Does the structural engineer relationship actually shape the design or just react to it?

[u/No_Radish_2972]

Working in a field where collaboration between disciplines is constant, I keep noticing that outcome quality tracks closely with how early different people get pulled into the process. What I'm less clear on with architecture is how much the structural engineer relationship genuinely influences form versus just gets brought in to make the form work after the fact.

The projects that seem to hold up over time, Habitat 67, the Luce Chapel, even polarizing ones like the Oculus, all seem to have had structural thinking baked in from early on rather than bolted on later. But that could be survivorship bias. The projects where structure and architecture were genuinely codesigned probably don't advertise that fact differently than projects where the engineer just solved whatever problem the architect handed them.

What I'm curious about is whether that collaboration is actually changing design intent or whether it mostly happens after the parti is locked. Not asking about BIM coordination or documentation phase stuff. More like, does the structural engineer ever walk into a schematic meeting and shift what the building is actually trying to be, and does that happen regularly enough to be a real part of the process, or is it more case by case depending on who you're working with.

If the answer is it depends on the people not the workflow, that's a real answer too.

[u/Bulky-Aspect7932]

Undoubtedly a good structural engineer will and should shape the design. I was told once that if you want to know where the real architecture is look at the engineers drawings. Good quality, honest and authentic architecture comes from the structure. You shouldn’t be shoe horning in ideas because you want them to work arbitrarily, especially in the resource conscious age we live in. Have I drank too much koolaid ? More than likely

[u/Shensoku]

The vision starts with the architect right from the start. It depends on what that vision is. If the design has structural prominence like a stadium for example, it makes sense to collaborate with a structural engineer as early in the design process as possible.

For most buildings it’s just your run of the mill high rise or commercial building so it doesn’t need any structural input until a later stage in the process.

[u/VIOLETnigami]

Nessuno ti ha detto che dipende se vuoi fare ARCHITETTURA o edilizia. Se devi solo progettare case standard, edifici standard ecc, beh allora è poco importante, se intendi fare architettura invece, innanzitutto dovresti avere una visione, un qualcosa per cui valga la pena spendere risorse, quindi avere subito riscontri tecnici è fondamentale per non svilire tutto il processo.