This thesis argues that the emergence of architect-designed project housing in Sydney in the late 1950s and 1960s was associated with a cultural and political shift within the local architectural profession. In order to provide an understanding of how such a shift might be defined, the thesis draws from the literature on the sociology of professions and the theories of sociologists Pierre Bourdieu, Paul du Gay and Sharon Zukin. Beginning in the 1930s and then progressing through the war and postwar years, the thesis will show how the popular housing market came to assume a major point of focus for the local architectural profession not only as an area of practice but also in relation to issues of identity and public image. The emergence of architect-designed project housing in Sydney in the late 1950s and 1960s is seen as an extension of that process. The thesis demonstrates how successful models of architectural engagement with project housing were used to highlight limitations in the way in which the profession had defined itself, particularly through such devices as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' Code of Professional Conduct. It is argued that the dramatic revision made to that code in 1969 embodied a distinct cultural and political shift for the profession and was the result of a growing tension between traditional ideals and the realities of practice. It is concluded that architect-designed project housing served to inform that shift by providing a context in which aspects of this tension could be tested and, in some cases, reconciled.