F E AT U R E
Interesting tension
Understanding that architects and engineers think and work differently means that projects must be negotiated carefully and thoughtfully. As part of the i-Hub initiative, Integrated Design Studios have been exploring this concept. Ecolibrium broke bread with the University of Melbourne’s Associate Professor in Digital Architecture Dominik Holzer; and Enterprise Professor, Architectural Engineering, Brendon McNiven. Ecolibrium: Are we finding out anything new about the relationship between architects and engineers? Dominik Holzer: Our work is in many ways much more aligned than what it may appear in practice. Misconceptions or misalignment of views between architects and engineers often stem from a lack of time to communicate and interact, due to the way projects in practice are typically run. Information systems and collaboration tools allow us to become faster and faster in delivering projects, but at the same time don’t always benefit our understanding of “integrated design”.
Do we become confrontational, work sequentially, or do we try and work more concurrent and iteratively? Eco: Your research has been about the nexus between architecture and engineering. Does that imply that you see architecture as more science than art? DH: Architecture is what you make it. There is no one way to it, as every project has its own challenges and opportunities, and every architect will understand and grab them differently. In other words, I’m not a big fan of any attempt to put architecture into any
specific category. The nexus between architects and engineers has many facets, from being a dependency, mutually beneficial, inspirational, practical, educational, and so forth. Eco: Where are the tensions do you think? DH: By nature, engineers think more analytically whereas architects need to be able to rely on their gut instinct and their ability to draw on many references to propose an innovative design solution. That doesn’t mean that engineers aren’t able to do that as well.
Brendon McNiven: Personally, I would say the work is more aligned but the way we think is more different than I had anticipated. Eco: Do architects and engineers generally work differently do you think? DH: Yes, we do, but that’s not necessarily a problem. Architects are trained to take risks; engineers are trained to minimise them. That paves the way for some interesting tension. The question then emerges: How do we “dance that dance” when interacting on projects?
Dominik Holzer
Brendon McNiven
J U N E –J U LY 2021 • ECO L I B R I U M 37
