Civil Engineering and Architectural Technology

sprucemoose · 16-02-2012 5:58pm #1

I'm torn between doing either Architecture,Architectural Technology and Civil Engineering in college next year.Putting architecture aside for a moment i was wondering can anybody help me and give me some info.I'm kinda interested in Arc. Tech because I'd love the drawing/CAD side of it and its close relationship to architecture but due to current economic climate etc, i'm wondering if it was possible to do civil eng. then move into arc. tech from there?My brother just finished civil eng. and he seems to think that there would be alot of overlap but an arc. technician would be less qualified so to speak.Also,not being big headed or anything but I'm hoping to get somewhere close to 625 points in my L.C. so I'm wondering would it be a bit of a "waste" so to speak to do a course thats around 350 points?(no offence to arc. technicians,most are probably smarter than the architects they work with/for).I considered structural eng. for a while but i think doing civil and taking the structural electives would probably be the better route, even though its the design and tech drawing aspect i like.I know the question is a bit messy but if anybody has any information i'd greatly appreciate it (Also all the courses mentioned would be in UCC/CIT due to financial problems-I know DIT have a slightly differnt Arc. Tech course but thats probably out of the question)

annfield1978 · 16-02-2012 9:29pm

if you do arch tech, you will be the at the bottom rung of the ladder in responsibility and pay scale,

however fufilling the job of preparing the drawings is

sprucemoose · 16-02-2012 9:40pm

have heard that alrite,thats why i'm thinking of doing civil eng. if theres enough of a crossover.just wondering are you an arc. technician/technologist or what?

annfield1978 · 16-02-2012 11:37pm

i'm from a civil engineering background. if you are into drawings, are there opportunities in graphic design or animation for example?

sprucemoose · 16-02-2012 11:58pm

well i'll probably go for architecture itself because its designing buildings and the like that i'm most interested in but i was just thinking through other options and hoping that maybe if i did civil eng. i could maybe become an arc. technician afterwards by doing a part-time course or something because from listening to my brother (a civil engineer) and from my work experience (DL Group Engineers and Wilson Architecture)there seems to be a good bit of overlap betwwen the two.maybe i'll take my lead from Da Vinci and the like and be an architect,a technician and an engineer

breadmonkey · 17-02-2012 9:26am

I'd talk to your brother again. From my own point of view, the overlap between an architecture and a Civil Eng degree would be minimal. If you want the maths, go engineering, if you want to sketch, draw etc. then architecture is probably more suited.

annfield1978 · 17-02-2012 10:40am

i would agree that there is little overlap between architects and engineers unless it is to do with facade engineering or bridge type work

courty08 · 17-02-2012 11:08am

Architecture and civil engineering have as good as zero similarities

sprucemoose · 17-02-2012 4:49pm

sorry i meant overlap between arc. technology and civil eng. From spending time with the technicians in Wilson Architecture and the engineers in DL Group on work experience i got the impression that there might be some common ground between them?thats more what i was wondering about, i kinda figured out that there would be very little in terms of similarities between architecture itself and civil/structural engineering

breadmonkey · 18-02-2012 10:07am

annfield1978 wrote: »

i would agree that there is little overlap between architects and engineers unless it is to do with facade engineering or bridge type work

IMO, bridge work has little to no overlap with architecture.

sprucemoose wrote: »

sorry i meant overlap between arc. technology and civil eng. From spending time with the technicians in Wilson Architecture and the engineers in DL Group on work experience i got the impression that there might be some common ground between them?thats more what i was wondering about, i kinda figured out that there would be very little in terms of similarities between architecture itself and civil/structural engineering

Hmmmmmm, I may have picked you up wrong but I'm not sure you see a distinction between designing a structure and drawing it. Civil/structural engineering is not drafting!

sprucemoose · 18-02-2012 5:24pm

breadmonkey wrote: »

Hmmmmmm, I may have picked you up wrong but I'm not sure you see a distinction between designing a structure and drawing it. Civil/structural engineering is not drafting!

yeah i think we got our wires crossed on that one, i know that engineering isn't drafting but i think maybe most people think i'm talking about architects and engineers, whereas i'm wondering about the work of architectural technicians/technologists compared to civil/structural engineers in relation to designing buildings etc (alpologies if i'm still not making any sense)

breadmonkey · 19-02-2012 10:55am

In that case - zero overlap.

FlashD · 19-02-2012 11:33am

Arch tech. is about bringing all the components of a building together and making them work in detail. Its a technical job.

Structural engineer drawings
Service engineer drawings (electrical, water etc)
Architects design drawings
Surveyors drawings

The natural route from an Arch Tech is to eventually move away from the Cad into Project Management.

Currently the career opportunities are zero. I know many highly qualified Arch Techs with years of experience changing career because there is no work (Me included). So that is what you will face as a current graduate.

If you like sketching, drawing and designing then you need to start looking towards graphic design, illustration, animation, architecture, visual communications (More art based courses basically).

If you got 625 points in the leaving and decided to do Arch Tech, my opinion is yes it would be a waste. In the past many students started in Arch Tech because they couldn't get enough points for architecture.

sprucemoose · 23-02-2012 1:01am

FlashD wrote: »

Arch tech. is about bringing all the components of a building together and making them work in detail. Its a technical job.

Structural engineer drawings
Service engineer drawings (electrical, water etc)
Architects design drawings
Surveyors drawings

The natural route from an Arch Tech is to eventually move away from the Cad into Project Management.

Currently the career opportunities are zero. I know many highly qualified Arch Techs with years of experience changing career because there is no work (Me included). So that is what you will face as a current graduate.

If you like sketching, drawing and designing then you need to start looking towards graphic design, illustration, animation, architecture, visual communications (More art based courses basically).

If you got 625 points in the leaving and decided to do Arch Tech, my opinion is yes it would be a waste. In the past many students started in Arch Tech because they couldn't get enough points for architecture.

thanks thats a great help,its really cleared up what I was confused about.Even though I was still leaning towards Architecture itself I wanted to look into other options because I was worried that not having done art in school would be a massive problem.Btw I didnt do it because I'm lazy or anything its just that my school doesn't do it

yourpics · 23-02-2012 1:40am

If you go for civil eng, and work in a consultancy, you will most likely prepare a large number of drawings at first.
As the years go by this will lessen and the techs will do the drawings for you.
But if you are in a small consultancy, you will probably still prepare some drawings.

FlashD · 27-02-2012 2:55pm

sprucemoose wrote: »

thanks thats a great help,its really cleared up what I was confused about.Even though I was still leaning towards Architecture itself I wanted to look into other options because I was worried that not having done art in school would be a massive problem.Btw I didnt do it because I'm lazy or anything its just that my school doesn't do it

No probs man,

Not having done art in school isn't a problem if you really want to get into architecture. You can always take the route of doing a portfolio course before you apply. If you are young, in the long run it's not such a big deal to take the time to do this. You might not need an art portfolio at all for courses in the UK.

Regarding architecture and jobs, it would be pretty much in the same situation as arch. tech. in Ireland. I believe there are more opportunities abroad to get a career started i.e. Australia, Canada. but then that comes down to your personality and how adventurous you are.

The_Gatsby · 05-03-2012 12:49pm

annfield1978 wrote: »

if you are into drawings, are there opportunities in graphic design or animation for example?

I was wondering the same thing. I'm in my first year of Civil Engineering in DIT and absolutely love it. We have plenty of CAD and drawing modules and these are the ones I am most interested in. Lots of maths and science which, at the moment is not engineering related AT ALL!!!

Civil Engineering and Architectural Technology

Comments