The JustDesign campaign in late 2018 originally sought to give certification to architecture offices that have exemplary labor practice. It was intended to let would-be employees know how offices treated their workers, not just what designs the office produced. Surveys with six criteria for good labor practices were sent out to employees, and from there, recommended firm owners were interviewed as a follow up. Because not enough exemplary firms materialized, certification was no longer logical and the firms that did make it were written up as case studies, published on our website and in Archinect. In 2020, TAL sought a grant from the Graham Foundation for a relaunch of JustDesign (JustDesign2). It was awarded a grant in December 2020. Various factors led to the demise of that second effort — potential lawsuit from Just, another nonprofit insisting on a name change; the original grant applicants leaving the Lobby — and a request was made to change the goal of the grant to support broader worker issues, to which the Graham Foundation agreed in September 2021. In consultation with the TAL Organizing Committee and TAL membership at large, that broadening distilled into What’s your story? in May 2022.
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The Architecture Lobby and DAARNA are calling upon the AIA to adopt the International Union of Architects’ Palestine resolution
Daniel jonas roche THE ARCHITECT’S NEWSPAPER OCTOBER 10, 2025 EXCERPT: “On October 3, The Architecture Lobby (TAL) and DAARNA released a statement urging AIA president Evelyn Lee, and AIA leadership more broadly, to adopt a resolution from the International Union of Architects (UIA) regarding Palestine. AIA did not respond to AN’s request for comment. “The […]
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Statement On UIA Resolution On Palestine
The Architecture Lobby and DAARNA 03 October 2025 To Evelyn Lee, FAIA, and the leadership of the AIA- The Architecture Lobby and DAARNA support the International Union of Architects (UIA) Resolution on Palestine passed on September 20, 2025 and urge the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which is the representative body from the US to the […]
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September Calls to Action
Below are summarized calls to action from the TAL September newsletter. For full details and context, read the full newsletter on Substack. Join the Anti-Carceral Campaign TAL is launching a campaign to mobilize architectural workers against the prison industrial complex, ICE, and carceral architecture. We’re building capacity to refuse carceral projects, pressure firms and professional […]