The McCormick Tribune Campus Center, Illinois Institute of Technology by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, built 2003. A 530-foot oval tube made of concrete and steel, encloses and muffles the el as it passes over the student center. http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/mccormick/index.htm

Each week I’m going to try to post an interesting civil engineering photo. I’ve captured too many interesting images to keep up with full blog posts. If you have an interesting photo of your own to share, please send me a link in the comments below.

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A few weekends ago I visited Meadow Brook mansion in Rochester, Michigan. The massive manor was built between 1926 and 1929 for Matilda Dodge Wilson and her family. Mrs. Wilson, heiress to the John Dodge fortune, brought both her second husband and an architect on her honeymoon. While in Europe, they explored many manor houses and conceived of an expansive Tudor revival mansion.

The Wilsons and their architect faithfully recreated a country estate in the traditional Tudor style. Although the Tudor revival of the 20^th century first emphasized the simplicity of English country homes, it soon became popular among the upper class. In addition to exposed beams, herringbone brickwork, pitched roofs and other characteristic architecture, patrons like Matilda Wilson included wildly elaborate chimneys, gothic arches, and exotic furnishings.

Although the final building would have seemed at home in the English countryside, the Wilson’s insisted that all of the building materials be sourced locally. Unlike many of the neo-gothic buildings on college campuses, Meadow Brook was authentically American, like the rise of the Wilsons.

Mrs. Wilson, however, was born in Canada. She met John Dodge while working as his secretary. Shortly thereafter she married the man almost two decades her senior. John Dodge, whose moniker still graces a make of Chrysler vehicles, made his fortune first as supplier to and then investor in Ford Motor Company. Mr. Wilson meanwhile did well as a lumber trader but didn’t hit the high life until he met widowed Matilda Dodge.

Money can buy a remarkable estate, luxurious trips around the globe, and the world’s best horses, but it cannot stave off tragedy. Matilda Dodge Wilson lost both her first husband and 5-year-old child less than one year apart. Later, her only son died in a dynamite accident just a year after getting married. One of Mrs. Wilson’s biological children survived, and the Wilson’s adopted two other children. Her legacy also continues through the endowment of Oakland University and public use of Meadow Brook.

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In early March I published an article about the number of hours that civil engineers work per week. To encourage a conversation, I posed the question to the ASCE LinkedIn community. The response has been overwhelming. Over 160 posts have been added to the discussion thread making very interesting observations about professional commitment and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Something of an argument as played out between engineers who feel that extra hours (+40) are necessary to do the job, and engineers should accept the long days provided that they are adequately compensated. A second faction, has argued that overtime is not a foregone conclusion if engineers spend their time efficiently. Besides, there are more important things in life, like spending time with your family. Full disclosure: I find myself leaning toward the latter argument, however, there was a time in my career where I was unfazed by 50+ hour workweeks. My suspicion is that many people participating in the LinkedIn discussion would admit to a similar change-of-heart over time.

I believe that there has been a substantial oversight in the discussion. While we’ve debated whether all time spent at work is spent on work, we have not given similar consideration to whether time spent outside of work has a bearing on work performance or the profession. Although, my work hours have declined in recent years, my time spent considering professional issues has probably increased. I’ve used more time away from the office to participate in several ASCE committees and regularly contribute to this blog. A couple of years ago, I began working with a local artist on some concepts for a solar power generating art installation. I’ve also taught structural engineering classes at a local university and mentored prospective engineers. I have found all of these activities to be personally fulfilling and ultimately beneficial to my profession. Had I spent that extra time in the office, I may have earned my employer some extra fee, but the real value of those hours would not have been realized.

Another concern of mine about working long hours is the time lost for unconscious contemplation and creative exploration. Numerous studies have shown that creative breakthroughs require unstructured time for the mind to relax. The new book, Imagine by Jonah Lehrer, cites the science behind creativity and implores readers to take time out. It’s also important for engineers to practice some right-brain thinking by participating in art, music, or other creative hobbies. I’ve also recently dabbled in meditation, and I can confirm that there really is something effective in the act of clearing your mind of thought.

How do you spend time outside of work? Have you ever had an “ah-ha” moment after walking away from a problem? When are you at your most creative? Please share your comments below.

