They work very closely with architects, architectural engineers, and engineering technicians on building design and on-site problem solving. They plan construction activities, supervise structural elements, and perform building inspections upon project completion. Supervision of the construction process is another fundamental skill that architectural engineers develop.Ĭonstruction engineers manage and deliver residential and/or construction projects. Graduates in this area may specialize in one aspect of commercial building design, such as heating, ventilation, fire protection, electrical, or acoustics. Architectural engineers have both structural knowledge and creative awareness and skills. This broad discipline is a mix of many other disciplines and it tends to vary from country to country. Architectural engineering combines building design and aesthetics with a focus on sustainable construction and functionality. The specific activities of a civil engineer change from subfield to subfield and, as described below, the career is composed of a wide spectrum of sub-disciplines:Īrchitecture is the design of buildings and structures with an emphasis on aesthetics. In addition, they themselves will spend significant amounts of time designing and planning projects and presenting proposals, needs assessments, budgets, and amendments to clients. This requires that they regularly meet, collaborate with, and manage these team members, composed of surveyors, construction managers, architects, landscape architects, and urban planners. Regardless of their chosen sub-discipline, however, there are some common tasks that most civil engineers will undertake on a daily basis.Ĭivil engineers are often responsible for large teams that are involved in project design, planning, and construction processes. This means that the answer to the question, What does a civil engineer do?, is also varied, depending on the specialty pursued. It follows, therefore, that civil engineers have particularly varied career options. They are part of the ship building industry, the power industry, and multiple other industries requiring constructed facilities.Ĭivil engineering is a particularly exciting profession, because those that work in this field can see the results of their work: a completed bridge, a high-rise building, a subway station, or a hydroelectric dam.

They can be found in the automotive industry, calculating the load-carrying capacity of a chassis and improving the crash resistance of bumpers and doors. They work in the aerospace industry, designing jetliners and space stations. Savage) and the Brooklyn Bridge, designed by John August Roebling and his son Washington Roebling.Ĭivil engineers do a lot more than design buildings and bridges. More recent history is also marked by famous civil engineering marvels including the Eiffel Tower, named after Gustave Eiffel, the French civil engineer whose company built it the Golden Gate Bridge, designed by Joseph Strauss and Charles Ellis the Panama Canal (John Frank Stevens) the Hoover Dam (John L. The construction of many of these wonders by pre-industrial societies remains mysterious and the names of the engineers who designed them are lost to antiquity. Early civil engineers, therefore, were called upon to build walls, roads, bridges, dams, and levees and to dig wells, irrigation ditches, and trenches.Īmong the most well-known civil engineering projects of ancient times are the roads of the Roman Empire, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and Mayan ruins at Copan, Palenque, and Tikal. The field of civil engineering is one of the oldest branches of engineering, dating back to when people first started living in permanent settlements and began shaping their environments to suit their needs.Īs populations grew and larger groups of people began living together in towns and cities, there was an increasing need for reliable sources of clean water, the means to dispose of waste, a network of streets and roadways for commerce and trade, and a way for people to defend themselves against hostile neighbors. Do architects and civil engineers work together?.What is it like being a civil engineer?.What is some good advice for civil engineering students?.What is the difference between a civil engineer and an architect?.

What is the workplace of a Civil Engineer like?.

Space engineers ship designs