Connor Fullmer

Amanda Tibbits

3/7/19

Period: 3rd

Architecture, how it’s evolving right in front of our eyes.

Architecture is a variety of things, it’s not just how to design a building and

making it functional. It is also putting ornamentation on it and creating an inviting home

or building so people aren’t drawn away from the building. Architects essentially give the

instructions or blueprints on how to build the house and if anything goes wrong it is on

the architects head. If the floor sinks or the roof drops the architect is at the risk of losing

everything. However if done right and when you get a good foundation and people

recognize you it will pay off.

Architects have recently been given a bigger pay to bring people into the career

however there is a catch as described in the essay titled. “Starting wages, experienced

wages and overtime pay”

The pay for starting full time architects has nearly doubled. However this means

if an architect wants to work more than forty hours a week they will be paid time and a

half rather than continuing there hours. James dodge says ”salaried workers who earn

up to $47,476 a year must be paid time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours

during the week. The previous cutoff was $23,660 a year. The new rule applies to

companies of all sizes, affecting most employees, including those working in creative

fields like architecture.”

 Due to this increase it is easier for people to choose this as a career because

they are able to support their families. This makes a wider community of architects

giving us a broad idea force creating cooler more structurally sound buildings for less

money.

Architects help people in many different ways. Architects are the mastermind behind the

construction of a building, they tell the contractor what sizes and types of materials to

use. Without an architect the contractor wouldn’t know how to build the house or

building. Architects also put together the meetings for the authorization of the building

and have to get the land rights from the government

Architecture has advanced over the years.

Architecture has taken a turn for the modern age as we have gone from using

pens and pencils to using high tech computer programs. No more erasing and rulers the

computer can create flawless floor plans. Computers also “deliver gains in cost,

energy, and security, as well as performance.”

Because of this advancement we can afford architects, because the work they

are doing doesn’t take as much time on their side or money in materials. It also allows

architects to be more experimental and artistic without the consequences of having to

erase or running a perfectly good floor plan. It also evens the playing field among

architects because the computer does the drawing for you so you don’t have to be a

great artist to be a successful architect.

Why we need architects

 Architecture is all around us even when you probably don’t realize it. The

technical definition of architecture is. “Architecture, the practice of building design and

its resulting products; customary usage refers only to those designs and structures that

are culturally significant. “Well building hath three conditions: Commodity, Firmenes,

and Delight.” More prosaically, one would say today that architecture must satisfy its

intended uses, must so well constructed that they outlast their original use. They then

survive not only as beautiful objects, but as documents of the history of cultures,

achievements in architecture that testify to the nature of the society that produced them.

Architecture comes in many different forms anywhere from building designs to

cinema architects. The field of architecture is a very wide open field, there are jobs for

everyone in the architecture field. This field is very easy to transfer jobs. Many people

think of architecture and assume that you’re producing blueprints for a building however

you could be putting together front yards as a landscape architect or you could be

helping to produce scenes for a movie. There is so much variety in the architecture field.

As stated by peter Herrison“Ethical Considerations for a Better Collaboration

Between Architects and Structural Engineers: Design of Buildings with Reinforced

Concrete Frame Systems in Earthquake Zones”

Although it is not the architects job to make sure the building is structurally sound

it saves a lot of time and money if the architect knows what makes the building

structurally sound. The only way that we can make that work is if there is a better

communication between the architects and the structural engineer.

 This is very important and it will save a lot of frustration amongst the architect the

structural engineer and the consumers. If the house is stuck in the check stages

because the architect won’t communicate and fix what needs to be fixed structurally

with the engineer then houses or buildings will never get built.

Architecture isn’t the building of a building but the designing of a building. The

architect doesn’t need to know how to build it or everything a structure may need in

order to be sturdy however many structural engineers find it annoying that architects

don’t know how to make it structurally sound and have described a few specific

problems

There are a few very specific issues that architects and structural engineers have

four of the main issues consist of how architects and structural engineers communicate.

Some structural engineers believe that architects should study the books even though it is

not necessarily in there job description. However there are books made on this particular

problem for architects. Jeffery Wilkins simply states “There are various reasons for the value

conflict between architects and structural engineers. The first of these reasons is the architects’

lack of practical knowledge about structures and earthquake resistant design. There is a gap in

the literature in respect of offering architects practical support in the designing of the structure of

buildings with reinforced concrete frame systems. The literature related to this subject, in respect

of building specifications and books on structures, is mostly directed towards structural

engineers and not architects.”

Because of the misunderstanding between what architects know and what they

need to know for the construction of a building and how structurally sound the building is
architects will spend more time and money to use products that they think will fix the

issues and make the building structurally sound even though they could potentially just

ruin the building all together and create a bigger problem. Jeffery Wilkins explains this

conflict further by saying “The second reason in respect of the problem of contradiction

between architects and structural engineers is the presence of many bad examples of

reinforced concrete buildings in the building market. The existence of these buildings

creates a falsely positive impression with many architects, who then believe that these

bad designs are acceptable (Hu¨rol and Wilkinson 2005). “

Another issue that occurs when structural engineers and architects work together

is the structural engineers don’t fully understand what the architect does as he needs to

focus on the ascetics of the house and not just the structural stance. However the

structural engineers don’t need to worry about how the house looks at all. As Jeffery

Wilkins states it “The third point in respect of the contradiction between architects and

engineers depends on the differences in their consideration of the design criteria

according to differing value systems. Architects should simultaneously consider the

functional and aesthetical criteria as well as the economic criteria and safety

requirements, whilst structural engineers should consider only the two latter criteria

(Pultar 1997, 2000). “

Most structural engineers don’t completely understand the necessity to make a

house or building look good and can cause some problems when it comes to the

structure of a building and creates more work for the structural engineers. However the

architects main job is to do just that and make the house or building look as inviting as
possible to sell the house or building for more profit. As Jeffery states it “The fourth point

in respect of this matter of the contradiction between architects and engineers arises as

a result of the presence of their different approaches to the criteria of economics. Some

professionals prefer to achieve the optimum solution in respect of structural problems,

whilst others believe that it is also worth paying for the aesthetic value of the building.”

Architecture has many different viewpoints on what the job actually is or can become.

Although this is true in many cases the job can be whatever you make of it but there is

one thing for certain. Architecture is making a turn for the better and making the job

easier and more efficient for the architects of today. This job can be whatever you make

it and people can put in as much or as little effort as they intend to. With the fast paced

world of today and the new technology we have architecture will soon be very different

than what we now know it to can be.

Works cited

Searle, Sam. “The Benefits of Enterprise Architecture for Library Technology

Management: An Exploratory Case Study.” Information Technology & Libraries, vol. 37,

no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 27–46. EBSCOhost, doi:10.6017/ital.v37i4.10437.

HENNESSY, JOHN L., and DAVID A. PATTERSON. “A New Golden Age for Computer

Architecture.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 62, no. 2, Feb. 2019, pp. 48–60.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1145/3282307.
KAYSEN, RONDA. “New Federal Rules Will Redefine Overtime Pay for Architects.”

Architectural Record, vol. 204, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 13–14. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=117333792&site=ehost-live

Hurol, Yonca. “Ethical Considerations for a Better Collaboration Between Architects and

Structural Engineers: Design of Buildings with Reinforced Concrete Frame Systems in

Earthquake Zones.” Science & Engineering Ethics, vol. 20, no. 2, June 2014, pp.

597–612. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11948-013-9453-4.