DesignOpinion essay
Architect Hayes Slade on forced labour hidden in construction supply chains
An essay on how Design for Freedom helps architects trace brick, steel and timber back to the people who made them.
In 2018, as incoming president of the AIA's New York chapter, architect Hayes Slade went to an informal talk at Grace Farms on slavery in construction materials, half expecting it to be someone else's problem. She visits her sites weekly and knows her contractors. What unsettled her was the question of where the brick, steel and timber actually come from.
Her essay for Architectural Digest sets out the scale: Walk Free's 2023 index counts just under 50 million people in modern slavery, some 12 million of them children. A Grace Farms analysis puts glass, steel, bricks, timber, stone and copper among the highest-risk materials. Human rights lawyer Amar Lal, rescued from bonded labour in Rajasthan at seven, recalls breaking stones alongside his family.
Design for Freedom has since grown from a small group into several hundred members, and its spring summit sold all 550 seats. Its toolkit includes contract language that fits the AIA standard contract, a letter for suppliers and a tracking spreadsheet for the drawing set. FSC-certified wood is traceable; exchange-traded steel and copper are not, so it suggests lower-risk regions or recycled material.
On a first test project, most suppliers answered quickly, though concrete and steel stayed murky. A thoughtful read for anyone commissioning a building.
Our summary of a story from Architectural Digest, published 12 October 2026. Read the original
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From Architectural Digest