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 labor, creativity, and class identity intersect in the architecture industry. It also addresses how recent unionization efforts among architects could impact 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. He said his work with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) was central to developing the 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?”
Drawing from his experience teaching at The New School’s Parsons School of Design, Beck incorporated lessons from philosophy, history, and economics courses to connect architecture to broader social and labor movements. “Architecture isn’t very good at thinking about labor and economics,” he said. “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 architecture as an elite field by highlighting that many architects face similar challenges as other working people: low pay relative to qualifications and long hours driven by passion rather than compensation. Beck stated: “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 involved with AWU by advising IAM Union organizers on expanding union efforts within other firms across the United States. He stressed the value of worker education as crucial for reflection on professional experiences within larger social contexts. “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 nationwide. 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.
