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Structural engineers are unsung heroes

theguardian.com

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Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#11

Post by sidcool »

jdavis703 wrote: post #7
sidcool wrote: post #6

This is true. While dealing with building architects on many occasions during my internship, they would say silly things like, 'Can you not just avoid this girder/beam/pillar?' My boss would coldly say 'Do you mind removing brake pedals from your car to make it prettier'?

I hope as you progress through your career you learn to be more respectful of diverse ideas. I'm a software engineer, I have to have discussions with designers and business people who also sometimes ask for things that just aren't reasonably doable given time and budget constraints. It's our job as professionals to explain this using a tone and words that educates others on what the technical constraints are.

I left structural engineering long ago for Software engineering.

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#13

Post by pitdicker »

jdavis703 wrote: post #7
sidcool wrote: post #6

This is true. While dealing with building architects on many occasions during my internship, they would say silly things like, 'Can you not just avoid this girder/beam/pillar?' My boss would coldly say 'Do you mind removing brake pedals from your car to make it prettier'?

I hope as you progress through your career you learn to be more respectful of diverse ideas. I'm a software engineer, I have to have discussions with designers and business people who also sometimes ask for things that just aren't reasonably doable given time and budget constraints. It's our job as professionals to explain this using a tone and words that educates others on what the technical constraints are.

The trick is that architects are often also just commissioned for the project. You work together to make a nice-looking, structurally sound, and not all too expensive design.

I think it is a nice remark :-). Sometimes the design has to make a little concession, sometimes the construction. The best engineers are those that think along and try to find solutions, the best architects have some understanding of what is possible. And often 'everything is possible, it is just going to cost a lot'.

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#15

Post by mauvehaus »

I don't understand people who aren't fascinated by engineering generally and infrastructure specifically. I love knowing how stuff works, even if I don't understand it at the technical level an engineer does.

So much of what we use we take for granted, but it really is worth seeing what goes into making potable water come out of your tap. In middle school, I toured the Baldwin water plant in Cleveland, OH. There is a huge hall full of sand filters that filter out the schmutz after the water is chemically treated. It's one thing to know abstractly that drinking water is filtered through sand to make it drinkable. It's another to see the process in action on a grand scale.

In Boston, I highly recommend seeing the Chestnut Hill pumping station, which pumped water from the Chestnut Hill reservoir. It long predates the availability of sufficiently powerful electric motors, and the three steam engines are a testament to how much work went into pumping water around prior to the development of electric pumps.

I believe the last of the steam engines was decommissioned in the early '70s. I'm told the pumping capacity has been replaced by electric pumps in a single 3m square building, which somehow doesn't convey the same sense of awe and indebtedness to the engineers who make running water possible.

Gotta share a longtime favorite joke:

What's the difference between civil (structural) engineers and mechanical engineers?

Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#16

Post by mauvehaus »

Maro wrote: post #4

One of the best general Engineering books I've read is 'Design Paradigms'. It's an excellent book about the importance of understanding failures in Engineering. The author is Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, so all the examples are roads/bridges/etc. As a Data/SWE guy, I still enjoyed reading it a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Design-Paradigms-Histories-Judgment-E...

Thank for the recommendation! If you're into that sort of thing, you might also enjoy Why Buildings Stand Up and Why Buildings Fall Down.

Why Buildings Fall Down includes a case study on a seemingly minor change during construction that caused a walkway to collapse once it was put in use.

At the risk of stating the obvious, these are focused on buildings rather than roads :-)

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#17

Post by theoh »

sidcool wrote: post #6

This is true. While dealing with building architects on many occasions during my internship, they would say silly things like, 'Can you not just avoid this girder/beam/pillar?' My boss would coldly say 'Do you mind removing brake pedals from your car to make it prettier'?

Often they are very sung, like Louis Kahn's collaborator August Kommendant. And a superstar like Cecil Balmond specifically deals with problems exactly like the one you mention—where an architect wants a column-free span in an unconventional space.

Can't say I am thrilled by the book under review. I've seen it in bookshops and it's far from offering a critical account of engineering. More like someone quite innocent and enthusiastic who has drunk the kool-aid of the macho, Cartesian, ethically oblivious engineering tradition. Rowan Moore's faint praise is appropriate.

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#19

Post by kejaed »

cityofghosts wrote: post #18

i dont understand why people who write code consider themselves engineers. they arent liable if their code breaks. they have no professional licensing system. they dont even need an education.

There are those of us who write code who are licensed engineers. In certain jurisdictions you just be, and are liable, if the code you write has an impact on public safety.

Re: Structural engineers are unsung heroes

#20

Post by wpietri »

Maro wrote: post #4

One of the best general Engineering books I've read is 'Design Paradigms'. It's an excellent book about the importance of understanding failures in Engineering. The author is Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, so all the examples are roads/bridges/etc. As a Data/SWE guy, I still enjoyed reading it a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Design-Paradigms-Histories-Judgment-E...

Ooh, that reminds me of another excellent book on failure, Sidney Dekker's "Field Guide to Understanding Human Error": https://www.amazon.com/dp/1472439058

It's about investigating airplane crashes, and in particular two different paradigms for understanding failure. It deeply changed how I think and talk about software bugs, and especially how I do retrospectives. I strongly recommend it.

And the article made me think of Stewart Brand's "How Buildings Learn": https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140139966

It changed my view of a building from a static thing to a dynamic system, changing over time.

The BBC later turned it into a 6-part series, which I haven't seen, but which the author put up on YouTube, starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEqfg2sIH0

I especially like that in the comments he writes: "Anybody is welcome to use anything from this series in any way they like. Please don’t bug me with requests for permission. Hack away. Do credit the BBC, who put considerable time and talent into the project."

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