Really good article on the times about the role of architects, and architecture in countries with shaky human rights records. At what point is an Opera House in China is different to any other building in the US? Should they think about this prior to taking the job? I know that I grapple with this when I consider writing on Inhabitat about these projects, and it is not remotely the same thing...
Architecture - Architects Debate Building for Autocratic Clients - NYTimes.comSince then, however, Mr. Libeskind’s speech, delivered at a real estate and planning event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has reanimated a decades-old debate among architects over the ethics of working in countries with repressive leaders or shaky records on human rights.
With a growing number of prominent architects designing buildings in places like China, Iran, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where development has exploded as civic freedoms or exploitation of migrant labor have come under greater scrutiny, the issue has inched back into the spotlight.
