AIA Design Conference 2022: A Lesson in Architecture Ethics
November, 2022
From a design perspective, what makes a building, space, or structure “good?”
Architectural ethics, or knowledge of moral principles in the built environment, is an issue that deserves analysis at every stage of the design-build process. Architects across the industry should be asking themselves the right questions: what makes a building good for the public, even if it’s not publicly owned?
This crucial step in the designing of buildings is a question that Otak project architect, Levi Wall tackled head-on when he led an ethics workshop at the 2022 AIA Colorado Practice + Design Conference.
“Ethics give architects a way of framing and understanding what we want to see in the world… and helps you find the why behind answering the question of how.”
Levi Wall, Otak project architect
What is the AIA Practice + Design Conference?
The Colorado Chapter of the AIA hosts a signature event in the fall, where architects and designers can come together to network, educate, and be inspired by other visionaries in the field.
Held at the Keystone Resort in 2022, it’s an event that demands the best of the best in the region, and inspiration struck Levi to play a more active role in the educational aspect of the conference by hosting a workshop, titled Designing Ethics.
Who is Levi?
Levi Wall is an accomplished practitioner of design with experience in urban projects, commercial interiors, K-12 schools, large-scale masterplans, and small-scale design interventions. He also serves as a Lecturer and Adjunct instructor at the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning.
Previously serving as an architectural designer and then a full-fledged architect at DLR Group in the greater Denver area, his practice is rooted in the aesthetics of Denver architecture and the legacy of the city he calls home.
What do Ethics Mean in Architecture?
Levi credits a TED Talk featuring Alejandro Arevena, a Pritzker prize-winning architect from Chile, with inspiration for his workshop, and let a quote from that talk guide his thoughts as he developed his slide deck—“There is nothing worse than answering well the wrong question.”
Levi sought to raise awareness about ethical frameworks and how they relate to the built environment—when equity, inclusivity, and equality are required more than ever before given the world’s current cultural landscape. To Levi, a deep dive into ethics and design would help other architects start thinking about and answering the right questions:
At the very least, Levi sought to start a conversation and wanted to call other architects to action, to merge what they were talking about at the conference with the practice of their everyday design work.
“Our everyday jobs include balancing different values with money that isn’t our own – it often belongs to the client or public – so we’re already doing the work of figuring out what’s valuable in a built environment.”
Levi Wall, Otak project architect
The Approach
Employing Q&A tactics and SWAT analyses, Levi posed an icebreaker to the audience, prompting them to think about if they had ever been unsure in their work about the “right” thing to do as designers.
He invited audience members to probe those dilemmas and ethical conundrums, and came back to his initial icebreaker question: that ethics in architecture has everything to do with the alignment of values from clients to the public.
The Takeaway
Levi, from the outset, sought to get audiences thinking about how to utilize ethical frameworks throughout the design process, and now to measure the ethical impact of the designs they create. Ethics already plays a role in his work as a part of our Denver architecture studio, where work ranges from affordable housing to higher education buildings.
Take a look at more of our architectural work here, and join us in congratulating Levi on a successful workshop as he continues to prove himself to be a visionary in the Denver architecture space.