ABOUT

Histories of architecture often operate with concepts of “authorship” and “influence,” centring the figure of the architect and the creative aspects of architectural work. In contrast, this group will explore contemporary approaches to architectural labour as a lens to craft more relational accounts of architectural practice that are perceptive to collaborative and routine aspects of design, as well as the material production and maintenance of buildings. The workshop is interested in reflecting upon the synchronic and diachronic relationships between architectural workers and other co-producers of historical and contemporary built environments — draughtsman, construction workers, engineers, and urban residents. By attending to relationships, in the words of Peggy Deamer, between “intention and execution, thinking and making, opportunity and liability, and innovation and responsibility,” (Deamer 2010) workshop participants will develop more situated portraits of architectural practice based on archival research, oral history, and/or secondary literature analysis.