Despite the profession of architecture’s enduring preoccupation with individual authorship, architects have historically found their greatest political, economic, and cultural agency in the design of their organizations–partnerships, corporations, and associations, among others–rather than their buildings. Yet organizations rarely occupy a central place in architectural education, leaving architects to learn how to create and navigate them largely through experience and trial and error.

Amid unprecedented corporate consolidation and renewed interest in labor organizing, this seminar examines how architects have historically designed organizations: the businesses, the profession, and the institutions that define, regulate, and reproduce architecture. Moving from history and theory to practice, students will investigate the legal and financial structures underlying various organizational forms–from sole proprietorships and partnerships to multinational corporations and unions, and from cooperatives to nonprofits–that make architectural practice possible. Through readings, contemporary case studies, debates, and the development of an organizing plan, students will learn how organizations function, when different organizational forms are appropriate, and why organizing can become a tool for transforming the conditions and structures of architectural work.