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Structural Eng to Arch

tryptophan

Has anyone run into a structural engineer transitioning to an architect role without doing an architecture program in between?

Would a licensed eng be able to sign architecture drawings and be registered with the board?

No illusions of going for a starchitect firm or anything like that, but I would be interested in a more utilitarian architecture role in, say, a big development firm

Thanks for any advice :)

 
Sep 12, 08 9:56 am
Gordon

As a licensed CE or SE you will be able to stamp on smaller residential projects, however larger more complex architectural projects do require a licensed architect to stamp on the drawings. This will vary from state to state.
Most state licensing boards require you to have a professional degree in architecture to acquire a license in their jurisdiction.
I would advise some formal education or training in architecture before making the transition for the licensing reasons listed above and also the fact that you will have no idea what the goals and intentions are of the architects that you will be working with. You will be speaking anther language completely.
That being said, if all you want to do is technical grunt work, go for it.

Sep 12, 08 11:24 am  · 
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tryptophan

Thanks for the response :)

I didn't mean that I just wanted to do the technical grunt work, I just wanted to point out that I don't have big aspirations of working on landmark buildings or anything like that.

So I'm most interested in doing the layouts and designs of your run of the mill structures, homes, offices, stores, hospitals, etc (obviously injecting creativity and good design into the mix) :-)

Sep 12, 08 11:29 am  · 
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med.

As long as you're not one of those structural whistle-blowers in class, you'll be alright. Those people are so annoying and professors even grow tired of them.

In arch. school sometimes it's ok to let structure go in favor of design.

Sep 12, 08 11:46 am  · 
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dsze

Hi,

It is encouraging to see Struct Eng want to be an architect.
I am an architect working in a Facade department of an engineering firm and there are a lot of engineers in our department.

The mentality of engineers and architects are very different and the trainings are very different too. It would be a good idea to take some architecture courses to understand the differences.

However, the gap should be bridged in many sense.

Sep 26, 08 2:56 pm  · 
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