Associated work, self-management and popular housing: a successful experience

This article analyses the research results about an associated work organization among architects, headquartered in the City of Sao Paulo. Established since 1990, the organization offers technical advisory services to popular housing. At the present, it congregates twelve associated members, eleven architects and one social scientist. It is a collective formed by young people, given that its members are in their twenties and thirties. The scope of this research is to recover the "life history" of the enterprise, identify and analyze possible changes in the work organization in terms of its objectives and activities. It also has attempted to be aware of the sexual division in technical work, of the members appraisal of this alternative experience of work as well as their expectations for the future. Methodologically, the research is classified as a case study and uses documental analysis, personal interviews (eighteen, including members and former members) and participant observation of the group's work meetings as data gathering.