The Ethics of Attributing Nationality to Architecture

Abstract This paper critically examines the ethics of attributing national identity to architecture, focusing on how built form becomes a medium of cultural representation. While architecture often reflects collective memory and tradition, assigning it an exclusive ethnic or national label risks obscuring its pluralistic origins and shared authorship. Through theoretical reflection and firsthand experience, the study explores how monuments, motifs, and civic spaces can be appropriated into political narratives, often undermining inclusivity and nuanced interpretation. Drawing on global examples and nationalist framings in the Balkans, the paper highlights how identity becomes embedded in form, reinforcing symbolic boundaries. Particular attention is given to Skanderbeg Square in Skopje, where its transformation from an inclusive civic platform to an ethnonational site illustrates the fragile balance between cultural specificity and public function. This case reflects wider trends in which public space is instrumentalized to serve dominant narratives. The paper argues for reflective design practices that engage with history and culture without collapsing into exclusivity. It calls for recognizing the layered and transnational character of architectural meaning as essential in pluralistic societies, especially in contexts marked by ethnic or political division. Methodologically, the paper adopts a qualitative, theoretical-analytical approach combining critical literature review with reflexive case-based analysis drawn from the author’s professional involvement, offering an original ethical perspective on architectural representation in multicultural contexts.