Dear architects… — Architecture as Labour - Charlie Edmonds: Future Architects Front

Roundtable with an architect Charlie Edmonds
Charlie is one of the members of Future Architects Front, an UK based initiative addressing inadequate working conditions and financial remuneration of (young) architectural workers. The roundtable took a place on Saturday, 14 January 2023, at 2 pm at the Brno Gallery of Architecture as part of the project Dear architects… — Architecture as Labour.
Future Architects Front (FAF) is an initiative of young architectural workers and students. FAF was created and is run by Charlie Edmonds and Priti Mohandas, British designers and researchers. FAF is a fully independent group and exists beyond the pressures and interests of architectural practice, education, and media. They operate in a number of different capacities, from research to activism to quasi-political campaigning. Since 2020, the FAF has been making waves in architecture, raising massive awareness around the exploitation of architectural assistants in the UK. What started as an Instagram poll transformed into a national survey headed by the Architects’ Journal. After conducting a survey, FAF wrote an open letter to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) concerning the working conditions in the profession. More than 1,800 people signed the letter, and RIBA responded and met with FAF. As a result of his whistleblowing campaign and continual social media activism, the Architectural Registration Board (ARB) and RIBA initiated institutional and systematic changes to address the issues and mistreatment experienced by those at the bottom of the profession.