Architects Draft a New Blueprint for a Labor Movement
Long hours, low pay and hefty student loans are some of the complaints driving architects and designers to organize unions to demand better working conditions.
Some workers in architecture firms are exploring unionization in response to a host of long-simmering labor issues.
Photographer: Visual Generation/iStockphotoFew design firms can boast work as visible as SHoP Architects. The New York-based company jump-started Brooklyn’s evolution to the hippest New York City borough in 2012 with the Barclays Center and its signature facade of rusted Corten steel panels, a design first for an arena. Since then, SHoP has turned heads with a master plan for the former Domino Sugar Factory — a proposal for a series of towers, including one O-shaped building, with apertures to connect the Williamsburg neighborhood to the Brooklyn waterfront. Among the firm’s highlights are new headquarters for YouTube and Uber, a museum and an embassy, and towers from Manhattan to Melbourne.
In December, workers at SHoP pushed the envelope again: Architects with the 135-employee firm announced a bid to unionize. Under the banner Architectural Workers United, the workers mounted the first significant labor push in the building design industry since 1971.