Nothing to Lose But…

In trying to simplify the overwhelming question of how to address forced labor in building supply chains, Pins Brown, chair of the UK-based Food Network for Ethical Trade, leans on two things: the Jerry Maguire catchphrase “Show me the money!” and Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism. “Looking at who benefits and where the money is going is usually a good place to start,” she told the crowd that had gathered for the concluding event of the AIA NY Center for Architecture’s three-part series on the subject.

Brown’s materialism was matched by Billie Faircloth’s candor about the “labor exploitation risk calculation methodology” she and her colleagues at the Built Buildings Lab developed to “empower designers to use socially sustainable materials.” The project she presented—conducted by a team of academics, architectural and engineering practitioners, and computer scientists—found that the method was unlikely to prevent or reduce labor exploitation. On the bright side, it did reveal the shortcomings of such a data-centric approach. “The nature of the problem is actually power-driven and political,” said Faircloth, adding that the solution is to support “supply chain governance based on the principles of equity and worker empowerment.”

Sara Grant, a design partner at MBB Architects, elaborated on the firm’s “initiatives committee structure,” which deals with equity in the profession, and prompted us to consider whom exactly architects have in mind when designing. Grant embraced overarching principles like reusing materials on-site and designing assemblies with fewer components as basic steps toward sustainability. When asked about unionization as a way to address overwork in architecture, however, she dithered: “I’m not going to come down on one side or the other of that.” Brown and Faircloth, who did not get the chance to answer the question directly, invoked unions as integral components of any solution to the problem of forced labor.