Today I sat the final exam for what has probably been the most enjoyable course that I have studied during the last four years, the ambitiously titled “History of Construction”. The course took place not at Les Ponts, but at the neighbouring architecture school EAMLV
The lecturer expertly lead us through building sites from Egypt to Millau and described building materials as diverse as granite and linoleum. But what got me really excited about the course was being in a room full of real live architects. All those asymmetrical haircuts, those interesting glasses. From the outset I fully expected to see my own haircut lose its symmetry and that my sight should deteriorate sufficiently for me to make a purchase at the opticians. I imagined myself sitting among the trendies, smoking cigarettes with my new friends (smoking is clearly an initiation rite).
In the end, it didn’t quite work out like that. On the plus side, the lectures were excellent and really quite inspiring: it constantly reminded me of all that stuff about why I went into engineering. I have to say that unlike my other exams here, this one wasn’t such a hit and miss affair. But lets look at the bad side… I left the architecture school for the last time looking less trendy than I did at the outset (I got dressed in the dark this morning), my eyesight is just as good as it was before, and I haven’t managed to give up “not smoking”. As for new architect friends, well there was this one guy who I was chummy with, who used to say hi and stuff, but when it came to saying goodbye, both of us knew there was no need to exchange emails. All I could muster when shaking his hand was a feeble “on se revoit sur un chantier un jour” (see you one day on a building site). Disaster.
Suzanne
I just found your site and hope to continue reading it. If you are interested in architecture and engineering history please se our podcast show called “Aspire” on szilverwolf.com. We are from the US and talk about whatever we think about regarding engineering and architecture history and are hoping to find like minded people who are really interested in the subject and will listen etc.
I work in construction managment with a civil engineering degree and my husband is an architect. I don’t think we are very cool though, we don’t smoke or have cool haircuts at least.
Good luck on exams!
eiffelover
Hello Suzanne – I am glad that you have found this site. I am interested in the cross-over between architecture and engineering (I have heard one French architect refer to it as the «architectonique»). It is there that I find the designs that interest me the most. Haircuts and eye wear are, despite the rhetoric, are not all that important to me – and especially not smoking. I brought them up to draw attention to the difference in image between the professions of architecture and engineering. Why is it that the stereotype of an architecture student is one of a trendy with-it individual and that of an engineer (much to my chagrin) isn’t? I think in part it is because of a difference in appreciation of aesthetics and also how to create something new and exciting out of existing materials, in this case, a new look from a wardrobe of clothes.
What’s most important is how effectively does a design solution solve a problem, and not how good it looks (having said that, I often think that good looks are inherent in a good design solution). The ability to dress differently reflects an ability to think differently and it is the latter that is more important.
I look forward to hearing one of your podcasts. If you are interested, you can see a short film I made in French about a new bridge in Paris, La Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir on my website: http://www.web.mac.com/oliverbroadbent
Suzanne
You bring up such an interesting topic!
I will be happy to watch your video and I would like to mention your comment and your blog in my next show if you would not mind it. I think that it is very interesting that in the past architects and engineers have often played the same roles. Today we are very compartment driven and tasks are divided up to the extreme.
I will be in Paris in a few months, besides the Eiffle Tower and the Sewer System, what would be your top three engineering “must see” sites!
Best Regards!
Suzanne
Your comment and subject has me thinking about one thing that I find very funny. Here in the United States we have many large home item stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target. Many of these stores make design deals with very famous people. They all have some sort of “design line” by a celebrity. I will not say which store it is or what the person’s name is but I have a story about this. One of these stores hired a very famous architect to design many things that are for sale in the store. I noticed that my husband, who is an architect, will buy many of these items even if he doesn’t know who designed it. He thinks that they look very beautiful and elegant. One day I needed a new floor mop, dust pan, and a toilet plunger. He brought home a very elegant set of these cleaning tools from the store and they were designed by this famous architect. I will agree that the “looked” good. They looked high tech even but much to my dismay they were not high tech in anyway and the mop broke the first day I used it, the plunger broke in the first week, and the dust pan even broke in a few weeks (Doug was even shocked that a dust pan can break!). These items were poorly designed and poorly made. The only thing good about them was that they looked very interesting. I laugh about it all of the time now! I now tell Doug to please not bring home anything designed by an architect but to look instead for something designed by an engineer!
Rosy
Oh come on Oli, don’t be coy, your barnet is a cut above the rest and you’ve got the photos to prove it 😉
Living with a sculptor, a composer, a film producer, a graphic designer and an architect, only one of them (you guessed it), to my knowledge, has tried to wear a bicycle helmet in a swimming pool…does that come under the heading of trendy and with-it? Hee hee…