Collaborations in Architecture and Engineering

The fields of architecture and engineering are undergoing dramatic change. New technologies and methodologies are transforming the way that projects are designed and delivered. These technologies enable the integration of complex systems in the design of more holistic, performative buildings. In order to achieve this synergy, practicing architects and engineers collaborate closely and often. Collaborations in Architecture and Engineering contains robust design exercises for architects and engineers focusing on team-building and problem solving to prepare you for working together in practice. It provides an overview and foundation for interdisciplinary collaboration so that you can create innovative proposals for optimization, performance, and aesthetic goals. It also shows you how to solve real-world problems and how to engage creatively with technological challenges so that you can be a productive member of any team.

The authors, an architect and an engineer, share guidelines learned from their experiences and observations on how to ensure productive communication, engage in interdisciplinary discussions, and establish common goals and values. In addition to exercises, scattered throughout are case study examples of architect and engineer collaborations--such as those between Toyo Ito and Mutsuro Sasaki, Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond, Morphosis and Arup, and Norman Foster and Buro Happold. The book also includes a discussion about integrated project delivery (IDP) contracts and administration, and a bibliography so you'll be ready for greater integration.

Clare Olsen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a Masters of Architecture from the University of California Los Angeles. Olsen has taught at Tulane University, Syracuse University, Cornell University and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, while concurrently running her practice, C.O.CO.

Sinead Mac Namara was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Princeton University, where she received a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering. She is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University where she teaches mechanics, structures, interdisciplinary design, and design+build to students of architecture and engineering.