ABSTRACT
The first chapter takes up a subject – rule breaking – that most architects may think of as an ethical issue, but that is one with deep roots in the profession. While breaking aesthetic rules has long characterized modern art, the breaking of ethical rules can have more dire consequences since, unlike aesthetics, ethics involves the wellbeing of others and our rights and responsibilities as citizens, and in the case of architects, also as professionals. This chapter looks at how various ethical ideas can help us judge when an ethical rule needs to be respected or not and what the consequences are of breaking the wrong rules – or not breaking the right ones.
