This is a tricky question. Many architects do play an active role in spreading the culture-ideology of consumerism, some willingly and others unwillingly. More than most creative artists, architects are reliant on external financing to bring their artistic endeavors to fruition, so they don’t have much choice if they want to build big, expensive buildings. There is a good deal of controversy about this in the profession, not so much in the industry (see my discussion of the criticality debate in chapter 6 of my book The Icon Project). As I say in my book, I am not judging but trying to analyze: so yes, in many cases architects do play an active role in the business of capitalist globalization and in spreading the culture-ideology of consumerism.
For more on this, read Leslie Sklair’s interview on World-Architects at www.world-architects.com