ABSTRACT
“As the dichotomy (lack of dialogue) between architect and engineer collapses in best practices that are delivering the most innovative, acclaimed and highest performing buildings, the academy – with notable exceptions – lags in its initiatives to construct new ways to expand the discourse.” (Mistur, Letchford, Stein, 2015) Stuttgart and Bath Universities have long nurtured programs structured to cross the disciplinary divide between architects and engineers. More recently Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute introduced several pedagogic initiatives structured around the dual pairings of 1) architecture and engineering and 2) the academy and practice, to empower and enliven education and the design enterprise. These have been examined first-hand to reveal what they each do, and how they do it in order to extract a number of useful observations and lessons.
