Practical Ethics in Architecture and Interior Design Practice

Practical Ethics in Architecture and Interior Design Practice presents the basics of design practice through ethical scenarios, ushering design students into real-world experiential learning.

Each chapter begins with a detailed story involving a complicated set of practical and ethical dilemmas, exemplifying those encountered each day in the world of professional practice. Practice-based topics such as contracts and project delivery methods, marketing design services, cross-cultural collaboration, virtual connectivity, social justice and sustainable design, soft skills, and other related professional practice themes are anchored in realistic scenarios. While all the stories are fictional, in writing them the authors drew from over seventy-five combined years of professional experience in architecture and interior design as well as many years of academic experience in teaching professional practice and ethics to architecture and interior design students. Each story is followed by discussion questions and suggested additional resources.

This book provides a unique integrated perspective into the allied fields of architecture and interior design with topics relevant to both fields as well as specific to each profession. It prepares students of both disciplines for the broad issues of professional practice and encourages them to become ethical practitioners ready to contribute effectively to design teams and to ask the right questions.

Sue Lani Madsentaught for four years as an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University. She is an experienced architect and founding partner of a major regional architecture and interior design firm, with over 40 years of experience serving public and private clients.

Dana E. Vaux, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Interior and Product Design at University of Nebraska - Kearney. Her interdisciplinary scholarship investigates the connections between cultural-historical meanings and place as well as design pedagogy. She recently published Research Methods for Interior Design (Routledge, 2020) with David Wang.

David Wang, PhD., is Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Washington State University. He has published extensively on design research, and also recently published Research Methods for Interior Design (Routledge, 2020) with Dana E. Vaux. Dr. Wang has also published these titles with Routledge: A Philosophy of Chinese Architecture Past Present Future (2017), and Architecture and Sacrament: A Critical Theory (2020).