Architecture: Ethics and Technology

James A. Love is an associate professor of environmental design at the
University of Calgary.

This collection of essays, half in English and half in French, is the
offshoot of a Montreal symposium held in 1991. The title seems to
misrepresent the thrust of the publication. Ethics and technology are
not the focus of this volume, although architecture is. For example, a
couple of architect/authors describe projects completed by their firms
with only token reference to ethics. And while the editors note that
numerous conferences have recently been devoted to ethics and design,
they do not include a single reference to any fruits of these
conferences.

The authors were apparently given the charge that “[i]n architecture,
the dangers of technology are directly associated with reproductive
representation, cultural homogenization, and the death of the city as a
place for public interaction ... The very idea of historical progress,
intimately bound up with the technological assimilation of architecture
and the unquestionable value of the new, is no longer operative. In this
context, an enlightened discussion would question commonly held
assumptions about the nature of architectural history, theory,
representation, and ideation as well as professional ethics and the
production of buildings in the post industrial city.”

The essays range widely, with little or no connection, and little
development of ideas beyond the raising of questions. An essay on
information technology and architectural design does not contain a
single reference to the extensive body of related writing that has been
developed over the past decade. It is also incongruous that the
biography of one of the contributing architects boasts of designing
three luxury condominiums when the introduction notes the need to
address “ethical intentionality” in “ a world more conscious of
environmental limits.” Among the clearest and most definitive efforts
is that by Lukas Sosoe, who concludes that ethics cannot be specific to
building design, but must apply in a broader context.