Art of Architectural Technology

Structural engineering is an art. The purpose of structural design is to create structures that respond to the requirements of function, aesthetics, serviceability, and constructability. In order to create, the designer must deal conceptually not only with a vast array of structural system alternatives but also with the behaviour of these systems under varying load conditions. The architectural challenge is to create building forms that satisfy the functional requirements, yet are aesthetically and economically successful. The structural challenge is to create structural forms that accommodate the functional requirements while supporting the imposed loads as efficiently as possible. In their close collaboration with architects, structural engineers usually want to create designs which are elegant in both an engineering and a visual sense, and which complement the architect's aesthetic, rather than designs which are merely functional and cheap.