An argument often develops in the relationship between the architect and the engineer. One that sees each accuse the other of lacking knowledge. The engineer says that the world has laws of nature that all things must abide by and the architect fails to understand or recognise these. The architect accuses the engineer of limiting their thought to the material plane without exploring the intangible world of possibility.
The architect manipulates space without any limiting rules, save the self-imposed. They spend their time in a dream world of creativity and promise, possibility and exception. The engineer however, constantly develops new techniques and materials in order to strengthen, improve efficiency and increase effectivity. The engineer attempts to bring concrete integrity to an idea by increasing and applying knowledge of the rules to the physical world.
This is a relationship of symbiosis not conflict. The architect's strength is freedom in space. The engineer's is freedom in structure. Both are artists developing their chosen medium, with one residing inside the box and the other living beyond its limits. The architect attempts to harness the external void by pulling and pushing on the structure to expand usable territory. While the engineer develops structure to fill, support and close the gaps created.
Does the engineer follow, filling the space made by the architect or is the architect inspired by the engineer to break the structure created? Does it matter? Necessity is the mother of innovation with one position needing to destroy conceptions and the other needing to build structure. If one chose not to follow their passion, the other could not fulfil their purpose effectively.
Challenging ourselves through the thoughts and actions of others can help us break patterns, understand perspectives and fill our experience with questions never considered. Each of us are also both the architect and the engineer. Our imagination disrupts the balance, topples convention and exposes gaps in where we are and where we want to be. We can then choose to learn and apply the rules required to fill the void and build a pathway.
Before we spend energy arguing over differing ideas of how the world should work, take a moment to consider what life would be like if all held the same thought, performed the same action and dreamed the same dream. There may be no conflict, but there would also be no discovery, advancement, innovation or creation - There would be no art.
