Symposium – “The Goodness and Beauty of Contemporary Architecture”

After several decades marked by formalist approaches, the focus of evaluations of buildings has shifted increasingly increasingly based on ethical considerations. Buildings are expected to be good for humans and non-humans alike—and, beyond that, for the environment. However, these buildings are still subject to aesthetic judgment, and they are therefore expected to be beautiful rather than ugly, even though opinions may differ on what constitutes beauty in architecture.
The symposium“Goodness and Beauty in Contemporary Architecture”offers an opportunity to explore how goodness influences beauty (and perhaps vice versa). To what extent do ethical considerations—such as the good life, the well-being of residents and users, and environmental preservation—contribute today to the renewal of architectural aesthetics? What should we make of projects that seek to be overt or demonstrative in this regard, even at the risk of sometimes leaving themselves open to accusations of greenwashing? And conversely, what about ecological approaches that remain invisible once the buildings are constructed? More fundamentally, what interactions exist between the realms of ethics and aesthetics in the evaluation of architecture?

Download the program HERE

The symposium “The Goodness and Beauty of Contemporary Architecture” is organized by the ATE Research Laboratory, with support from the Ministry of Culture.

Organizing Committee:
Valéry Didelon, Professor ENSA Normandie, Research Director, ATE Laboratory
Guillaume Nicolas, Associate Professor ENSA Normandie, Researcher at the ATE Laboratory

Coordination:
Claire Rosset, Research Engineer, ENSA Normandie, researcher at the ATE laboratory

Scientific Committee: 
Pierre Chabard, Associate Professor, ENSA Paris-La Villette; Researcher at the AHTTEP Laboratory
Jean-Pierre Chupin, Professor, University of Montreal; Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions, and Quality (CRC_ACQUA)
Valéry Didelon, Professor ENSA Normandie, Research Director at the ATE Laboratory
Pauline Lefebvre, Researcher at the Faculty of Architecture, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Guillaume Nicolas, Associate Professor ENSA Normandie, Researcher at the ATE Laboratory
Estelle Thibault, Professor at ENSA Paris-Belleville, Research Director at the IPRAUS Laboratory