These days there is a lot of confusion in the minds of the students whether to go in for Engineering especially Civil or Design or a degree in Architecture. To make an informed decision, let us try to understand the differences between the two.
Who is an engineer? An engineer is a person who designs and builds things for the benefit of society. Engineers use math and science to design and build structures, equipment and processes.
Who is an architect? An architect is a person who develops the creative designs for buildings or structures. So, the jobs of an engineer and architect, although similar, vary in some details.
Architecture and Engineering:
Both are professional titles acquired through specific schooling and an examination process.Architects and engineers must work together closely to design and construct buildings. Although their duties overlap to an extent, they’re separate professions with their own unique skills and responsibilities.
Architects usually stick to designing only buildings, whereas engineers might design and build buildings, machines, roads, bridges, or any of a wide variety of other things. Engineers can also specialize in a number of different areas, such as civil, electrical, mechanical, structural, industrial, sound, and chemical engineering.
Entrance Exams
Lately, the Centre has approved the proposal of conducting a common entrance test for engineering and architecture from the session 2018-19. The IIT’s will continue to hold JEE mains and advanced.
JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) Main is a national level examination managed by Central Board Secondary Education (CBSE). It is organized for screening candidates for the UG engineering and architecture programmes. These courses are offered by NIT, CFITs and other institutions. It is also the eligibility test for JEE Advanced exam for admission to IITs & ISM.
To become an architect a candidate needs to do Bachelors in Architecture (B. Arch). Till now,a single window exam, NATA is being used for admissions to first year of 5 year BArch Degree Course at recognized Institutions all over the country. NATA scores are used for admissions to different Government, Govt. Aided & unaided schools /colleges of Architecture, to provide common measure for comparing the qualifications of applicants, for admission in addition to their scholastic performance in 10+2 or equivalent examination.
According to the Council of Architecture admission guidelines, a candidate applying to any school / college of architecture in India should have achieved 40% score in NATA, i.e. at least 80/200, for consideration of admission into first year BArch.
On the other hand, for a 4 year Bachelor’s degree in Engineering you have to clear entrance exams like IIT JEE, and other university level entrance examinations.
Role and Responsibilities:
While both architects and engineers might be involved in the design and construction of a building, they tend to focus on different aspects of the job. For example, an architect will usually focus on the aesthetics of the building, including its appearance and function. An engineer, on the other hand, will oversee the implementation of the architect’s plans, determining what is physically possible, what materials will be used, and how issues of practicality and safety will be resolved.Therefore, with regards to the building industry, an architect is the generalist and an engineer is the specialist. Generally, the architect is the conceptual designer of the project, involved through all stages of a project. Engineers come and go and focus on a specific aspect of a building such as the mechanical systems or the structure. Architects and engineers together make up “the design team,” and they work together to make the design complete. Architectural elements may be moved for the structure to make more sense and vice versa. The architect is usually the overseer, communicating with all the disciplines involved. He would be most likely the first to notice that the proposed ductwork conflicts with a structural beam, for example. Architects deal with the whole building and include the design produced by each of the engineers within his overall design solution plus a few specialties that are not part of an engineer’s discipline, like roofing or non-mechanical ventilation.
As far as their responsibilities are concerned, architects design a structure by considering the customer’s needs and requirements. Engineers design the structure according to the architect’s design, including electrical drawings, structural layout and plumbing. To develop and present their designs, both architects and engineers use technical drawings called blueprints. A blueprint is the detailed drawing presented by an architect or engineer that outlines their design. Blueprints can be hand-drawn or drawn on a computer using a computer aided drawing program, such as AutoCAD® or SolidWorks®.
In designing any structure, an architect has to plan out his/her ideas by making a scaled drawing. Before an engineer can approve an architect’s design, they have to analyze the design and select materials that can safely uphold the structure. An engineer takes the blueprint presented by an architect and determines whether or not it is possible to build, and what are the best materials to use. Different materials have different advantages, such as greater strength or greater flexibility. There are a lot of decisions that go into every minor detail of designing and building structures. In order to design safe structures that will last for many decades, engineers must stay current on the properties of materials, know about design flaws and research new engineering technology.
Architects are responsible for all those areas in between the areas of engineers. The architect knows where to draw the line between his expertise and his knowledge supplemented by an engineering professional.
However, if the project is large enough, you might have two sets of architect teams: the design architect and the executive architect, also known as the Architect of Record. The executive architect has a more technical focus.
The technical aspects of architecture include compliance with building codes and figuring out all the building stuff related to the final product. For example, a plumbing engineer’s drawing will have a line on a drawing representing a plumbing line. An architect’s drawing might include a detail that shows that plumbing line as an actual pipe with a thickness with the bricks and cement block of the wall it is penetrating as well as whatever seal will be keeping the rain out.
On the other hand, Engineers deal with specialized fields: Structures, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, and other subspecialties like acoustics and lighting.
Institute scape:
Architecture:
- School of Planning And Architecture, Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
- Sir J. J. College of Architecture, Mumbai
- Birla Institute Of Technology, Mesra
- Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh
- Jamia Milia Islamia University
Engineering:
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
- Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
- Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Summing up:
To sum up, architects deal with ‘Why’ whereas engineers deal with ‘How’. Architects deal with why the building is the shape, size and cost it is. Engineers deal which how to achieve the shape and QS’s how to achieve that cost for the size.
Because of the difference in role and scope between an architect and engineer, the engineer of a project will be working on many other projects simultaneously, while the architect is dedicated to a few or just the one.
Therefore, before you zero in on one of these options, get information and the roadmap of both the pathways so that you tread on the career path that is meant for you.
