My teaching reflects my deep interest in the different approaches to design by Structural Engineers and Architects.

Structural Engineering can be seen as an applied science and as such design decisions are often based on ideal models of the way the physical world behaves. This design process offers decisions based on specific methodologies such as calculations that predict behaviour – for example to determine if a column can support a certain load.

Architecture has few prescribed methodologies and the outcomes and their merits are highly subjective.

Between the two disciplines there is a grey area of design decisions which focuses, not on whether a column can function as such, but whether a column is needed or whether in fact an alternative structural system is appropriate. These design decisions often, impact greatly on the resulting spatial experience, require a level of understanding about the basics of structural principles but don’t require calculations to facilitate a decision.

I believe it is this level of design decision that makes learning about structural design fundamental for Architects so that that they can fully engage in conversations with Structural Engineers about how their design can stand up in a manner which supports and enhances their conceptual design decisions . Equally I believe it is fundamental for Engineers to engage with a more subjective mode of design decision making so their designs are not only functional and economic.

This teaching philosophy is adopted throughout my teaching including the 3 structures courses I run for the Architecture degree and technical tutoring at MArch level:

Level 1 Structures (ARC 107b) focuses on developing an intuitive understanding of how materials work as structural systems without requiring any mathematical knowledge.

Level 2 Structures (ARC207b) focuses on debating the relationship between the roles of Architecture and Engineering through which Level 1’s basic principles are applied and extended. Themes where the design approaches of both disciplines greatly influence one another are addressed through case studies including: Structural efficiency, Standardisation of Structural Components, Optimisation of Structures, Transparency and Immateriality in Architecture and Architectural designs that were never built and their influence on developments in Structural Engineering.

Level 3 Structures (ARC 307b, 327, 377) focuses on applying structural principles and critical thought to a studio design project. The aim is to utilise basic structural ideas to develop a structural strategy which contributes positively to the overall conceptual design.

MArch structures studio teaching in the Technical courses ARC 554 and ARC 584 builds on these approaches and focuses on the development of the individual’s approach to technology within their design.

I am the director of the Dual course in Structural Engineering and Architecture in the School of Architecture. This degree course brings together the two disciplines and rather than producing Structural Engineers with additional experience in design or Architects with additional technical understanding this course provides a deep understanding in both fields through a 4 year Masters course. This enables Graduates to choose their position in the construction industry, facilitates communication between the professions and continues the debate about the future of the two professions.

I teach on a final year Dual course: CIV 406 where a final year design project is viewed from a structural engineering perspective and designed to a high level of technical detail and the impact of the detailed technical design on the original design objectives is reflected upon.

I am a dissertation tutor at Degree (for Architecture and Civil Engineering students) and MArch level at the University of Sheffield and at Diploma level at the Bartlett School of Architecture focusing on the relationship of the physical to cultural and social issues and I also currently act as a Technical Consultant to Unit 5 at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

Dual Civil Engineering Courses Coordinator for:
MEng Structural Engineering and Architecture
MEng Architectural Engineering Design

I am a member of the Architectural Science research group and my research falls into two categories:

1) Structural Engineering: I contribute to the Steel and Composite Structures research group in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering. My research focuses on the influence of production processes on the resulting structural behaviour of metallic structural members and the cost and environmental implications of manufacturing techniques.

2) Architecture: The influence of structural engineering and material behaviour in Architectural Design.

Both research areas contribute to my overarching research interest in methodologies employed in designing and making the built environment.

I would be interested in supervising PhD candidates who wish to have a focus within, or wish to make a link between the general fields of steel structures, metallurgy or the influence of materials and making processes on Architectural Design.

Royal Academy of Engineering: Conference grant, The Non-destructive measurement of stainless steel roll-formed sections (June 2010) £ 670

Science and Technologies Facilities Research Council: Neutron beam time at ISIS to measure residual stresses in stainless steel sections. (June 2008) Based on the last RAE the beam time is equivalent to: £ 36,000

Royal Society: Conference grant, Objectivity versus creativity: Do Engineers employ their aesthetic preferences? (September 2008) £ 740 £ 740

Institution of Structural Engineers, Special Research Grant: Investigating the relationship between hardness and tensile strength in cold worked stainless steel. (April 2007) £ 1,000

BRE Postgraduate Trust: Environmental benefits of recycling and re-using metallic structural sections. (November 2007) £ 63,000

Consultancy:

Steel Construction Institute: Sagging, hogging and continuous tests on profiled steel deck. (June 2007) £ 15,000

External critic and dissertation tutor at the Bartlett School of Architecture (2006-current)

Member of the Editorial panel of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Structures and Buildings (November 2010- current).

