Engineers vs. Architects

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Engineers in China are about to begin the delicate process of joining the two halves of ole Scheeren’s CCTV building. (Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images)

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In some of today’s buildings, it would be impossible to subtract either the architect or the engineer. (John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)

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In some of today’s buildings, it would be impossible to subtract either the architect or the engineer. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Continuing the debate on who controls the built environment.

One thinks it up, the other builds it. One wears a monocle and turtleneck, the other a hardhat and steel-toe boots. One's an ‘artist', the other a ‘workman'.

These are the classic conceptions of the difference between architects and engineers. While admittedly simplistic, these descriptions illustrate the heart of the chasm between two professions that collaborate to build today's evermore iconic skylines.

Whether its architects complaining that engineers insert structural elements that change their design or engineers complaining that architects don't think of the engineering challenges when designing, the fact is, constructive coexistence between them is crucial.

Like age-old rivalries between the Sharks and Jets, Yankees and Mets or soldiers and cadets, the relationship between architects and engineers is-albeit occasionally tumultuous-fundamentally necessary.

Synergy between architects and engineers is important in maintaining structural, as well as, professional integrity in the field. While both disciplines could be performed in isolation, everyone involved is better off for their collaboration.

"The classical model seems to be that architecture creates the question, or opportunity, and engineering provides the solution," says Henning Rasmuss, director of South Africa-based Paragon Architects. "These days, buildings have become so complex that architects and engineers should begin the process together.

Conrad Groen, development director for Nakheel Waterfront, draws distinctions between the fields in his definition. "Architecture deals with the vision through form, function and aesthetics," he says.

"Engineering is essentially providing the structure and mechanism to enable the vision to operate efficiently whether through the structure or the mechanical/environmental systems engineered," he adds. Inherent in Groen's definition is the notion of separation between the disciplines.

If it's true that both architects and engineers play significant roles in constructing today's cities and that we've come to a place in the evolution of the built environment in which both architects and engineers are absolutely necessary on major projects, a question arises: Do architects and engineers operate independently or interdependently in their collaboration? Put simply, where does architecture end and engineering begin?

Chicken or egg...or both?

Mohammed Shariff, architect and project manager on Dubai Sports City, says architects and engineers work in conjunction with each other from inception to completion. He insists there is never a time during the course of a project when the role of one or the other is finished.

In fact, in today's built environment, where new buildings are ultimately hybrids of state-of-the-art engineering and cutting-edge architectural design, it would seem both disciplines play their part in consulting on the design and offering solutions to problems.

"In the hybrid phase, both are crucial and both are synchronised. You get the best designs by focusing on both aspects," says Rasmuss.

"Combining architecture and engineering for a successful building design is the result of a collaborative team effort, and the disciplines therefore merge into one another," says Jeff Willis, associate director of Arup.

One without the other cannot be sustained alone," adds Ammar Al Assam, director of business development for Dewan Architects & Engineers.

Iconic building designs that bend and twist require complex geometry and innovative thinking, which, in turn, requires special design talents. Engineers as well as architects are bringing this combination of skills to projects with increasing frequency.

"The two specialties must collaborate at the conceptual design phase and continue through the completion of the project," says Phil Junger, principal at US-based TVS. "The architect has the role to interpret the vision of the client along with the support of the engineers.

American engineer Irwin Cantor of WSP Cantor Seinuk said in a recent article in Modern Steel Construction: "Certain buildings can only be realized by the intimate collaboration of the architect and his structural engineer." This is a notion with which Willis wholeheartedly agrees. "For me that sums it up nicely," he says. "Except I would, of course, include the services engineers in that..."

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