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. The book is available through Monthly Review Press and examines how unionization efforts among architects could reshape the profession.
Beck played a key role in organizing Bernheimer Architecture to become the first private-sector architecture firm in over a century to unionize. He credits his work with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) for shaping much of the content in 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?”
While writing, Beck drew on his teaching experience at The New School’s Parsons School of Design. He noted that courses in philosophy, history, and economics helped him relate architecture 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 assumptions about privilege within architecture by positioning architects as part of the broader working class. According to Beck, many architects are underpaid despite holding advanced degrees.
“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 organizers as they aim to expand union efforts across more firms nationwide. He stresses worker education as essential for building awareness within the field.
“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 currently available through Monthly Review Press as well as independent bookstores. Beck will speak about his book at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore on November 6 during an event featuring unionized artists from Maryland Institute College of Art.
