Architecture and Freedom

The issue is split into four sections. Featuring contributions by prominent architects Reinier de Graaf of OMA and Alejandro Aravena of Elemental, the first section focuses on the values that shape the practice of architecture, and the relevance, or otherwise, of moral principles or ethical codes and standards. The second section, featuring researchers such as Anna Minton and Felipe Hernández, focuses on architecture's publicness - to what degree is architecture still a public art, standing on the thresholds of private money and public effect? The third section presents a variety of views on the ways the market ascribes value to architecture, featuring contributors from a range of backgrounds, including Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects and Robert Skidelsky. The fourth and final section considers whether it is possible for architects to maintain or even extend their agency whilst appearing to retreat from architecture by branching into other disciplines. It features contributions by the the artist, Theaster Gates, and architect-researcher, Eyal Weizman. Together, the various contributions will present a range of compelling and competing views on the future of architecture, as it adapts and evolves in response to the changing contexts in it which it is practised in the twenty-first century.