Civil and Building Engineers – the Emergence of the Professions
The engineering specialisations known by the modern terms civil and building engineering can trace their roots back to the very beginnings of civilisation and were already very sophisticated during Roman times. Hydraulic engineers focused on managing water for the benefit of humankind: they redirected natural water sources for use in irrigation, provided potable water and removed and treated wastewater, drained land and managed floods, and created waterways to facilitate navigation. Such projects demanded moving large amounts of earth and building masonry structures for channels and dams. Bridge engineers built structures for crossing rivers, and aqueducts for the transport of fresh w ater. All this construction required accurate surveying and land measurement methods. Military and civilian construction projects both required the same engineering skills and, in fact, usually employed the same people. Only once these fundamental requirements of civilisation had been provided, and relative peace reigned, were e ngineers able to devote their efforts to non-military projects such as the religious, commercial and civic buildings of ancient Greece and Rome, Renaissance Italy and the European Enlightenment of the 18th century. In modern times, researchers studying the careers of the great historical figures involved in construction have succumbed to the somewhat romantic tendency of labelling them as ‘architects’ to distance them from the bloody world of war. However, Vitruvius was trained as a military engineer to build defensive earthworks and fortifications as well as bridges and large weapons of war. After his military service he was commissioned to manage the water supply (presumably of Rome) in addition to various civil construction projects. Filippo Brunelleschi worked for many years on the
fortifications of Florence; Michele S anmicheli, the large Sangallo family, F rancesco di Giorgio M artini – who among other things was responsible for Siena’s water supply – and even Leonardo da Vinci were also all military engineers. During the Renaissance it was still common for the same civil and building engineers to work on military and non-military projects alike.1
Civil engineering in the Age of Enlightenment and in the Industrial Revolution Civil engineering in the 17th and 18th century focused on water management – land drainage, water supply and navigation – and on building roads and bridges. In France, especially, civil engineering works were considered to be of national importance for economic and commercial as well as for military purposes. Between 1662 and 1671, the Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert increased the state expenditures on roads and b ridges from 22,000 to 623,000 pounds (livres). In 1666 he also commissioned the civil engineer PierrePaul Riquet to build the 240-k ilometre-long Canal du Midi linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1669, Colbert created a Corps des commissaires des ponts et chaussées (Corps of Commissaries of Bridges and Roads) which, in 1716, became the Corps des ingénieurs des ponts et chaussées (Corps of Engineers). The first technical institute in France dedicated to military and civil engineering and building construction was the Académie royale d’architecture (Royal Academy of Architecture), founded in 1671 under the directorship of François Blondel, who was himself a military engineer and architect for Louis XIV as well as architect of the City of Paris. To attract more recruits and to raise
On Inventors, Entrepreneurs, Problem-Solvers and Designers
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Bill Addis