect State of Indiana", and that seal may not be used as a substitute for the seal of an architect, engineer or land surveyor.(804 IAC 1.1-2-7(d), (f); IC 25-4-2-2(b), (c))
Indiana architect seal questions
Does an Indiana architect seal read "Registered Architect" in one band?▾
No — the statute's phrase is split across two rings. IC 25-4-1-13 requires the impression to contain the architect's name and the words "registered architect", "state of Indiana", but the design incorporated at 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a) puts the architect's name across the top of the outer band and the single word "ARCHITECT" across the bottom, with "REGISTERED", "No." above a rule line, "STATE OF" and "INDIANA" stacked inside the inner circle. A seal that runs "REGISTERED ARCHITECT" together in the outer band does not conform to the incorporated design. (IC 25-4-1-13; 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a))
Is the sample seal on Indiana's architect board page an architect's seal?▾
No. The "Sample Seal" published on the Board of Registration for Architects and Landscape Architects' own page is the file sample_seal_arch.gif, and its outer band reads "LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT" — it is the landscape architect design of 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(d), not the architect design of 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a). The two are identical apart from that band, which is exactly why the mix-up survives, and IC 25-4-2-2(c) provides that nothing authorizes the use or acceptance of a landscape architect's seal as a substitute for the seal of an architect. (804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a), (d); IC 25-4-2-2(c); PLA architects and landscape architects board page, "Sample Seal")
Does an Indiana architect have to date a drawing next to the seal?▾
The architect's rule asks for a signature and says nothing about a date. 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(h) requires the person's original signature directly adjacent to the seal and not across it, or permits the signature at another location on the sheet provided it is inscribed "This document is certified by _____". Indiana's other two seal rules do require a date — the engineer's at 864 IAC 1.1-7-3(b) and the surveyor's at 865 IAC 1-7-2(b) both call for the date the seal is being affixed — so the requirement people quote for "Indiana" is not the architect's. (804 IAC 1.1-2-7(h); 864 IAC 1.1-7-3(b); 865 IAC 1-7-2(b))
Does Indiana's architect seal rule cover electronic signatures?▾
It does not. 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(b) lets the seal itself be embossed, electronically applied, rubber stamped or otherwise permanently affixed, but subsection (h) asks for the person's original signature, and the architects' seal rule sets out no electronic or digital signature provision at all. The conditions often quoted as Indiana's — unique identification, verifiability, the registrant's direct control, and a permanent digital copy retained for future verification — are the surveyors' rule at 865 IAC 1-7-4(c) and are not imposed on architects by their own board's rule. (804 IAC 1.1-2-7(b), (h); 865 IAC 1-7-4(c))
Does the Indiana architect seal get the same size latitude as the engineer's?▾
No. 804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a) states a flat floor and ceiling — not less than one and five-eighths inches or more than one and seven-eighths inches in outside diameter — and stops there. The engineer's rule covering the same figures is softer in two ways the architect's is not: 864 IAC 1.1-7-2(a) says the engineer seal "shall generally be between" them, and it adds that plans containing an engineer seal of specified size may be reduced as long as the seal remains legible. Neither the hedge nor the reduction allowance appears in the architect's rule. (804 IAC 1.1-2-7(a); 864 IAC 1.1-7-2(a))
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