Architecture, Ethics, and Technology

by Louise Pelletier (Editor), Alberto Pérez Gómez (Editor)

An enlightened discussion of all relevant aspects of architecture shows the necessity for revision of commonly held assumptions about the nature of architectural history, theory, representation, and ideation; the production of buildings in the postindustrial city; and professional ethics. These topics provide the basis for the fourteen interdisciplinary papers presented here. The introductory section includes an examination of the epistemological origins of technology in the early modern European context and two alternative visions of ethics and its potential relevance for architecture. The second part presents four perspectives on important questions about how we represent buildings and the ethical values involved in that representation. "Ethics and Poetics in the Context of Technological Production" considers the role of philosophical ethics (i.e., a rational structure of categories in architectural practice) and the possibility, and desirability, of incorporating ethical reflections into the generation of architectural form. "The Architectural Uses of History and Narrative in a Technocratic World" explores alternatives for articulating an ethical attitude in forms of discourse other than philosophy and science. These papers were originally presented at the bilingual symposium "Architecture, Ethics, and Technology" held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal in 1991.

Genres: Architecture

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Louise Pelletier is an architect by training and a writer by obsession. Her work explores the spaces we inhabit—both physical and psychological—through fiction and nonfiction. Whether writing about hidden rooms, forgotten drawings, or shifting memories, she treats place as a character of its own. She lives in Montreal, where she writes and teaches architecture and design.