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Structural optimization, genetic algorithms, generative modeling and parametric design are the new buzzwords of the structural design industry. They’ve quickly replaced such old fashioned concepts as building information modeling (BIM), 3D CAD, and electronic delivery. The last generation of digital tools has opened the doors to many new and potentially transformative ways of using data to design structures. To stay on the cutting edge of the industry requires learning more software and applying more programming knowledge.

Way back when I entered the workforce, in 2004, most drawings were being drafted in 2D CAD. At the time, my company wasn’t yet using paper space in AutoCAD to set up drawing sheets. 3D modeling was very cumbersome and seldom delivered to the client. On the analysis front, finite element programs were widely used, but their graphic user interfaces were still pretty difficult to use. My first employer primarily used a 2D analytical program, so we were required to set up multiple 2D models with corresponding boundary conditions in order to approximate a 3D structure. There was virtually no link between analytical models and the CAD files used to create construction documents (CDs).

Building information modeling promised to change the industry, and it has. Modeling in 3D is commonplace, both for analytical models and for CDs. Although BIM hasn’t quite lived up to the hype about seamless transfer between the two model types, most of the software packages can at least transfer a DXF type file with centerlines back and forth. We still not reliably able to transfer all the load and modeling data between models, so iterative chances still require a lot of work in both models.

Lately, many of our architectural clients have begun using a 3D modeling program called Rhino. I first used the software in college to design my ASCE concrete canoe. It has long been used by industrial designers because of its ability to draw complex non-linear shapes. This gives architects a lot of freedom to model buildings that would have been unheard of in the days of hand drafting. It also makes structural engineers jobs a lot more difficult.

Modeling such complex shapes typically requires finite element analysis (FEA) of shell elements. We’ve had to learn how to use Rhino to manipulate architectural models for import into our analysis models. This has required an education in the differences between solids, surfaces, and polylines and a trial-and-error process of figuring out what the analysis program can handle. Often we’ve found that the shells are too complex for the analysis programs to automatically mesh. Subdividing the structure into many small elements is a basic principle of FEA. Most of the time, the built-in Rhino tools could do the job.

All this manipulation is incredibly time consuming, and every time you go back into the model to make a small geometric change there’s a serious risk of creating some type of discontinuity that will mess up the analysis. Then some architects introduced us to a Rhino plug-in called Grasshopper. Grasshopper is like a graphical programming language for manipulating the drawing tools in Rhino. Since Grasshopper was developed explicitly for Rhino, it integrated Rhinos built-in tools with the power to automate model generation. Savvy Grasshopper programmers can use the tool to automatically construct near-complete structural building models by “turning” a few input dials, like number of stories, bay spacing, story height. You can even program in rudimentary calculation so member sizes update accordingly with increasing spans.

Initially, I used Grasshopper for the basic purpose of rationally meshing complex surfaces. On a particularly ambitious project planned as part of a city-in-the-sea in Dubai, the architects on the team helped us develop a Grasshopper routine that would automatically generate an external diagrid structure around the swooping surfaces of a 50-story hotel building. It would have taken us weeks to draw in the structure manually; we only had days before a structural concept needed to be presented. I was able to take the diagrid generated by the architects and import it into my analysis program, SAP 2000, and estimate the member sizes. Later we exported the data back out to Revit Structure, input the designed sizes in the 3D model, added some floor trusses, and delivered a rendered isometric view of the structure for inclusion on the architect’s presentation board

I have since used Grasshopper to auto-generate a complex space frame structure. We had been working with architects on a plan to put a new glass-clad ballroom on top of an existing 8-story podium. However, because of the space usage below, we were extremely constrained in the location of new columns to support the roof. As the deadline for a concept design approached, we struggled to find a viable solution. The idea of a space frame came to me, but I was nervous to present such a solution without doing my homework. I quickly generated the geometry in Grasshopper and exported it my analysis program, RISA 3D. The next day I had a solution ready to present to my boss and the client.

The future of generative modeling is very exciting. Imagine writing a custom algorithm for a project that allows the architect to see, in real time, how their decisions impact structural efficiency. Engineers with my company have created such a model based on data about the embodied carbon in common building materials. Their program will show the optimal efficiency for a generic building, then the design team to change the parameters to see how revisions to column placement, restrictions on floor depth, or increasing the number of stories might impact the sustainability of the building.

