ABSTRACT
During the past decades, the professional profiles of architects and engineers have been increasingly diverging - even though they initially have a common origin. Considering the complexity of building procedures and of specialist knowledge, this process is comprehensible; considering the demand for holistic understanding and planning, it is destructive. Recently, new design approaches and tools in architecture and engineering contribute to blur the borders of what is architecture and what is engineering. Designers of diverse backgrounds discuss and develop new methods from design development to construction. A very valuable design tool for designers of all backgrounds is the method of structural optimization. This can contribute extensively to establish a common "language" for architects and engineers: it is the common, broadly adaptable tool that brings designers of various specializations back together.
