Imagine the artistic, creative tendencies of an architect — a highly imaginative individual who focuses on light, shape, texture and color — one who is inclined to begin a hugely creative project with no fear of scrapping the whole thing and starting over if it does not live up to his or her artistic expectations. Now, consider the analytical, pragmatic disciplines of an engineer — a rational, linear-thinking individual likely to process all the available data, and then process it again, until he or she arrives at the most logical solution possible. One might imagine chaos reigning if these two people had to work closely together. However, imagine placing these diverse personality traits into the same person, and you have a picture of an architectural engineer.
What might be considered as an odd marriage of talents is rapidly being acknowledged as a valuable combination in the fields of architecture and design. Some, including the assistant dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, would even say the combination is vital. “In today’s world,” says Walter Johnson, Ph.D., P.E., “architects deal with the emotional impact of a building, how it works, how it feels — colors, shapes, traffic patterns. But engineers are required by law to deal with the structural aspects of the building — the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting.” The architectural engineer, according to Johnson, is “a compromise between the structural engineer and the architect.”
In M. Clay Belcher’s adaptation of the article “Architectural Engineering” in Magill’s Survey of Science: Applied Science, Belcher states architectural engineering is “the discipline concerned with the planning, design, construction and operation of engineered systems for commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities… An architectural engineer works closely with those in all areas of the building process to design and possibly to construct the engineered systems that make buildings come to life for their inhabitants.”
Johnson conducted a personal study in which he compiled a list of the people considered to be the top 10 architects of the 20th century. One of the interesting things he discovered in the course of the study was that, of the top 10 architects of the 20th century, six were engineers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Edward Le Corbusier and R. Buckminster Fuller. Frank Lloyd Wright, Johnson said, never even studied architecture.
“I had expected Jorn Utzon, who designed the Sydney Opera House, to be ranked as one of the top 10 architects,” said Johnson. However, he discovered while researching his project that the builders encountered grave difficulties constructing the famous shell-shaped landmark, and these problems had to be solved by engineers. Utzon resigned while the building was still under construction, and it was finally completed at an enormous cost overrun. “He [Utzon] came up with this marvelous design,” Johnson said. “To me, it’s brilliant. But he lacked the technical understanding needed to realize his dream, to turn it into a reality. That is where the architectural engineer differs from the architect. That, I think, is the reason the top architects were engineers: they had that dimension. They were artistic, but they could also make their ideas work.”
Engineer Michael B. Holloway, P.E., Ph.D., tends to agree. The associate principal of Poggemeyer Design Group, based in Las Vegas, sees the blending of the architect and the engineer as a natural progression, even though he personally knows only a handful of architectural engineers. “They tend to be more on the structural side,” he said, “but they can deal with the aesthetics a little bit better than us boring engineers. Engineers are into function, and architects are into form. Architectural engineers have more aesthetic training — more architectural training, so they can think about the aesthetics, the forms, better than we can. We’re going to make sure the building code is met, that the client’s needs are met, and that the building is not going to fall down. But whether we pick an ugly beam or a pretty beam isn’t important to us.”
Both Holloway and Johnson mentioned that only a handful of colleges and universities west of the Mississippi offer programs in architectural engineering. In the course of his work and studies, Holloway says he has met only three people who held degrees in both architecture and engineering. “[Architectural engineering] is rather a unique thing because very few schools offer architectural engineering degrees,” he said. “You usually either get an architectural or an engineering degree.”
Does he feel this will change? “Somewhat, especially when you consider all the ‘design-build’ that is happening, where everything has to be done quickly,” he said. “A lot of the hotel business in Las Vegas is done as ‘design-build,’ because resort owners know they can still be designing it while they are building it, versus having a complete set of plans for the whole building and then going out to bid.” Design-build saves money, said Holloway, because it shortens the time needed to complete construction, and the property can open more quickly and start generating cash flow.
Architectural engineering involves more than just buildings, according to Jeff Codega, president/CEO of Jeff Codega Planning/Design in Reno. “It’s important in our man-made environments to keep a balance between aesthetics and functionality,” he said. “Each should be complementary and compatible.” Jeff Codega Planning/Design specializes in real estate development, park and recreation planning and community consensus-building, as well as landscape architecture design. “Most communities are more than just buildings,” Codega said. “The spaces between the buildings are critical in a planned community. It’s important to incorporate the buildings with the landscaped environment so that all the pieces fit together.”
Many planning designs — and indeed, much of our society — revolves around the automobile. Streets, driveways, parking lots and sometimes even parking garages must all be incorporated into man-made environments. Codega notes some of the older communities in the San Francisco area, built in the pre-automobile era, were obviously not designed for cars. Today, residents often struggle to drive down the narrow, winding streets crowded with parked cars.
It would seem the need for architectural engineers can only increase in the future, as new materials are discovered and created, new products are developed, new needs arise for new buildings, new spaces, new homes and offices, new communities, without casting aside the basic human need for aesthetics and artistic creation.
“[Architectural engineers] are much more valuable, and they are recognized as such, in the community,” Johnson said. “They definitely have the flexibility to be free and to design things that are not constrained by the standard practices of the day. I think the best art comes from people who understand the limits of what they can do.”