Rhino is also testing its own BIM functionality. This would allow additional member information, like material thickness, to be tagged to surfaces and lines. I’ve seen a demo where this functionality is combined with Grasshopper and a FEA program to perform a real time structural optimization. You could literally have the program cycle through forms and member properties to find the optimal design. I can imagine a future where structural engineers spend most of their time writing front-end algorithms and checking output, while the iterative design process is outsourced to the computer.

This is a scary though to some, but perhaps no worse than existing doubts about the current reliance on canned computer analysis programs. Anyway, there’s no doubt that computers will never have the creative ability to solve problems like humans, right? Well, some engineers are experimenting with genetic algorithms that attempt to implement such creative thought. In some cases an evolutionary process is applied where seemingly random outcomes are introduced, compete, and grow until a superior solution is found.

Seeing how far the profession has come in just my first eight years in the business, none of these far-fetched ideas seem beyond the realm of possibility. It’s slightly discerning to think of all the new programs and skills I’ll have to learn in order to stay on top. Consider also the new vocabulary developing for sustainable design plus all the traditional stuff a structural engineer needs to know. Lifelong learning, you bet.

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Tags: 3D modeling, Building Information Model, Computer-aided design, Finite element method, Grasshopper, Revit, Rhino

Attention aspiring structural engineers: I hope you paid attention in your freshman year programming courses. On recent projects, I have found myself laboring over programming algorighms and stressing how to manage large amounts of data. Some really cool advancements in modeling software enable structural engineers to utilize data that was previously discarded – but how to manage all that new information. There are two emerging trends in particular that I believe will strong influence the future of the industry. In the first half of this blog series I’ll describe a Forensic Information Model (FIM).

For some years now, BIM (Building Information Modeling) has been the buzz word du jour. The principle of the technology is that modeled items can can contain attributes. Until recently, that additional tagged data was mostly just used to define geometry. In CAD (hand drafting for that matter) a drawn line is just pixels on the screen (ink on the page), but a BIM element is a beam with a specific cross section, joined to connecting members, placed on a certain level within the building. This additional information makes the 3D computer modeling environment much more user friendly. Cutting sections on plan now only requires a few mouse clicks. This process doesn’t necessarily make drafting any more efficient – as now there is a whole lot more data to be managed.

BIM software has caught on largely because of the opportunity it presents for 3D visualization and rendering. Some steel detailers also have the capacity to import the models into their connection modeling software. This process expedites detailing and reduces some human error in plan reading. BIM software developers have long promised integration with analysis programs as well. We’ve had more difficulty with this data transfer and conventionally only expect to get the basic geometry to port accurately.

This is where the programming geniuses come in. Experts in my company have developed their own programming tool that can extract or insert additional data in the building information model. They call it the parameter explorer. On a basic level, this tool can be used to populate a column schedule from a formatted spreadsheet. If you think outside the box, however, there is much information that you might want to tag in a model, i.e. urls, photos, calculations, field data, etc. Our Building Performance group has used this technology to develop a Forensic Information Model (FIM).

We can now create 3D structural models and tag forensic information to individual members – photos, inspection notes, shop drawings, etc. On large scale projects, the data is archived in a database program. Custom attributes are created in the 3D model associated with the database information. The parameter explorer provides the link between the model and the data. Another homemade viewer program can be worked up to provide a user interface friendly enough for even a lawyer to use.

A FIM model was generated to organize data related to the collapse of the I35W bridge in Minneapolis, MN

My boss recently presented our company’s use of FIM at the 2012 Structures Congress in Chicago. He described how the technique was applied to the Minneapolis I35W bridge collapse investigation. FIM was also used to reconstruct the path of a falling dumpster that caused extensive damage to a high rise in New York City. The talk is summarized in a recent ENR article, Structural Engineers Learn Lessons from Failures through Virtual Databases.

The end result of a FIM model looks super cool and the name just sounds really intelligent too. However, the programming behind the veneer is serious stuff, and managing all the data is a thankless job. Only a handful of people in the company really know how to set up the whole system from start to finish. Though there are those of us that know enough about one part or another to be really dangerous. Those with the knowledge of the modeling platforms (Revit, Catia, etc.), the database software (Access), and the programming language (VBA) are very valuable to the team.

Emerging trends in digital product delivery require management of lots of data. Transferring model data between visualization and analytical software requires complex data manipulation. The companies and individuals that learn how to handle this data will be more efficient and able to offer more objective evidence that their designs are better.

