How We are Supposed to Work for Free

Does this situation sound familiar? At a birthday party, a fellow architect boasts about an exciting new project they have recently acquired. Upon further enquiry, they reveal that — in fact — they slaved over a concept sketch or perhaps managed to coax their client into a commission with a free design to secure the project. These rather intensive and resource-exhaustive periods of unpaid work are not unusual for architecture practices. Yet architecture is not the only discipline to suffer this. It is a scenario common to other creative industries, such as advertising or fashion. Sometimes, working for free can prove a useful strategy to acquire significant long-term projects. It also gives both parties an opportunity to ‘test drive’ the working dynamic. Nevertheless, it renders the creative work produced worthless. Most egregious is the fact that designers wilfully subject themselves to this exploitation. By surrendering time, energy and resources without pay, designers reinforce the widely held, but very wrong, assumption that creativity and ideas are free.