AE in Practice

On wednesday 13 February 2009 the event Architectural Engineering in Practice was held.

Conclusions

Technical knowledge is necessary for the architectural engineer to communicate with specialists. The main task is to be a generalist and work on a high level with different scenario's.

There are also different types. An architectural engineering could be one of the specialists. He or she distinguishes from normal architects is to make the step to technology instead of doing only the preliminary design.

At the question if the speakers would prefer to be like Rossi or Foster a reaction was that Rossi is almost an Architectural Engineer.

What is AE?

It is very difficult to define what is Architectural Engineering. One of the definitions for AE is that it is the discipline related to the design of the technical systems involved in the building. However, we know that AE implies “technology driven architecture”.

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.

Panelevaluation

On November the 26th, there was a panel meeting for a reflection on the first quarter Msc3 Architectural Engineering.

Architectural Engineering is starting for the first time. A combined curriculum of architecture and building technology should combine both worlds. The mission and practical handling of the graduation direction is still being developed. In july 2008 Fons Verheijen made place for Thijs Asselbergs and Patrick Teuffel to guide the education and research activities . Also the tutors in architectural and technology fields have their own vision.

For a clear graduation process students need some fixed outlines like location, materialization or program. Or else graduation is not possible in one year. The circumstances demand also a flexible approach on this.

Also the final results of the graduation should be clear in order to make good planning and field of subject. Presentations of previous master students could make things more clear.

Actions of BouT after this meeting will be:

• searching for work from previous students;
• organizing workshops and discussions to come to an uniform definition of AE;
• repetition of panel meetings to improve education;
• being a point students can come to for questions so we can take action.