Chris Beck, a member of IAM Architecture Workers United (AWU) and former employee at Bernheimer Architecture, has published his first book titled The Labor of Architecture: Creativity, Design, and the Possibility of a New Class Consciousness. Released by Monthly Review Press, the book examines how union movements are influencing the architecture profession and addresses issues related to creativity, labor, and class within 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. Reflecting on this experience, Beck said, “A lot of it came out of the work with the IAM and organizing Bernheimer. 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?”
His background includes teaching at The New School’s Parsons School of Design. There he took classes in philosophy, history, and economics that influenced his approach to connecting architecture with broader 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 disputes common perceptions about architects being part of an elite profession. Instead, Beck highlights that many architects face low pay despite high educational requirements 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 extend unionization efforts across more firms nationwide. He stressed education as crucial for workers: “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 discuss his work at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore on November 6 alongside unionized artists from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