Honorarium at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. (Summer 2010)

Contributor to the Eurocodes: Annex B3 in the UK National Annex to Eurocode 3. Design of steel structures. General rules. Supplementary rules for stainless steels (NA to BS EN 1993-1-4: 2006). 2008.

Contributor to Material Matters edited by Katie Lloyd Thomas, which was long listed for the RIBA International Book Award, Architectural Prize, 2007.

Book contributions:

Cruise R.B. (in print- due to be published in Jan 2012) The Fall, In: Ayres, P. ed. Persistent Modelling – extending the role of architectural representation. Routledge.

Cruise R.B. (2007) The Methodology of Construction, In: Lloyd-Thomas, K. ed. Material Matters. Taylor & Francis, 163 - 174 (long listed for the RIBA International Book Award, Architectural Prize, 2007).

Cruise R.B. (2005) The Dry Stone Waller, In: Lim, C.J, ed. Devices. Architectural Press, 188 - 193.

Journal papers:

Gardner L. and Cruise R.B. (2009) Modeling of residual stresses in structural stainless steel sections. The Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, 135 (1) 42 - 53.

Cruise R.B. and Gardner L. (2008) Strength enhancements induced during cold forming of stainless steel sections. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 64(11) 1310 - 1316.

Gardner L., Cruise R.B., Sok C.P., Krishnan K. and Ministro J. (2007) Life cycle costing of metallic structures. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Engineering Sustainability, 160 (ES4) 167 - 177.

Cruise R.B and Gardner L. (2008) Residual stress analysis of structural stainless steel sections. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 64 (3) 352 - 366.

Cruise, R.B. and Gardner, L. (2006) Effects of the production route on the behaviour of stainless steel structural members. The Structural Engineer, 84(22) 18 and 21 - 22.

Cruise R.B. and Gardner L. (2006) Measurement and prediction of geometrical imperfections in stainless steel members. Structural Engineering and Mechanics, 24(1) 63 - 89.

Conference papers:

Cruise R.B. Paradowska A. (2010) The Non-Destructive Measurement of Residual Stresses in Stainless Steel Roll Formed Sections. Proceedings of the 2010 Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. eds. Batista, E., Vellasco, P. and de Lima, L.

Cruise R.B. Gardner L. (2008) Harnessing strength enhancements due to cold-forming of stainless steel sections. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Thin-Walled Structures: Recent innovations and developments. Queensland University of Technology. eds. Mahendran M. 2 915 - 922.

Cruise R.B. and Gardner L. (2007) Material Stratification in cold-formed stainless steel structural members. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Steel and Aluminium Structures, Oxford, London: Oxford Brookes University Press. eds. Beale R.G. 1050 - 1057.

Gardner L. and Cruise R.B. (2007) Residual stresses in structural stainless steel members. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Steel and Aluminium Structures, Oxford, London: Oxford Brookes University Press. eds. Beale. R.G. 1058 - 1065.

Cruise R.B. and Gardner L. (2006) The effect of production route on the behaviour of stainless steel structural members. Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures. Lisbon, Portugal: IST Press. eds. Camotim D, Silvestre N, Dinis PB. 2. 773 - 780.

Cruise, R.B. and Gardner. L. (2006) Life cycle costing and efficiency of metallic structures. Proceedings of the International Conference in Metal Structures, Poiana Braşov, Romania: Taylor & Francis. eds. Dubina D. Ungureanu V. 289 - 297.

Cruise, R.B. and Ayres, P. (2004) Making a wall: The development of software to simulate the decisions made and physical fabrication of a dry stone wall. The International Conference on Design, Computing and Cognition, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. 275 - 293.