Architectural Ethics

Architecture is at its heart fundamentally a public art. It sits on the threshold between the private interests – and money – of the client, and the public impact and effect of buildings: visual, programmatic and environmental. One of Modernism’s chief aspirations was to extend this inherent public-ness into an essentially moral position, conceiving architecture as an instrument of social progress – an argument which was repudiated by Postmodernism.

Today with architecture in thrall to private interests to a greater degree than perhaps ever before, it is time to reassess architects’ responsibilities beyond those to the client, and to the broader public good. Do architecture and architects require a new code of ethics? If so, what should be the parameters and who should decide them?

Speakers:

Giles Fraser – priest-in-church, St Mary’s Newington; columnist, The Guardian
Jane Hall – founding member, Assemble
Jonathan Meades – writer, journalist and broadcaster
Anna Minton – Reader in Architecture, University of East London; journalist and author of Ground Control
Christine Murray – Editor, Architectural Review (chair)
Francesco Sebregondi – Research Fellow, Forensic Architecture project, Goldsmiths