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My sister, Nancy, graduated from Virginia Tech with a Masters degree in bio-systems engineering this winter. Naturally, she came to her big brother for job-hunting tips. At first navigating the market was a struggle, but eventually, and with her own strategies in play, my sister landed several highly sought after interviews.  — Breaking news! Nancy just accepted a position with CH2MHill. –

Nancy Maschke in front of the Agricultural Engineering building at Virginia Tech

Job searching is not fun. It is not glamorous. I can think of a thousand things I would rather be doing. When people say that searching for a job is a full time job, they are not kidding. I have been looking for several months now and have been through it all: career fairs, email tag, phone calls, Skype sessions, and the all-important on-site interview. Along the way I have received a lot of advice and have learned a variety of skills in an effort to land that job offer.

First and foremost, make an Excel spreadsheet to track your progress. Succeeding in this job market will mean applying at dozens of firms. Include in your list: the company name, position applied for, location, website, date you applied, date the advertisement closes (if known), and a position description.

With my degree in Biological Systems Engineering, I could apply for a wide variety of positions, including water resources engineer, environmental scientist, and agriculture specialist. My list helped me to remember what exactly I applied for when a company called. On the phone, you want to be confident. Refer to your spreadsheet so you know about the company on the line and what position you applied for. It is embarrassing and unprofessional to ask, “who are you again?”

Knowing what previous positions and companies you applied for may help narrow the search. You definitely do not wan to waste time applying for the same position twice. If you have not found that perfect job in a month or two, go back to the companies you have previously applied to and see if something new has come up. Let you spreadsheet be your guide.

Once you have created a spreadsheet, you are ready to begin your search. There are many different ways to learn about open positions.

Over and over again I’ve heard about the importance of networking. Finding someone to get you a foot in the door is key. Even though I’ve never considered networking my cup of tea, I have benefited from connections with former classmates [and her well connected brother J ].

Online search engines such as Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com, Monster.com, etc. are a great start. These sites list a lot of the same jobs, so often only looking at one is necessary. Job boards provided by professional societies can be great, because then you know that every position is in your field. I also found smaller search engines geared toward my field very beneficial. Specialized jobs are often not listed on popular job sites. CyberSierra.com is a great resource for the environmental field. Lastly, if you are just looking in a particular locale, do not be afraid to Google or use YellowPages.com to search for companies. Smaller companies are not as likely to list their positions on job sites, but they will still list job openings on their website.

Career fairs are tricky because all of your peers give their resume to the same handful of companies. Therefore you must make yourself stand out – in a good way. One easy way to stand out is to read the company’s poster before stepping up. Find one thing that you are interested in – maybe it’s one step outside your curriculum. Your interest in the details of that company will differentiate your interview. For example, while speaking with one environmental engineering company, I mentioned that I was interested in the policy behind the environmental sampling techniques. Once I said that, the recruiter was very interested. The next day I got the call for a second interview.

Here’s some nontraditional advice you might not pick up elsewhere.  Let your phone go to voicemail if you don’t know the number. A company recruiter will typically leave their name and the position you applied for. Before calling back, refer to your jobs spreadsheet. Do a little research, and then call the company back. Do not assume that they are calling you up JUST to set up an interview.  Sometimes companies will ask you questions right away. Every time you speak with someone, it is an interview. In my opinion, it is better to be fully prepared than to pick up the phone at first contact. That said… you should get back with the company the same day.

I hope my tips – a little outside of the regular ‘be professional and always talk with a smile’ obviousness – will be useful for everyone seeking a career in this unsteady job market. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “when you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

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Over the past several weeks I have been putting in long days at the office, going in on weekends, and bringing home work in an effort to meet a permit submission deadline for a large adaptive reuse project. As the deadline approached, my stress increased. I dreaded last-minute changes by the architect. Small mistakes by my overworked team felt like insurmountable obstacles. When the submission date came, we pulled together and submitted the best product we could, knowing that there would be many more stress-inducing deadlines before construction actually started.

I took the next day off – a beautiful Tuesday. It was the best stay-cation I’ve had in a long time.

Ping Tom Park Chicago

I slept in until 8:00 but awoke with more energy than on most work days. First, I helped get my daughter ready for daycare and walked the dog. After a relaxed breakfast, I took my car in for an oil change. On the way, I stopped at the Verizon store to inquire about new wireless options and swung by my storage unit to retrieve my mountain bike. Before noon, I had traversed town and accomplished several errands, and I relished the opportunity to take care of my needs – instead of some client’s.

