New Organization Seeks to End Exploitation of Architects

The architectural profession is notorious for overworking and under-compensating its workforce. A new organization seeks to empower architects by promoting the value of their work and fighting for better working conditions.

1 minute read

December 19, 2013, 2:00 PM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Architecture has a big problem, and its name is labor," observes Samuel Medina. "Everyone in the profession knows it, and yet no one wants to talk about it. In a fierce industry where overwork and undervalued labor are elevated as virtues, those architects—particularly younger architects fresh out of school—who are moved to speak up are quickly dissuaded from doing so. The message is simple: forget your social life; make do with your meager wage; pay your dues."

"But why do things have to be this way?" he asks. Medina speaks with The Architecture Lobby, "an organization of architectural workers and advocates that is seeking to restructure the profession from within." They're starting this ambitious effort with a national survey designed to study the relationship between architectural workers and their firms.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 in Metropolis

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