Copyright law protects original, creative works such as music, literature or film. Architecture is a creative art form that is seldom discussed in connection with, but is equally protected by, copyright law. When one conjures images of the Guggenheim Museum, the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel, it is easy to understand why Frank Lloyd Wright deemed architecture "the mother art," explaining that "without an architecture of our own, we have no soul of our own civilization." These highly imaginative structures surely warrant protection as works of art. But, does every architectural design merit the same degree of protection regardless of its level of creativity?
Most architectural designs lie somewhere on the continuum between predominantly creative to entirely functional. The breadth of copyright protection available for any particular design is primarily dictated by how many nonfunctional, artistic features are expressed. Most modern architectural projects are largely driven by cost efficiencies, building codes and functionality requirements rather than purely aesthetic considerations. The scope of copyright protection for certain architectural works can, accordingly, become narrow or "thin."