My sister happened to be in town, so we planned an afternoon adventure together. After some quick bike maintenance, we would ride down the lakeshore path to Chinatown for a refreshing bubble tea. It was the perfect day for a ride: 75-degrees in mid-March is unheard of for Chicago! The bike ride was the perfect antidote to a month of work-induced stress.

Chinatown Gate, Chicago

At the end of the day, I reflected on my relaxing but productive day. The day seemed longer than most. It was almost strange to mark the passing of time by feeling the sun move across the sky. Most days at work, I’m so swamped that I sit down at my desk 8:00, stare into the computer screen, and then… Shoot! How can it be 5:00 already? Where do the days go?

I reassure my wife that I’m better than most engineers about getting home at reasonable hours. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I don’t have a company issued Blackberry, and I do not check company email from home unless I’m “working from home.” Even so, the gravitational pull of the office is strong. Getting up to leave at the end of the day is often physically difficult, like removing Golem’s precious ring. Let’s hope the consequence of failure isn’t so ugly.

Perhaps feeling some of the same pressures to stay late and remain connected to work at all times, a colleague recently sent me a link to an article in the New York Times titled The Joy of Quiet. The author describes his own efforts to stay disconnected in order to be more present. One of the more interesting notions is that guests to some of the most exclusive luxury vacations actually pay a premium to escape TV and Internet access.  “The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot each us how to make the best use of them.”

Chicago River South Branch

I returned to work on Wednesday. I’d like to say that I solved many problems with the enlightenment that a day of rest can bring. Actually, I spent almost the entire day responding to emails; my sent count at the end of the day was over 50. At least at lunch, I had the wherewithal to skip the lunch-n-learn in the conference room and take in some more sun on the plaza.

What would you do with one day off? Do you ever shut out your work life entirely? How do you manage stressful projects? Would you pay extra for the privilege not to receive an Internet signal? Please leave your comments below.

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Tags: Chinatown, Staycation, stress relief

Contributor Rafael Gomes de Oliveira explores what it means to be adult:

Here on Bridging the Gap we often talk about the gap between the academic world and the professional world, but there’s another very important jump that happens almost simultaneously – from adolescence to adulthood.

Psychology professor Jeffrey Arnett calls this transition phase “emerging adulthood.” It takes place between the age of 18 and the late 20s and is a result of the social and economic changes that happened recently in modern industrialized nations. Changes to the social order have been affected by the need for more education, less pressure to marry early, and women choosing to have children later due to the availability of many career options (“Emerging Adulthood,” Arnett, 2006). Redefinition of the stages of life has been ongoing since “adolescence” emerged over a century ago as a term to describe the behaviors and needs associated with people in their teens.

The traits that characterize emerging adulthood are instability, identity exploration, self-focus, and a sense of possibilities (“Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up?” Henig, 2010). Some of those can be present in adolescence, but their exploration becomes much more in depth as people approach their mid-to-late 20s. People are taking more time to make the decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives, and to a certain extent that’s a good thing in my opinion.

Golden Gate Bridge

If we’re in a new transition phase, the question begs to be asked: what are we transitioning into? What defines adulthood? Biological adulthood is achieved when people attain reproductive capability. Religious adulthood is often celebrated as the passing of the religious teachings and values to the next generation (secular coming of age rituals to pass over humanistic or similar values are also becoming popular). Legal adulthood gives you civil rights and responsibilities such as driving, drinking, purchasing weapons, attending R-rated movies, voting, working, marrying, smoking, gambling, entering contracts, etc. Those definitions are all acceptable, but they seem to be things that just happen as you grow. I prefer to judge my advancements as challenges conquered.

I would like to determine a new definition for social adulthood… but first, let’s examine what it’s not. Social adulthood is not linked to a specific age or traditional milestones such as graduating college, and starting a family anymore. Some try to make the case that in order to transition into adulthood, one needs to put all childish things behind. They forget that not all childish things are useless and end up letting go of some of their more precious gifts such as joy, laughter, curiosity, the ability to wonder and trust.

The set of behaviors and responsibilities that defines a social adult will vary among cultures depending on that culture’s priorities. Some cultures are more individualistic and others hold the collective good to be more important. In many industrialized nations, the current baseline that defines social adulthood revolves around three main factors: taking responsibility for yourself, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent (“Emerging Adulthood,” Arnett, 2006). I would add other factors such as the ability to overcome obstacles, the composure to resolve conflict, the capability to contemplate one’s place in the universe, and the empathy to understand others.

