I think it was a wonderful moment in American history. I thought what Michelle Obama was attempting to do was to draw that link to show that it isn't just what's going on in the White House now and isn't it great that there's a black family there, but there's a much longer history that needs to be appreciated...

[It was] just grueling, grueling kind of work. And nobody was really willing ... to do it. So slave labor played a massive role in getting this city built. — Clarence Lusane

If you're a designer who works with clients, here's something you're probably familiar with: the project that never ends. The actual designing may take a matter of hours, but presenting the idea to a client, making little tweaks and edits, finding a middle ground between your vision and theirs? That process can take months [...]

For his graduate project, Ingemann Breitenstein spent time in product design studios across London researching the inefficiencies in that designer-client process. — Fast Co.Design

For decades, bosses [in certain professions] have groomed their assistants to be the next generation of big shots by working them long hours for low wages.

Call it the “Devil Wears Prada” economy, after the novel depicting life working for a fictionalized Anna Wintour, the longtime Vogue editor.

But now, with the Obama administration moving to require time-and-a-half overtime pay for most salaried employees making less than $47,476 a year, that business model is suddenly under assault. — The New York Times

A very large 3D printer measuring 20 x 120 x 40 ft (6 x 36 x 12 m) did most of the work, printing the building by extruding a cement mixture layer by layer, in a similar method by which WinSun's 3D-printed homes were made (WinSun is involved in this project too). There were also some additional smaller mobile 3D-printers used too, however.

It took 17 days to print the basic building, but it then required finishing both internally and externally. — Gizmag

Join us for an uninvited Chicago Biennial installation consisting of scenarios depicting the absurdities of architectural practice/labor/work. We seek to expand the current conversation about architecture to include an actionable critique of the real, often tragic circumstances that precarious creative workers face on a daily basis. — - The Architecture Lobby

When most people think of the Arabian peninsula, they think of the opulent man-made islands of Dubai and that city’s sparking, futuristic towers... But with his series Crossings, Arko Datto shifts the attention to the millions of migrant workers from throughout Asia who are building these structures.

Datto used Google Maps and Google Earth to capture the vast highways, sprawling landscapes, and grand projects that laborers have built under conditions that border on slavery. — Wired

An independent investigation into the construction of New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus has found that despite the school’s best intentions and efforts, about one third of the workforce at the site — roughly 10,000 workers — was not covered by the school’s labor guidelines, and thus faced unfair and exploitative practices [that were reported in previous allegations]. — Hyperallergic

A state senator on Monday expressed his concerns about Apple’s policy of not hiring construction workers with past felony convictions at the tech giant’s new campus... Union leaders told The Chronicle that several workers suddenly lost their jobs building Apple’s new campus in January because they had past felony convictions. [State Sen. Mark] Leno called the situation “equally surprising and disturbing...” — SF Gate

A student was underpaid almost $7000 during an internship with a Sydney firm of architects, a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation has found. The student was completing a masters degree in architecture when he was paid $12 per hour for six months of full-time work. His duties included architectural drawing, consulting with clients and and conducting site visits...the student, aged in his 20s,... was short-changed $6830. — smh.com.au

One World Trade Center is by far the world's most expensive building, coming in at $3.9B, nearly double the second-most expensive buildings, Vegas' Palazzo casino and London's The Shard, which both cost $1.9B to build. Perhaps even more surprising, Dubai's dizzying Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building, comes in at number five — curbed.com

Only 10 percent of arts graduates make a living from their creative practice. Artist William Powhida maps the institutional structures that keep most artists broke, and shares strategies for spreading the wealth. — Creative Time Reports

On Monday, artist Molly Crabapple published “Slaves of Happiness Island,” a firsthand report of the slave-like worker conditions on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island; the Guggenheim, Louvre, and NYU are all building enormous new enterprises there [...] These conditions violate local and international labor laws. We have now received leaked email correspondence between the Guggenheim and Crabapple ... [that] reveal a shocking unwillingness to provide any statement to journalists [...] — ArtFCity

Saadiyat Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi, has seen $27 billion in investments pour in as the island hopes to become a new beacon of culture in the region

developers behind the island have received international attention for the poor conditions in which migrant laborers work and live. Reports have found that in some cases, the control employers hold over the island's workers, such as withholding their passports to prevent them from returning to their home countries, amounts to forced labor. — Al Jazeera America