Is architecture art or just another product on this consumerist world?

Question:

Is architecture art or just another product on this consumerist world?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Architecture can be a product, it can be art, or in most cases, its a necessity for the survival of societies as we know them. How else would you have grown up protected from the elements without the built environment. As with most things in this world, some times things are made for the pleasure that we find in it, or the pleasure we get in seeing other people interact with it, or just for the sake of money. However, architects are held responsible for the safety of the public in which their creations have an effect upon. Therefore they aren't supposed to just make something pretty for pretty sake. They are required to make it safe and sound to do no harm onto others. I would like to see a painter who deals with watercolors be held to those standards.