The Labourification of Work

The Contemporary Modes of Architectural Production under the Danish Welfare State

PhD project by Angela Gigliotti

To be named a profession, the architectural one has to be able to generate a turnover to sustain the life of a multitude of actors (workers) that operate within the same industry; moreover, it needs a substantial amount of money to reify its outcomes (works).

The main research question is: how the modes of production by architectural practices have been affected by a neoliberal turn of the Danish Welfare State?

To answer such a question, the research investigates the origin of Danish architectural professionalism and then addresses two timespans: The first one (1945-1975) covers the Golden Years of Welfare State and the modes of production that blossomed during the international gospel of productivity under the Cold War.

The second one concerns the neoliberal turn (1993-2016) focusing on: the national policies aimed to flex-secure the labour market; the supranational agreements of the European Union related to the tenders and the free circulation of service; and, the national counter-legislation to support architectural procurement. In both timespans, the modes of architectural production will be addressed.

The overall argument of the thesis regards the labourification of work. The labourification implies that labouring painful activities (e.g. administration, underpaid commissions, unpaid competitions etc.) are accepted at all levels among architects for the sake of an exciting reification of work as a yearned reward.

The research employs a mixed methodology (archival review, literature review and grounded theory), supported by the inscriptive tool of architecture (theoretical diagramming, exhibition design).