Engineering types?

What are the differences between structural engineering, architectural engineering, civil engineering and architecture? I've been trying to do research but I'm genuinely so confused because they all seem so similar but are different things. Bath has structural and architectural engineering and I'm just getting confused

Reply 1

destroy_lonely

9

Original post by ihateib26

What are the differences between structural engineering, architectural engineering, civil engineering and architecture? I've been trying to do research but I'm genuinely so confused because they all seem so similar but are different things. Bath has structural and architectural engineering and I'm just getting confused

okay, there’s definitely overlaps but they are still very different.

structural engineering is the engineering of load bearing structures in general, it’s classified as under civil. you’re looking at skyscrapers all the way to stadiums. the engineering of structures and how they withstand weights

Civil is more broad, could be structural engineering, transportation engineering and environmental. think of the actual word civil- it’s buildings related to general society so people think of bridges a lot.

architectural is more related to structural engineering than architecture i’d say, but still a blend of the two. looking closer into buildings and how to keep them safe through engineering principles. you’ll do a lot of work on lighting, waste management and structural. working a lot with architects and structural engineers

you can be a civil engineer and easily pivot into the other 2. it’s harder to pivot into civil with just the other 2.

makes sense?

Reply 2

destroy_lonely

9

Original post by ihateib26

What are the differences between structural engineering, architectural engineering, civil engineering and architecture? I've been trying to do research but I'm genuinely so confused because they all seem so similar but are different things. Bath has structural and architectural engineering and I'm just getting confused

did not see your mention on architecture, but that’s completely different from the other 3. way less maths, more design. the form of buildings rather than the principles keeping them standing together. that’s where the structural engineers and architectural engineers take over.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by ihateib26

What are the differences between structural engineering, architectural engineering, civil engineering and architecture? I've been trying to do research but I'm genuinely so confused because they all seem so similar but are different things. Bath has structural and architectural engineering and I'm just getting confused

The biggest divergence between the four is between architecture and the rest.

Architecture is fundamentally a design discipline, it's about the creative design process and output. It's not an analytical engineering course. The three engineering courses as indicated kind of overlap. Civil is the overarching discipline, structural and architectural engineering are subdisciplines of civil engineering (and there is some overlap between structural and architectural although some areas dealt with by each that the others don't deal with so much I think). They are all engineering degrees though and hence focus on using applied mathematics and science to model systems.

More practically, architecture and engineering (any of the 3) lead to complete separate career areas. An architecture degree will qualify you to become an architect (well, partially - it's actually a kind of long-ish and fairly convoluted qualification process for architects in the UK). It will not qualify you to work as an engineering. Conversely an engineering degree will qualify you to work as an engineer (whether this is on buildings, bridges, roads, wastewater systems, traffic management processes, or whatever else; civil covers a broad range, while structural focuses on a more narrow subset of those areas and architectural engineering an even narrower one), but will not qualify you to work as an architect (or use the title "architect"!).

First figure out if you want to do a (creative) design based degree or an analytical (scientific/mathematical) engineering degree. Then if the latter, think about what kinds of things you are most particularly interested in (and also what you might want to work on in the future - remember that just because a civil engineering might work on e.g. wastewater systems, that doesn't mean you're going to be physically in a wastewater treatment plant or a sewer - engineering is an office job).

There are a handful of courses that will meet the educational requirements for qualifying as both an architect and an engineer, but due to the practicalities of qualifying as an architect involving quite a bit more further study and work (technically also for getting CEng status for the engineering side but unlike for architecture, that is not mandatory to work as an engineer), as well as just how jobs work generally, it's impractical to ultimately work in both fields simultaneously.

Engineering types?

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