[Sigia-l] Lessons from a collapsed bridge

[Ziya Oz]

People who advocate the licensing of designers are often proponents of Venn
diagrams and hyphenated permutations of designer adjectives that aim to
divvy up the holistic flow of design into ever shrinking fiefdoms.

So it's ironic that a structural engineering professor at Princeton
University and the co-author of ³Power, Speed and Form: Engineers and the
Making of the 20th Century² has this to say about the (ideal) nature of a
*licensed* engineer who has the ultimate responsibility over human lives who
'interact' with his 'deliverables':

A 2000 report by the Federal Highway Administration indicated that an
average of about 2,500 new bridges are completed each year; each could be an
opportunity for better design. The best will be ELEGANT AND SAFE WHILE BEING
ECONOMICAL TO BUILD.

The key is to REQUIRE THAT EVERY BRIDGE HAVE ONE ENGINEER WHO MAKES THE
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN, UNDERSTANDS CONSTRUCTION AND HAS A STRONG AESTHETIC
MOTIVATION AND PERSONAL ATTACHMENT TO THE WORK. THIS WILL REQUIRE NOT ONLY A
NEW ETHOS IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE, BUT ALSO A NEW FOCUS IN THE WAY
ENGINEERS ARE EDUCATED...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/18/opinion/18billington.html>

Imagine that! An engineer having business, design and technology expertise
and sensibilities all integrated in a single professional. Jack of all
trades. Impossible. Heresy. Satan. Garlic.


Ziya
Nullius in Verba