Demi’s Reviews > An Engineer Imagines > Status Update

He calls Nemone his “Beaubourg daughter”!

“Watching a horse race is like anything worth doing: it is something that has to be learned and studied, a frivolous activity maybe, but very rewarding.”

Rice’s last chapter is on the full moon theatre. it’s clear from the way he writes that it’s a very important personal project to him. i’m still confused at how the project fell into his lap in the first place and he doesn’t bother to clarify that - just jumps into the interesting design problem.

I like that he includes these thoughts in a short chapter titled “the chameleon factor” without actually writing more about that term. (or maybe he did and i wasn’t reading carefully enough!)

“What happens when one works with different architects is that each architect’s attitude and opinions become part of the problem being solved. And provided one can introduce an element of engineering exploration in the nature of materials, or structure, or light, or some other physical phenomenon, no loss of identity or independence need be implied for the engineer.”

“I often find I can be working on the same day with two or three architects who would find each other’s architecture very difficult to accept... I find that I actively enjoy understanding the aesthetic position of different architects and exploring what that means in terms of how one should proceed with a solution.”

“But the change in thinking that is needed is great. As I’ve Arup said in his last address, engineers must accept that responsibility for change lies also with them. They must use their muscle as well as their inventiveness to encourage the kind of change that only they can bring about.”

“But change will come... It is important that [computers’] possibility for change is not wasted on goals which will lead only to short-term gains and not to the real benefits we do desperately need. If society can properly identify the goals and engineers are given their head to invent and innovate, then I believe not all is lost.”

Fiat experience - important for Rice to realize two aspects of industry that make change and innovation difficult: defensive lack of information flow between corporate entities, and “rolling investment programme” -i.e., jobs need to get done and there aren’t always resources for spending energy for r&d

(first criticism of japan i've heard in a while) - blames simplicity of construction for high construction speeds that lead to short-life buildings. "On visiting Japan one is aware of a building industry out of control, where buildings become a fashion item like clothes... The only way to absorb and control this power will be by complexity."