Swanson Lecture: Peggy Deamer (Virtual)

Peggy Deamer

Architecture Beyond Capitalism

This talk will examine how the discipline of architecture can move beyond its current principle function – decorating developers’ (or rich clients) buildings – and simultaneously work on the side of society and the empowerment of architectural workers. It will look at the roadblocks that make this work hard and rehearse efforts at workarounds and/or institutional change.

Join the Zoom Meeting at the time of the lecture

Peggy Deamer is Professor Emerita of Yale University’s School of Architecture and principal in the firm of Deamer, Studio.  She is a founding member of the Architecture Lobby, a group advocating for the value of architectural design and labor. She is the editor of Architecture and Capitalism: 1845 to the Present and The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design and the author of Architecture and Labor. Articles by her have appeared in Log, Avery Review, e-Flux, and Harvard Design Magazine amongst other journals. Her theory work explores the relationship between subjectivity, design, and labor in the current economy. She received the Architectural Record 2018 Women in Architecture Activist Award and the 2021 John Q. Hejduk Award.

This lecture is sponsored by the J. Robert F. Swanson Fund.

The J. Robert F. Swanson Lecture Fund at Cranbrook Academy of Art was established in 1983 by the family of J. Robert F. Swanson, a noted architect who was also the son-in-law of Eliel Saarinen. Each year, the Swanson Lecture brings to the Cranbrook campus architects, designers, artists or scholars who have received critical acclaim for their work and enjoy a sustained record of excellence and achievement in their respective field.  J. Robert F. Swanson and his wife and lifelong design partner, Pipsan Saarinen Swanson, founded their firm Swanson Associates in 1947 and worked on many exteriors and interiors, including residences, schools, universities, churches, airports, banks, and government, industrial and commercial projects.