The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design

Directly confronting the nature of contemporary architectural work, this book is the first to address a void at the heart of architectural discourse and thinking. For too long, architects have avoided questioning how the central aspects of architectural “practice” (professionalism, profit, technology, design, craft, and building) combine to characterize the work performed in the architectural office. Nor has there been a deeper evaluation of the unspoken and historically-determined myths that assign cultural, symbolic, and economic value to architectural labor.

The Architect as Worker presents a range of essays exploring the issues central to architectural labor. These include questions about the nature of design work; immaterial and creative labor and how it gets categorized, spatialized, and monetized within architecture; the connection between parametrics and BIM and labor; theories of architectural work; architectural design as a cultural and economic condition; entrepreneurialism; and the possibility of ethical and rewarding architectural practice.

The book is a call-to-arms, and its ultimate goal is to change the practice of architecture. It will strike a chord with architects, who will recognize the struggle of their profession; with students trying to understand the connections between work, value, and creative pleasure; and with academics and cultural theorists seeking to understand what grounds the discipline.

Edited by:

Peggy Deamer

Contributors Include:

Pier Vittorio Aureli, Franco Bernardi, Philip G. Bernstein, Richard Biernacki, Alicia Carrio, Peggy Deamer, Thomas Fisher, Norman M. Klein, Neil Leach, Metahaven, Joan Ockman, Andreas Rumpfhuber, Manuel Shvartzberg, Michael Sorkin, Katie Lloyd Thomas and Tilo Amhoff, Paolo Tombesi, Mabel O. Wilson, Jordan Carver and Kadambari Baxi.

For more information on The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design, contact the Architecture Lobby at info@architecture-lobby.org

Visit ArchitectureNow to read a book review by Sam Aislabie.

The Architect as Worker
Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design
Edited by: Peggy Deamer
New York: Bloomsbury; 2015
ISBN: 9781472570499

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  • Expanding Solidarity (Chapter 7)
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    Expanding Solidarity (Chapter 7)

    Social and Global Justice by and for Architecture Workers Where will you build solidarity? Who will you bring with you? “How do you create solidarity across different sectors of labor? It becomes infinitely easier to do if your sector is already organized.” Discussion guide Theme: connecting architecture workers’ struggles to builders, tenants, disabled communities, climate…

  • Beyond Licensure (Chapter 6)
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    Beyond Licensure (Chapter 6)

    New Pathways to Architecture Work What skills matter and how will you pass them on? “If I was to revamp architecture education, I’d have everybody working construction for two years.” Discussion guide Theme: who gets to practice architecture, and which skills and schools could open new pathways. Facilitator tip: ask people to name values as…

  • Organizing Academia (Chapter 5)
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    Organizing Academia (Chapter 5)

    From Studio to System How will you turn education into a force for change? “What is the relationship between architecture and capitalism? How does that then change the academy such that students are prepared to ‘do architecture’?” Discussion guide Theme: how schools, studios and classrooms can become places to organize. Facilitator tip: link people’s classroom…