Architecture vs. Engineering

1340 Words6 Pages
If the architect just chooses the colour of the paint and the engineer taps out a few numbers on a calculator, who actually does the work? Until recently the domains of the civil engineer and the architect had rarely coincided but nowadays infrastructure and bridge projects have been requiring some co-operation between the two professions. No civil project team today is complete without an architect on board, and there is a growing recognition of the architect’s contribution, particularly in a project’s early stages, when concepts are in development. Engineering as a separate, ‘stand-alone’ discipline began to break away from architecture/building at the end of the eighteenth century, once the Industrial Revolution had got up some steam. This must have been an incredibly exciting time for anyone interested in design, for as a whole technology for infrastructure and transportation started to emerge, there arose with it a demand for new buildings and structure types. An architect at that time would probably have spent most of his time designing private houses or perhaps religious buildings, and a sideways look then, at all the developing new technology, might have seemed rather seductive. In contrast, the architect’s diet today is so interesting and varied, that to consider changing disciplines is almost unthinkable. The early ‘engineers’ came from other professions: Telford from architecture, Captain Brown (designer of the beautiful Union Bridge over the River Tweed) from the Navy, Finley in Pennsylvania from the judiciary. These people are not only linked by their spirit of invention and a willingness to innovate; they also share an understanding of the importance of aesthetics. Telford’s interest in the appearance of his work is documented and his structures are admired all over the world for their clarity and beauty, the quality of their engineering and
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