Structural course for Architect (graduate) 1

[nate007]

Dear All,

I'm a recent graduate of architecture (RIBA part II) in the UK.

I am writing as I'm intrested to study engineering but not sure what course is write for me and would like some advice please.

All i want to learn is how to make a building i design stand up and calculate all the loading (not roads, sewage, hydrualic etc). I have worked at an engineers and a timber framing company so can work it out for "square" buildings but i would like to do more intresteing structures e.g. straw bale vaults, timber grid shells. I just find structures fasinating,in my opinion "structure is to architecture as rythm is to music".

free free to ask if it not clear.

p.s. i can move anywhere in the world and although money is a large concern i would prefer to find the right course for me then find out how i will support myself etc.

 

[Ron]

One course will not teach you all you want to know. You need a full curriculum of structural engineering...several years at least. There are many good universities with excellent structural engineering programs, in the UK, the US, Canada, and Australia. Take your pick, but don't take a single structures course and expect that you will know all you need to know about designing a building.

 

[nate007]

Dear Ron thanks for the post, I take it your background is structural engineering.


I assumed that A degree/msc would be sufficent to enable me to calculate loads for a building (it also likely that education would develope in the "feild"), i would like to find courses specifically for structures no other "civil" stuff.

What structural courses would i need to know to design the buildings in the link below (gaudi, and gridshells)beyond statics? just so i know what to look for in my course.

thanks

http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1...e&aq=0&aqi=g1g-m1&aql=&oq=sagrada+familia+ins

http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1...&sa=1&q=timber+gridshell&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=

 

[csd72]

nate007,

These buildings are pretty much at the high end of structural engineering and are beyond the skills of many engineers. Design of this type of thing certainly should not be attempted by anyone less than a Chartered Structural Engineer.

The minimum required education in order to achieve chartership with the institute of Structural engineers is a 4 year masters degree. You may recieve a few credits from your architectural degree but it will be at least 3.5 years of study.

Having the double degree will not earn you any more money.

It is also a very different job to architecture and, in my experience, having both skillsets inside the same head is quite a rare thing.

 

[nate007]

"Design of this type of thing certainly should not be attempted by anyone less than a Chartered Structural Engineer."

i didnt know Guadi was a Chartered Structural Engineer.

 

[csd72]

Gaudi was a genius, and also lived in a very different era.

And just because he wasnt, doesnt mean he shouldnt have been.