Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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Figure 2: Parallelism between the stages in creative problem solving and the scientific and
architectural design methods (Santamaría and Akhoundi, 1991; Santamaría, 2003).
In accordance with the above parallelism, the different processes start with an initial
preparatory stage, consisting of study and data compilation, which may seem a tedious
and unimportant task, but which is nevertheless crucial for the subsequent creative
development of the process. The next stage is the study of this data, and the developing of
possible solutions, after which a new idea or solution can be addressed, finally validated in
the final assessment and verification stage.
Going forward to this parallelism, a resemblance with the design process in the specific
field of structural design might be done, in order to identify which aspects of this process
are most important from a creative development perspective. In this regard it is necessary
to first evaluate the different existing structural design methods and processes, clearly
defining the concepts and characteristics of the process in question.
This study thus establishes as the principal of analysis the structural design processes
proposed by the engineers Frank Newby and Edmund Happold, with a diverse focus and
which are particularly significant for assessing the structural development process and
highlighting the key aspects in terms of compatibility and relation to the creative
processes.
Firstly, Frank Newby proposes a design process for the structure which is similar to the
parallelism of processes proposed by Santamaría (Addis, 2001). It first lays out the “initial
design process” which takes as a starting point the particular structural conditions of the
project (availability of material and workmanship, weather and geotechnical conditions,
local regulations…), in addition to the client requirements and the architectural concept of
the project.
Based on that initial stage of data compilation and establishing of the fundamental figures,
the engineer considers possible structural layouts and progresses in the definition,
integration and coordination of the chosen scheme, and in the detailed definitions of the
different elements contained in it, using his/her own knowledge and experience in the use
of materials and the analysis of structures as a benchmark (Figure 3).
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011