Philippe D’Anjou (An Ethics of Freedom for Architectural Practice by Philippe D’Anjou in Journal of Architectural Education, March 2011) proposed the following points to help architects develop a clear awareness of their freedom and responsibility in architectural design:
- Acknowledgment of design freedom: The designer has choices in design.
- Acceptance of complete design responsibility: The designer must accept responsibility for those choices and can’t pass the buck to committees or codes.
- Consideration of past design choices: The past is prologue and influences current decisions.
- Consideration of influencing forces of external design agents involved in the design project situation: Designers may consider what others advise but must be responsible for the choice of what to do with that advice.
- Consideration of the factual design conditions of the design project situation: There are some things designers can’t change (e.g., physical features) and so must take responsibility for how they factor those issues into design choices.
- Enacting the design choice that most reflects both freedom awareness and personal responsibility acceptance: Making the choice is the outcome of the process.
The above six points are applicable to other decision-making situations and are especially useful in helping decision-makers understand even external influences don’t relieve decision-makers of the responsibility for their choices.
