Book Review - Peggy Dreamer - Architect as Worker

Peggy Deamer (Ed.) The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class and the Politics of Design.

SID: 440390053

2015. London: New Delhi: Bloomsbury

It is an all too familiar scene. I sit on the couch with my partner at 9pm on a Friday night, each with a take away container in hand. The illusion that either of us will be home earlier enough to cook a meal has been overreached by several hours and we eat in an exhausted silence. A wry smile on both of our faces acknowledges that an architect’s close of business differs from the universal definition. As I have many times before, I have mentally calculated that after nearly five years at university, and the accumulation of significant debt in the process, I am now earning the near equivalent as what I was earning over a decade ago in my early twenties at my local Bunnings. At the mention of this I usually receive a quizzical look, followed not by the question, but rather a statement, “But you love what you do – maybe just not how its done”.

Peggy Deamer’s poignant book Architect as Worker challenges us to address this concern; to reconsider not only the way in which we work, but also the manner in which we conceptualise the process of work. Architect as Worker consolidates Deamer’s research at Yale University in the still-lagging effects of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The edited book follows two previous volumes including her earlier Architecture and Capitalism (2013) and Building (in) the future: recasting Labor in Architecture (2010) that predefine the post-Fordist economic and social structures in which our profession is entrenched. The edited book is a collection of 17 essays, responses, case studies and narratives and although the chapters are not responsive to one another they each offer a different entry point to the polemic exploration of protocols and practices that frame the labor of architectural design and construction. The perspectives within the book traverse broader issues from the definition and value of immaterial labor to professionspecific speculation, to proposing new business models. Deamer’s key argument that traverses many of the essays is that architectural labor needs to be reconceptualised as work. Subject to this is understanding that our work is part of a larger global economy and although distinct, is collaborative not only with other workers, but also clients and institutions. Until we understand and embrace our economic place this we cannot be in a position of power or authority to affect change within the discipline or to global labor conditions.

We do work, not just art. Within her aptly titled chapter Work, Deamer quickly puts to rest the tired notion of architecture as one’s calling. However, rather than criticising the cliché magnetic pull of the discipline, judgment is reserved for the way in which we within the architectural profession have created a binary relationship between the art that is produced through architecture, and the labor and work undertaken by others. Deamer argues that because of this division, which is both contractual and conceptual, those within the discipline are prevented from achieving financial reward as well as social relevance due to our inability to perceive ourselves within the class of laborers.

When projecting how architecture could be considered a form of labor Richard Biernacki’s has looked towards a comparative historical analysis to demonstrate how creative work has become regulated. He depicts the piecework system forcibly adopted by eighteenth century German fiction writers to help illustrate how the delivery of an idea or concept becomes analogous to the production of a physical object for trade. His work considers the link between the process of production and the product and suggests that there is a relationship between the mode of immaterial labor and the use of exchange value of the product. Resounding with Karl Marx’s distinction between concrete and abstract labor1 Architecture instead of displacing itself outside of Neoliberalism, appears as both as a commodity and linked to the development of economic exchange.

Several contributors address the way in which the nature and value of architecture has evolved within the period of the last century. Following the previous discourse within the book, the separation between the immaterial architectural labor is continued and brings to light the role of the architect as producers and laborers of knowledge.

However, we are in fact still aligned with and in collaboration with, other types of workers. Contributors Katie Lloyd-

Thomas and Tilo Amhoff outline the not insignificant work of writing specifications and the value of implemented knowledge. In previous interviews, Deamer has referred to the object of the building as the tip of the iceberg 2 ; the physical manifestation of an astounding array of knowledge not merely limited to specifications but also site, program and political and social contributors. The incorporation of such a wide range of knowledge also illustrates the shift of the architect’s role from prescribing what was to built, to how something was built; a swing from prescription to process. Similarly, the development and incorporation of BIM has challenged architectural practice and prompted perhaps not shift from, but an extension from process-

1 2

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, 5th ed.(Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1977).

PD. Deamer, Heard, JH, "Lobbying for Value - a Dialogue," ed. Architecture Lobby(Chile: ARQ Santiago, 2017).

based design to performance-based design. Where Lloyd-Thomas and Amhoff posit that such a dynamic change may jeopardise the architect’s identification or demarcation in the design process, it appears to more appropriately align with the argument put forward Manuel Shvartzberg. Within his essay Shvartzberg assumes that we are working within an era where capitalism is not going to be quickly replaced by a utopian economic model. As such, the profession in which we work is not impartial or separate to its neighbouring professions of the artist or engineer. The near instant collaborative opportunities that BIM and parametric design help to offer a new metric of value and the ability to project outcomes across disciplines. Coupled with the existing wealth of knowledge outlined by Lloyd-Thomas and Amhoff, the immaterial labor of knowledge coupled with a collaborative approach has the potential to immeasurably increase the value of architectural works.

Throughout the book, the concern for labour is set in tension. Of the five chapters within Deamer’s book the first two incorporate works arguing how immaterial labor is conceptualised. The final two chapters non-directly frame mechanisms by which the architect may reconceptualise the notion of work and labor within a globalised economy. Sandwiched rather neatly in the middle of the series of works the contributions turn from an introspective analysis of work to an external global engagement. Deamer all too fluidly suggests that architects who are unable to engage with the broader categories of work are detached from the broader global social structure and conditions of labor.

The industry of construction foregrounds the central chapter of the book. Multiple authors express and unpack concern for construction works and practices in countries that do not have, adopt, or enact labor protections.

The attitude of the chapter is couched in Zaha Hadid’s infamous quip, “I have nothing to do with the workers…

It's not my duty as an architect to look at it. 3 ” The overtone of the collection of works insinuate that without reconceptualising our relationship with other types of labor involved in the architectural and construction practice at a global level we passively mitigating our responsibility to others and denying culpability to often dangerous and life threatening international working conditions.

3

M Filler, "Zaha Hadid Defends Qatar World Cup Role Following Migrant Worker Deaths," The Guardian, 26.02.2014 2014.

Penned by members of the coalition Who Builds your Architecture, the essay Working globally: the human networks of transnational architectural projects poignantly addresses the ethical dimension of global architectural practices. In their essay Mabel Wilson, Jordan Carver & Kadambari Baxi bring to light the hidden connections between labor violations and the global ambitions of states, institutions and architects. They indicate the human costs and connected globalisation of capital culture and labor in which, if we are engaged globally, our participation is becoming central. This essay is not isolated in its recognition, but rather sits amongst a framework of activist and lobbyist organisations, including the Architecture Lobby, of which Deamer is a member and is centrally involved.

Although not an intentional deceit, one could almost suggest that Deamer’s organisation of the book is chiasmic to the central chapters of global working conditions; introducing an emotive and polarising topic amongst familiar, albeit challenging and reforming, grievances of architectural working conditions.

Considered individually, the essays captured within Architect as Worker are interesting and thematic. However, considered a collective they are exemplar of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Deamer and the collective do not seem to suggest that architecture can continue to operate outside the capitalist structure and produce in isolation without reference to neighbouring professions and workers. Surprisingly, the series of work is not critical of current architectural practice, but rather acts as an appropriately confronting catalyst to consider change and adaption to the working model of architecture within global economic and working context.

Bibliography

Deamer, PD., Heard, JH. "Lobbying for Value - a Dialogue." edited by Architecture Lobby, 14-27. Chile: ARQ Santiago, 2017.

Filler, M. "Zaha Hadid Defends Qatar World Cup Role Following Migrant Worker Deaths." The Guardian, 26th February 2014.

Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. 5th ed. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1977.