Journal of Architectural Education, v. 74, n. 2: Othering
Peer-Reviewed Journal Article, October 2020
This “micronarrative” is a critique of architecture’s aporia around cross-industry solidarity. Due to the posture and rhetoric of professionalism,
architects have too often been unwilling and unable to form relationships of
solidarity with other parties involved in the making of buildings. If we
are to transform the processes of design and construction to address the urgent
challenges of the present, solidarity with these “others” will be necessary. Analysis
of an article discussing the construction of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis (FRBM), designed by Gunnar Birkerts and Associates, illustrates some of
the tensions caused by class hierarchies and subordinations within
construction, while also revealing opportunities for stronger, industry-wide
bonds.
Steelworkers tension one of the suspension cables supporting the FRBM office tower, April 1971.
Steelworkers tension one of the suspension cables supporting the FRBM office tower, April 1971.