ABSTRACT
Ethics and architecture have long sought to make people happy, through ethical hedonism, such as Bentham’s utilitarianism, as well as through architectural functionalism, such as that which guided early modernist architecture. Many people associate happiness with what they own, and as one of the most expensive things most people will ever own, houses have long been viewed as a source of happiness. But more house doesn’t make us happier nor the planet any healthier, which suggests that architects have an ethical responsibility to design what people – and the planet – can sustain rather than just what some clients might think will make them happy.
