Chris Beck, a member of IAM Architecture Workers United (AWU) and former employee at Bernheimer Architecture, has released his first book titled “The Labor of Architecture: Creativity, Design, and the Possibility of a New Class Consciousness.” The book is published by Monthly Review Press and examines how creativity, labor, and class identity intersect in the architecture profession. It also looks at how unionization among architects could impact the field.
Beck played a key role in organizing Bernheimer Architecture to become the first private-sector architecture firm to unionize in over a century. He stated that his involvement with the IAM Union was central to shaping his book. “A lot of it came out of the work with the IAM and organizing Bernheimer,” said Beck. “Part of the book recounts that story—how we started organizing, what we achieved in our collective bargaining agreement—but it also asks a bigger question: What took so long for architecture to get here? We have unionized teachers, nurses, engineers—so why not architects?”
Drawing on his teaching experience at The New School’s Parsons School of Design and studies in philosophy, history, and economics, Beck connects architectural work to larger social and labor movements. “Architecture isn’t very good at thinking about labor and economics,” said Beck. “Taking those classes gave me a better way to talk about the relationship between creativity, class, and inequality and how we can build a more conscious and collective future for designers and architects.”
The book challenges common perceptions about architecture as an elite or lucrative career by highlighting issues such as low pay despite advanced degrees and long working hours. “It’s not uncommon to graduate with a master’s degree and make $60,000 a year while working 50 or 60 hours a week,” Beck said. “There’s this idea of status and privilege that keeps people going—but that same mindset makes it harder to recognize that we’re workers, too.”
Beck remains active with Architecture Workers United by consulting with IAM Union organizers as they seek to expand union efforts within other firms nationwide. He stresses education for workers as an important goal for himself moving forward. “Worker education is really where I want to focus,” Beck said. “I had the privilege to study and write about this, but most people don’t get that opportunity. We need more spaces for working people to step back, reflect, and connect what they do every day to the bigger picture.”
“The Labor of Architecture” is now available through Monthly Review Press as well as independent bookstores. Beck will present his book during an event at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore on November 6 alongside unionized artists from Maryland Institute College of Art.
