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. Published by Monthly Review Press, the book examines how creativity, labor, and class identity intersect in the architecture industry and considers how unionization could transform the profession.
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’s impact on his writing, Beck stated: “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?”
While working on his book, Beck drew from his teaching experience at The New School’s Parsons School of Design. He noted that philosophy, history, and economics courses helped him relate architectural practice 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 Labor of Architecture addresses misconceptions about architecture as an elite field by situating architects within the broader working class. According to Beck: “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. 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 advising IAM Union organizers as they seek to bring more firms into the movement nationwide. He highlighted worker education as an ongoing priority: “Worker education is really where I want to focus,” he 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 currently available through Monthly Review Press as well as independent bookstores. Beck is scheduled to discuss his book at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore on November 6 alongside unionized artists from Maryland Institute College of Art.
