Design Engineers: Engineers, Creativity, and Architecture

• Autores: Marci S. Uihlein
• Localización: Structures and Architecture. Volume 3: REstructure REmaterialize REthink REuse / Mario Rinke (ed. lit.), Marie Frier Hvejsel (ed. lit.), Aníbal Maury Ramírez (ed. lit.), Zena Ndiaye (ed. lit.), Ilse Lindenbergh (ed. lit.), Elise Enthoven (ed. lit.), 2025, ISBN 9781040447239, págs. 213-220
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Structural designers, design engineers, or architectural engineers are terms to describe structural engineers who stand out for their partnerships with architects and as those who engage design in a more artistic sense. In his autobiography, Peter Rice disliked this distinction and argued that when he was called an “architectural engineer” it was an insult to the creativity of engineer. Engineers, he argued, were creative every day. Yet, of the hundreds of thousands of practicing engineers only a few are internationally known for their body of work and their relationship to architecture and design – Rice, Sasaki, and Arup to name a few. One thing that unites our understanding of these engineers is an acknowledgement that they have been creative within both the structural engineering and architecture disciplines. How do engineers define creativity? How do the structural engineering and architectural communities recognize a distinctive step in structural engineering? And, how does the relationship between architecture and engineering disciplines change how creativity is studied? This paper proposes a framework to begin to answer these questions – the beginning of a long-term study. A brief overview on engineering materials will provide some background. An identification of creativity characteristics from creativity scholars will add to the direction of the study. For example, social scientists who study creativity describe creativity in terms of processes, the completed work, and a larger disciplinary recognition of this creativity. Creativity is both from the perspective of the innovators and the society that accepts it. How might these traits be applied and adapted to studying structural engineers? Next, given the broad skills of structural engineers, what should be studied and how should such a study be bracketed to produce results? Lastly, what will it take to launch such a study and what are the next steps? Perhaps such a study can lead to identifying characteristics and can provide some of the qualities of a creative structural engineer and a creative architectural partnership. With the demand for smarter use of materials, healthier buildings, and artistic contributions, a true partnership is needed between the structural engineer and the architect. Perhaps these partnerships can be better fostered within the disciplines if we understand what skills are used and a collective study of these creative engineers can help us more clearly identify what is needed.