Is It Ethical to Build, after All?

written by Tomislav Pavelić

The question in the title, taken from philosopher Bogdan Ghiu, with almost childlike sincerity hits the sore spot of architecture today – it is the question of sustainability (indeed a matter of ethics) of further expansion of built environment. Is it possible then, in the situation when we clearly lack a common spiritual frame and / or an efficient social super-system, to further expand the area that is defined by and submitted to exclusively human needs and interests? Since this issue of Oris magazine is dedicated to the praiseworthy opposite practice, to the works of architecture that reinterpret the existing conditions, i.e. that are created within the area already conquered by civilisation, the question may seem exaggerated, but, nevertheless, it has to be asked.