Ethics is one of the most important and least understood aspects of design practice. In his latest book, Thomas Fisher shows how ethics are inherent to the making of architecture – and how architecture offers an unusual and useful way of looking at ethics. The Architecture of Ethics helps students in architecture and other design disciplines to understand the major approaches to ethics and to apply them to the daily challenges they face in their work. The book covers each of the four dominant approaches to ethics: virtue ethics, social contract ethics, duty ethics, and utilitarian ethics. Each chapter examines the dilemmas designers face from the perspective of one of these categories. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, the text also features 100 illustrations to help integrate these concepts into the design process and to support visual understanding. Ethics is now a required part of accredited architecture programs, making this book essential reading for all students in architecture and design.

"The Ethics of Architecture offers a short and approachable scholarly introduction to a timely question: in a world of increasing population density, how does one construct habitable spaces that promote social goals like health, happiness, environmental friendliness, and justice? What are the special ethical obligations assumed by architects? Because their work creates the basic material conditions that make all other human activity possible, architects and their associates in building enjoy vast influence on how all we live, work, play, worship, and think. With this influence comes tremendous, and not always examined, responsibility. This book addresses the range of ethical issues that architects face, with a broad understanding of ethics. Beyond strictly professional duties - transparency, technical competence, fair trading - lie more profound issues that move into aesthetic, political, and existential realms. Does an architect have a duty to create art, if not always beautiful art? Should an architect feel obliged to serve a community and not simply the client? Is social justice a possible orientation for architectural practice? Is there such a thing as feeling compelled to "shelter being" in architectural work? By taking these usually abstract questions into the region of physical creation, the book attempts a concrete reformulation of "architectural ethics" as a matter of deep reflection on the architect's role as both citizen and caretaker. Thinkers and makers discussed include Le Corbusier, Martin Heidegger, Lewis Mumford, Rem Koolhaas, Jane Jacobs, Arthur Danto, and John Rawls. An added preface addresses architectural issues arising during and after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic"--

In this new Architecture Brief, Ethics for Architects, Thomas Fisher presents fifty case studies representing a broad range of ethical dilemmas facing today's architects, from questions regarding which clients to work for, to the moral imperatives of reclaiming building materials for construction instead of sending them to landfills. This timely book features newly relevant interpretations adapted to the pervasive demands of globalization, sustainability, and developments in information technology. Fisher's analysis of architecture's thorniest ethical issues are written in a style that is accessible to the amateur philosopher and appealing to professional architects and students alike. Thought-provoking and essential, Ethics for Architects is required reading for any designer who wants to work responsibly in today's complex world.

From theory to practice a unique, well-rounded guide to ethics fortoday s architect How does an architect assist a community in evaluating alternativedesigns? Resolve a dispute with a contractor? Take into account aproject s impact on the natural environment? When it comes to questions like these, making decisions about whatought to be done or what is the "best" or "right" solution requiresmore than sound technical knowledge and strong design talent. Itdemands a solid understanding of the ethical issues that lie at theheart of architectural practice. Ethics and the Practice of Architecture offers a complete,broad-based introduction to this crucial subject. First, itexamines basic ethical theories and their application toarchitecture, and discusses different ways of identifying ethicalcontent in architecture. Bridging the gap between theory andpractice, the second part of the book surveys differentprofessional settings and building project processes thatfrequently hold ethical concerns, and charts the ethical mandatesthat arise from them. In the final section of the book, thirty case studies explore awide range of ethical dilemmas encountered in architecturalpractice, with useful guidance on how to work through themeffectively. Arranged by topics that span the key phases of aproject from pre-design through post-occupancy evaluation, thesecase studies allow a detailed look at ethical concerns in real-lifesituations where multiple issues are often at stake. Providing a practical framework for the exploration of ethicalissues in architecture today, Ethics and the Practice ofArchitecture is an excellent resource for present and futurearchitects in all areas of the field.

Architecture and environmental design are among the last professional fields to develop a sustained and nuanced discussion concerning ethics. Hemmed in by politics and powerful clients on one side and the often unscrupulous practices of the construction industry on the other, environmental designers have been traditionally reluctant to address ethical issues head on. And yet the rapid urbanization of the world's population continues to swell into new megacities, each less healthy, welcoming, secure, or environmentally sustainable than the next. Green, carbon-reduced, and sustainable building practices are important ways architects have recently responded to the symptoms of the crisis, but are these efforts really addressing the core issues? Taking the Dine (Navajo) "Hogan Song"--a song used to protect and nourish the personhood of newly constructed dwellings--as their inspiration, the architects, philosophers, poets, and other contemporary scholars contributing to this volume demonstrate that a deeper, more radical change in our relationship to the built world needs to occur. While offering a careful critique of modernist, corporate, or techno-enthralled design practices, these essays investigate an alternative "relational ecology" whose wisdom draws from ancient and often-marginalized voices, if not the whisperings of the earth itself. Contributors include: Richard Kearney, Alberto Perez-Gomez, Juhani Pallasmaa, Karsten Harries, Edward Casey, Susan Stewart, David Abram, Stacy Alaimo, Jace and Laura Weaver, Philip Sheldrake, and Sebnem Yucel Young.

Bridging the gap between architectural theory and professional practice studies, this book offers critical inquiry into the shifting ground of ethical thought in the changing climate of the global economy. Looking at issues of contemporary significance to architectural critics, practitioners, educators, and students, the book also examines the role of the architectural academy in providing an education in ethical judgement. Including transcripts of responses and discussions among its contributors, a broad interdisciplinary set of perspectives are debated and often controversial points of view are put forward.