See No Evil

Philosophers, theologians and psychologists alike have explored the very nature of evil. Arguably my purpose here is altogether more grounded but nonetheless urgent in asking – is our industry evil due the completely unnecessary negative impact buildings have on people and the planet? Having played with this question, I examine if industry-scale change might be brought about if we lipped the issue of designing less harmful buildings from a technical one to an aesthetic one. I suggest this might be possible by viewing buildings differently, by considering them from a moral rather than a purely architectural perspective.

Working on the assumption that harmful elements of buildings might be seen as morally unacceptable, I then ask if they might be considered, ugly, rather than just inefficient? In short, I want to foster a link between aesthetic, ecological and moral values. Finally, I ponder whether a new way of reading buildings might be possible, by associating certain visual clues with harm and ugliness and thereby back to the concept of evil.