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One of the first rules that young structural engineers learn when they
join a design office is: ‘Never trust the architect’. Architects tell their
clients that floors can span 100 metres without any visible means of support,
that a glass wall is just as good as a brick one and that everything is
built to budget providing the contractor isn’t bloody-minded. But engineers
take the flak when the compromises have to be made because they know what
will and will not stay up, what distinguishes one construction material
from another and what are the best ways of designing a structure to ensure
it can be built economically. And yet it is the architect who collects the
awards when the completed project is feted as a masterpiece of daring ingenuity.

‘The Art of the Structural Engineer’, an exhibition that opened yesterday
at London’s Building Centre and runs until 14 April, aims to set the record
straight. It is the third and final exhibition in the series ‘The Engineer’s
Contribution to Contemporary Architecture’ and will be accompanied by two
symposiums, ‘The Engineer as Author of a Building’ on 17 March and ‘The
Aesthetics of Structures’ on 31 March (telephone Lynne Salter at the centre
for details, 071 636 1802). Using pictorial displays, slide presentations
and models, the exhibition illustrates the contributions that engineers
have made to some of the world’s most spectacular buildings, from Barcelona’s
communications tower to a glazed atrium for an office in Chelsea, London.
As one of the exhibition’s organisers puts it: ‘Someone who admires a building
simply because it looks good is missing a great deal . . . as much as someone
who admires it simply because it ‘works’ as a structure.’