Self-awareness is, perhaps, the over arching theme of social adulthood. I could not consider myself a mature social adult without exhibiting the listed personal qualities. Only you can decide which values and behaviors represent the bridge to social adulthood.  You won’t realize what they are until you cross that path.

Metamorphosis

The best way to achieve this metamorphosis is to identify adults you look up to and find out which paths they took and what their ultimate goals in life were. Biographies and information about engineers such as Peter Rice, Ove Arup, Fazlur Khan and others can provide priceless insight into their lives and the profession. Since the transition to adulthood doesn’t happen exclusively to engineers, examples can be drawn from any real or fictional character you admire. Consider looking to your family for inspiration. Your parents and grandparents probably overcame some challenging transitions too. There is great value in intergenerational communication.

Certain knowledge is fundamental for maturation regardless of career or life path. Delayed adolescence does allow us to remain unaware or unprepared forever. On the contrary, the more prepared and qualified you are, the longer you can delay your adolescence because more doors will be open to “knowmads.” If you were looking for an excuse for moving back with your parents, joining something like Teach for America, or taking a gap year to travel, there you have it. Just don’t take too long…

How do you define adulthood? Were there any specific moments in your life that made you feel like you crossed the line, even if partially, between adolescence and adult life (your first job, financial independence, accepting your mortality, overcoming a certain fear, etc)? Do you think it is even relevant to label and define these developmental life stages or do you think life is much more complex and cannot fit this almost linear progression of social roles?

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Tags: Adolescence, Emerging adulthood

According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the average worker in America puts in 35 hours per week. If that number seems low based on your workweek, you’re not alone. For one, the data is misleading. It appears that they divided total annual hours by 52 weeks, thus ignoring vacation, sick and holiday time off. Also, if you adjust the data set for full time employment and the age of the majority of the workforce, the workweek is more like 42 hours.

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

You can play with the numbers in an interactive worksheet at http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS American workers continue to work more than those living in many other leading western economies – Norway: 37 hrs/week, France: 39 hrs/week, Germany: 40 hrs/week. However, we can feel fortunate not to work in Mexico (48 hrs/week) or Turkey (51 hrs/week). Having lived and worked in a couple European countries, I have experienced a completely different culture when it comes to the workday. My Danish colleagues, for example, were much more reluctant to put in overtime or sacrifice their weekends for a job. Surprisingly, clients were much more receptive to pleas for more time and a measured timetable on their project.

If these reported workweeks still seem paltry, then consider the breakdown for engineers. The National Science Foundation (NSF) published a report in 2003 showing that the average engineer works 49 hrs/week. Sounds more like it! Academics work an incredible 52 hrs/week, while government engineers have a bit more free time, working only 45 hrs/week. Our colleagues in the health and science fields fare no better. The NSF report goes on to examine the effect of career stages (more hours at beginning of your career) and sex & children. Although on average men tend to put in longer hours, the women without children demographic actually tops the chart.

As with most young engineering professionals, I would guess that 50 hrs/week was typical for the first few years of my career. Hours get worse as deadlines approach, of course. A couple of years ago, I received a sought-after promotion that unfortunately eliminated extra pay for overtime. Even after loosing the economic motivation for long hours, I continued to put in extra time to advance my career and service my projects. But since having my first child last year, I have tried to cut back significantly on my working hours.

Project deadlines are still a bear. Every day this week, I brought work home, and Saturday I was in the office for another eight hours. Though my managers talk a good game about work-life balance, there is still tremendous pressure to service the projects and meet deadlines. My situation is the norm. Most engineers struggle to get their work done in the normal workweek. There are also countless opportunities for career building and networking in the evenings.

I try to maintain a balance. It actually helps to know that I have to pick up my daughter from the babysitter at 4:30 each day. Sometimes it takes that type of responsibility to be able to put down the work.

How many hours do you work each week? What steps do you take to maintain a healthy work-life balance? What would be the ideal workweek for you? Please add your comments below.

