Subversion 03 · Practice
Unionize.
A radical blueprint for equity, solidarity, and liberation
By Nathalie J. Hutchinson · PSU Architectural Theory 530
Introduction
The discipline embodies a paradox.
Architecture is widely received as a noble profession yet structured around systemic inequities. Firm hierarchies, modeled after militarized command, perpetuate racism, sexism, and ableism. Concurrent neoliberal labor practices erode collective power, leaving workers isolated and exploited.
Unionization — in the lineage of radical labor movements such as the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) — constitutes a path to democratize the profession, dismantle oppressive structures, and prioritize justice over profit. The argument that follows examines the historical roots of architectural exploitation, critiques the failures of the existing professional institutions, surveys successful unionization models, and proposes a concrete blueprint for collective action.
Historical roots
Roots of oppression.
American architecture is deeply entangled with colonialism, deploying the built environment to enforce dispossession. Today’s firm hierarchies mirror the U.S. Army’s command structure, which suppresses creative latitude and entrenches power asymmetries.
Labor exploitation has been a defining feature of the profession — from the unpaid labor of Black students at the Tuskegee Institute to the contemporary gig economy’s reliance on precarious, undercompensated work. Internships, frequently uncompensated, disproportionately favor practitioners with generational wealth, exacerbating racial and economic stratification in professional advancement.
Crisis of neoliberal architecture
75 % of U.S. firms employ fewer than ten people.
The decentralized labor force enables wage theft, undermines benefits, and produces professional isolation. Larger firms accumulate while small practices struggle for solvency. Per AIA data, firms above 100 employees generate nearly twice the revenue per employee as those of two to four.
Licensing barriers further entrench exclusion, disproportionately burdening Black and Latino candidates with examination costs and institutional gatekeeping. Professional bodies such as AIA, NOMA, and NCARB perform inclusivity while reinforcing the structures that disadvantage marginalized practitioners.
A new model
For architectural labor.
Unlike traditional unions negotiating with a singular employer, architectural labor must organize against a client-driven economic model that systematically undervalues creative work.
A unionized architectural workforce can function as a cooperative network — redistributing resources, standardizing wages, and bargaining contracts collectively. Digital platforms enable collaboration among micro-firms, ensuring equitable competition across firm sizes.
By divesting from exclusionary professional bodies and reallocating resources toward worker-led cooperatives, architecture can become a profession centered on solidarity and equity.
Counterarguments addressed
The structure
Oregon Architectural Workers United.
A worker-led, three-domain union proposed for the state. The local chapter is the building block; the goal is a National Architectural Union (NAU).
Oregon Architectural Workers United
Worker-led · Cooperative · Counter-extractive
Contracts
- Liability
- Disputes
- Project type
- Standard of care
- Timeline
- Scope
- Firm-co-op relationships
- Additional services
- Fee
Education
- Licensing · visa
- Professional development
- Program accreditation
- Mentorship
- Continuing education
- Curriculum
- Grants
Collective bargaining
- Compensation
- Benefits · pensions
- Health & safety standards
- Family leave · paid time off
- Anti-discrimination protection
- Industry standards
- Layoff & visa protections
- Small-firm support
- Policy change
Call to action
Three steps.
Grassroots mobilization
Organize architectural workers at the grassroots level — architects, designers, interns, and support staff across firms of every size. Digital platforms, social media, and local meetings serve as the connective tissue through which solidarity accrues.
Forming local chapters
Workers in cities and regions establish local chapters. Each chapter addresses local conditions while contributing to a broader, unified movement. The chapter is the operative unit; the union is the collective horizon.
Establishing a National Architectural Union (NAU)
Once local chapters are constituted, they federate into a National Architectural Union. The federation serves as the central body for advocacy, collective bargaining, and policy reform.
Organize
Sign on.
Architects, designers, interns, support staff — in Oregon and beyond — can join the roster for Oregon Architectural Workers United. The roster is not a marketing list. It is the working document of an organizing campaign.
The full argument
Read the zine.
The eleven-page zine is the long-form argument behind this page — the historical roots, the labor precedents, and the call to action.
Closing
The conditions of any of this.
The first two subversions reorder what architecture does. The third reorders the conditions under which architecture can be done at all. A diagnostic instrument and a building stack are necessary; they are not sufficient. Without an organized profession, the work the first two subversions describe will continue to be absorbed as unpaid labor, then enclosed by the firms that did not pay for it.