Stirring the pot

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Craig Gibbons.

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Jeff Willis.

Jeff Willis and Craig Gibbons, co-directors of Arup's Dubai office, talk to MEA's Jeff Roberts about egos, academic curricula and the importance of an integrated approach in the built environment.

In your opinion, where does the world of architecture end and that of engineering begin?

JW: It doesn't really. Engineers, both structural and service, should be involved in the building process in order to make the building as sustainable as possible.

When I began in the industry, I was given something that was effectively finished from an architectural and structural point of view and I needed to find a way of making the services fit.

We were expected to accept everything and just design systems to suit. Now, that's all completely changed. Nowadays, we should start together and be in constant contact with each other and we should listen to each other.

I think the important architectural element is vision; that's what makes buildings different. As engineers we like to strive to maintain that vision, even if it means we've got to be a bit clever with the building. It makes the difference between a really good building and one that's just mediocre.

CG: That's a difficult question to answer. We get involved in quite a lot of funky stuff, but the key is making sure that the projects you work on come together to create good, meaningful architecture.

They've got to run in parallel. With the scale of projects today, the two disciplines are too integrated to operate independently.

There is a lot of publicity surrounding the large iconic developments, but that shouldn't be the driving force of a project. Architecture for architecture's sake is not something I'd subscribe to.

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