AIA Ethics Code Now Covers Sustainability in Depth

The code also includes two types of items. Rules use the word “shall” and are “mandatory and enforceable,” according to the AIA website, while standards use the word “should” and “are aspirational and define the tenets of ethical behavior for AIA members.” Violating the rules is a serious professional breach and can mean loss of AIA membership.

There are two new rules relating to sustainability. They require architects to inform clients about potential environmental impacts and to consider with clients the environmental effects of design decisions. 

AIA president Carl Elefante, FAIA, was a driving force behind the changes. “Architects have an opportunity to be visionaries and motivators for designing a sustainable built environment that will in turn make the world a better place,” he said in an email statement to BuildingGreen. “As a profession, we can’t wait. We need to act now. The latest additions to AIA’s Code of Ethics are an important step toward inspiring those changes.”

Behind the scenes

“There was debate involved,” said Michael Davis, FAIA, a member of the steering committee that pushed to have the changes adopted. The steering committee was formed during the 2017 Summit of AIA New England’s Committee on the Environment. (Disclosure: BuildingGreen president Nadav Malin, Hon. AIA, was also a member of the steering committee.)

Although the National Ethics Council, which approved the changes, was in favor of fleshing out how the code addressed sustainability, the details were hard to settle. After receiving an initial, extensive request from the steering committee, the council came back with just 17 words it would agree to change, according to Megan Nedzinski, AIA, chair of the steering committee. “We were really motivated by that letter and circled back with them, saying we’d like to arrange a call,” she recalled. It became clear that “our goals were very much aligned” and that the council’s concerns “were really around enforcement,” she said. After months of back-and-forth, the two groups reached consensus on the now-updated wording.

Avoiding the word “sustainability”

Davis described the prior version of Canon VI, Obligations to the Environment, as “woefully inadequate” and said the steering committee “basically rewrote it with language that we thought was more objective and more measurable.” The committee tried to avoid the word “sustainability” altogether because it was too general, instead focusing on particulars like energy, water, ecosystem health, and climate change. “The Ethics Council took it very seriously,” he said. “They convened a task force and worked long and hard. … They didn’t want to put rules in place that couldn’t be enforced.”

The amendments show a new level of commitment to sustainability on the part of AIA, according to Davis. “The Institute has really stepped its game up around sustainability,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with where we’re going.”

The changes “represent the values of our profession as the effects of climate change continue to increase,” affirmed Elefante. “At a time when the world is feeling the damaging effects of excessive carbon in our atmosphere, AIA will continue to advocate for policies that protect the environment by encouraging the design, renovation, conservation, and construction of high-performing buildings.”

A number of new rules and standards addressing harassment and equity were added at the same time. These require architects to avoid harassment and discrimination, violations of others’ rights, and fraud. They also require AIA members to “treat their associates and employees with mutual respect and provide an equitable working environment.”

For more information:

The American Institute of Architects
aia.org