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Tags: National Science Foundation, Norway, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, overtime, workweek

This week we’re featuring another guest blogger. Michael Murphy is a graduate student at the University of Illinois. He is pursuing a Masters of Architecture with structures option. The degree will allow him to eventually pursue Illinois licensure in both architecture and engineering. Michael is therefore particularly interested in how different mindsets interact to produce elegant designs.

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Engineers and architects are both problem solvers, but the processes they employ to solve problems differ. In An Engineer Imagines, Peter Rice, structural designer of the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre, analyzes the problem solving procedures of engineers and architects. Based on his work on high profile projects, Rice concludes that there is a fundamental difference not only in the work of architects and engineers but also in the way the two professions work. Architects work in the subjective; engineers seek to transform a problem into one that can be solved objectively. The architect’s response is primarily creative, while an engineer’s response is essentially inventive. (Rice 1996)

Sydney Opera House

On the Sydney Opera house project, Rice was incorporated into the team after Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the competition with his striking wave-like design.  Working with Utzon, Rice’s engineers made the design constructible by rationalizing each of the shells as being cut from the same sphere, which allowed for a standard unit to be used in construction of the signature shells.  This inventive response provided an objective means to construct Utzon’s subjectively creative design.

Later, Rice worked with architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano early in the design of the famous Pompidou Centre in Paris, France.  The creative team did not really expect to win the competition, so the effort was treated as a chance to explore ideas.  Rice’s contribution can be seen in the exposed structural detailing of the project, particularly the gerberette and the double boom beam.

The architectural design called for long beam spans in both the interior exhibition spaces and the exterior circulation corridors. Long span trusses were designed to carry load to the exterior columns. In a conventional truss-to-column connection some amount of eccentricity, and therefore bending moment, is to be expected. Such bending would necessitate larger columns. Rice felt he had found a solution to the common problem. “To counteract the one-sided load on the columns, there are cantilevered bracket projections mounted on them, so called gerberettes, which, with the help of prestressed vertical stays, elicit an equal but opposite action in the columns.  Ideally, the final result is moment-free columns without large tensile stress, but with extra compressive stress added” (Eggen & Sandaker 1995). Rice described the design of the gerberette as an “architectural decision that only an engineer could make.”

Gerberette Pompidou Centre

Similarly, the 45 meter-spanning double boom beams were engineered with aesthetics in mind.  Rice designed the beams with slender chords and diagonal members spaced so “light passing between the booms would lighten their visual impact very considerably, and that lightness was of vital importance to a beam spanning 45 meters and penetrating into the space.”

The choice of material was critical to forming the creative members. Rice specified cast steel, which had not been used since Victorian times, in part to give the structure a human feel and introduce a sense of scale.  He felt that the process of casting steel created a sort of relationship between the observer, the fabricator, and the designer.  As a result, the building feels to be at built to the scale of its pieces rather than the scale of the whole.

Double Boom Beams

The success of the Pompidou project can be attributed to three things.  The two collaborating architects effectively communicated their design intentions to the engineering team and remained consistent throughout the design process. Second, the structural engineer put his imagination to work in designing special systems to achieve the architectural intent. Finally, the use of cast steel as a building material enabled the fabrication of these highly efficient members.

This extraordinary structure like the Sydney Opera House and Pompidou Centre are made possible by the right combination of architectural creativity and structural innovation. Peter Rice combined his understanding of physical behavior with a keen sense of building scale to help his architectural partners realize buildings that offer visitors a sense of interaction with the built environment. The example that Rice sets by his most enduring works is that engineers must be equally inventive as their architectural peers.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy the following books.

• Rice, P. (1996), An Engineer Imagines, Artemis, London.
• Balmond, C. (2002), Informal, Prestel Verlag, New York.
• Eggen, A.P., Sandaker, B.N. (1995), Steel, Structure, and Architecture, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York.
• Norberg-Schultz, C. (1995).  “The Backbone of Freedom,” Steel, Structure, and Architecture, Watson- Guptil Publications, New York.
• Levin, M. (2003), “Form Follows Form,” Santiago Calatrava: The Architect’s Studio, Arvinius Forlag AB, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Ali, M.M. (2001), “Evolution of Concrete Skyscrapers: from Ingalls to Jin Mao, Electronic Journal of Stuctural Engineering, Vol. 1, No.1 (2001) 2-14.
• Auden, W.A., (1948), The Dyers Hand, Random House, New York.

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Tags: double boom beam, gerberette, Jorn Utzon, peter rice, pompidou centre, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, sydney opera house