albedo22

Hi, I've only been recently considering architecture for college. What's the difference between Architectural Engineering and Architecture majors in terms of courses and what's the medium starting salary, and what's the salary, say, after ten years of experience?

cheers

If you want to do engineering for architecture--do structural engineering and get paid a whole lot more. I have never met an architectural engineer in 30 years of practice.

Starting salaries for enigneers are probably...40% higher than architects? They probably maintain that ratio throughout the first ten years.

In either field, the major money is in developing and running your own business.

Architecture school is a form of art school. Engineering school is a deep Math and Physics experience.

Mr Payne

ArchE. All the time consuming projects of architecture. All the math and physics of engineering. None of the sleep.

sashimi46

the two are very different. while there is design involved in engineering, it is more structural design more than anything else, whereas in architecture, you're dealing with many aspects within design. in arch school, you're constantly producing lots of ideas whereas in engineering, you're studying how things stand, and calculating forces,etc. in the real world, there is far less designing involved in engineering, but the pay is better, especially in the beginning years after college. Both fields have the potential for you to earn a lot of money, but engineering has more stability.

laldm

Architectural engineering is very nearly the same as Structural Engineering. The difference lies in a few classes that gives it a little bit more of a design emphasis. It is very deeply math & physics, as stated above. Architecture is a different thing entirely, and does not often include a lot of structural and physics stuff - just the basics to be able to converse with an engineer about it, focusing more on the artistic, social, theoretical aspects of design. Both are difficult, though architecture is more time-consuming.

Architects don't make much money. Engineers start in the $40,000-50,000 range - architects often start around $30,000.

Marsden

I've never heard of an 'architectural engineer' per se.

We hire all sorts of engineers though, mostly structural, civil, mechanical.

They all tend to make more money than architects FWIW.

laldm

Everyone makes more money than architects. If you're considering architecture, you can't care about money. But, $30k is enough to live most places.

IIT has architectural engineering. The program is growing pretty quickly. There must be some demand for them...

Marsden

Well, two things. 30K is not enough to live on in NYC, and many if not most of the architects I know there have "outside" sources of funds to enable them to live there and work in the top firms.

Remember Peter Eisenman's office went several weeks without pay on at least one occasion.

BG123456

Anyone have any first hand info on the Architectural Engineering programs at CU Boulder, KU or OU? Jr daughter is interested.

larationalist

There's a "Building Science" program at USC that sounds about like what you describe as "Architectural Engineering". It's a program that's really split between the two schools- the undergrad program is technically a part of engineering, but takes around 1/3 of their classes in architecture, and the grad program is part of the school of architecture.

laldm

When you get right down to, $100k isn't really enough to live on in NYC. Never quite understood why people put up with those prices. Needless to say, I'm staying in Chicago.

There are a lot of stories of interns, at least in the fairly recent past in the US, and it still happens elsewhere, going without pay and living a marginal but, um, interesting, i guess, existence in superstar firms. I had never heard of other members of the firms going without pay, but I believe it.

sarebeth

i used to be really interested in architectural engineering but i could only find like 3 decent school's that offered it and none of which i was particularly interested in..there may be more now but i don't think its a very popular major

is structural engineering really almost the same? is it like architectural but less artsy? because taht would be perfectt
oh and is structural offered at a lot of schools??

cheers

If you have any inclination for architectural engineering--get a structural engineering degree or a geo tech degree. In 30 years I have never met or worked with an architectural engineer--and what's more--I don't want to! If I am designing a tower, I want the best damn daring structural engineer in town--the higher the degree the better.

I never had so much fun on $20K a year as I did when I did my apprenticeships in New York City. Those apprenticeship experiences still lead to multi-million dollar projects for my office because my international client base recognizes the names of those architects.

ken285

I'm a civil engineering major, which is the broader field in which structural engineering lies and from what i've seen in classes, there is little to no emphasis on aesthetic design. My professor mentions it from time to time, but it's usually overlooked and isn't much of a factor.

structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering, so it's offered at almost every university with an engineering dept.

Terry Nova

Well, would anybody suggest doing the Duo Major program with ArchEngi and Arch? I'm facing the choice right now.