12 september 2024
public symposium
wORKING FOR WHAT?
Architectural Labour: Organising, Work, and Professionalisation
Thursday 12 September 2024,
10:30am - 6:30pm
Organised by Dr Claire Jamieson and Reishin Kunishima Watabe
Wash Houses, Aldgate, London Metropolitan University School of Art, Architecture and Design, London
with thanks to CUBE research group, Prof Julie Hall, Anne Markey, Prof Matthew Barac, Dr Jessica Kelly
description
Hosted by CUBE, this one-day event interrogates the construction of the historical and present-day architectural worker.
This symposium aims to gather a diverse range of speakers around the subject of the history of labour organising within the architectural profession in the UK and to interrogate the conceptualisation of the architectural worker.
We invite all employed attendees to make a suggested donation in support of symposium organisation and refreshments (£5-£15 for a ticket). Students and those on low wages go free. Two weeks before the event, you will receive an invitation via Eventbrite to contribute to our costs through the London Met eShop.
Event Summary
In recognition of the challenging context architectural practitioners find themselves in today, we have invited speakers from across the industry – from historians to activists and educators – to present seldom known allegories of resistance, methods of collective organising and histories of professional activism which could be translated into today’s context.
‘Working for What?’ will be held in the Wash Houses at London Metropolitan University’s Aldgate Campus in London – home not only to three professional architecture courses (RIBA Parts I, II and III), but also the Trade Union Congress archive. Within this rich context, we hope to bring together speakers operating between academia, activism, education and policy in a series of panel presentations and discussions.
The urgency of this event has perhaps never been so pressing. Although some UK practices have announced record profits this year, a slew of industry layoffs and a weak economic outlook pervades the contemporary architectural discourse. Government legislation to change foreign skilled visas have highlighted and racialised architects' poor pay, while senior industry figures complain of a ‘bid to the bottom’ in getting work. Activist organisations have emerged in recent years as a response to these conditions and are developing momentum; they represent a critical moment within the profession not only to organise, but also to reflect on previous moments of political activity.
Video Recordings
Programme
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registration! hellos!
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Radical Reinvention: Reflections on a New Architectural Body Politic
Sarah Wigglesworth
Looking back on her career following the recent closure of her practice, Sarah Wigglesworth will discuss her early motivations and the shape of her career which began in the 1980s building boom and developed into a critical mode of practice that folded teaching into her architectural work. Reflecting on issues of gender and professionalisation, Sarah will set the scene for our symposium which asks what we – as architects and architectural workers – are working for?Chair: Reishin Kunishima Watabe
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Chair: Dr Jessica Kelly
A history of union activity within the architectural profession has not yet been written. This panel will explore key moments of unionisation from the end of the 19th century and through the 20th century – exploring how and why architects have organised in the past and what we might learn from these attempts in today’s context.
‘Are we militant?’: Professional Politics and the Salaried Architect 1919-45
Dr Claire Jamieson, London Metropolitan UniversityBuilding Solidarities: Learning from Construction and Public Sector Workers
Aska Welford, Architectural Worker / Independent ResearcherI’ll Fight You For It: Brian Anson and the Percy Street Atelier…
Edward Bottoms, Architectural Association
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During the lunch break there will an opportunity to view materials from the TUC archive and speak to our archivists.
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Chair: Reishin Kunishima Watabe
Amidst the struggles of worker precarity, low pay and overwork faced by many architectural workers across the world, architectural unions have emerged as a mechanism to fight back. With representatives from architectural unions in Sweden, Germany, the USA and the UK, this panel will compare approaches and actions, building solidarity across geographies.
Profession and Union - Uniting Architects Under One Roof
Jens Andersson, Architects Sweden (Sveriges Arkitekter),Labor in Architecture
Andrew Daley, Architectural Workers United (AWU), USAArchitectural Workers Organising - How to Get Started?
Fiona Wagner and Péter Máthé, Architekt*innengewerkschaft, GermanyWhat’s a Worker?
Carolina Thorbert, Section of Architectural Workers (SAW-Unite), United Kingdom
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Refresh! Chat!
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Chair: Dr Claire Jamieson
Interrogating the forces that have shaped the contemporary architectural practitioner, this panel will consider the social, economic, political and professional structures within education and practice that have defined architectural work and the worker.
Getting Tired of Peddling So Hard: Work-life Balance in Architecture Practice Beyond Neoliberalism.
Professor Igea Troiani, London South Bank University
Working the Ground
Shumi Bose, Central St Martins, UALThe Changing Context for Architectural Professionalism
Eleanor Jolliffe, Allies and Morrison‘Architect’, Interrupted: Gendered Practice After the Warne Report
Reishin Kunishima Watabe, London Metropolitan University
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Closing Remarks
