The practice of engineering since the second century BCE has changed through trial and error. The strength of structures is something that ancient engineers arrived through trial and error. Ancient engineers had no any analytical methods of determining in advance whether a certain piece of stone would crack or not as it is being raised into place. During the Renaissance, Galileo published Dialogues Concerning Two Sciences that enabled engineers to determine the strength of materials used in construction independent of its geometrical configuration. Some engineering practices, however, have not changed. The ancient goal of constructing structural components like the columns that were sufficiently strong to give support to load bearing down on it and to win the approval of those aesthetics critics is still being practiced today. Vitruvius was able to come up with his insights on construction through trial and errors and internal stories of ancient construction. Matters of constructability and costs are two important aspects in architectural design according to Vitruvius even today.

According to Vitruvius, engineers should have certain skills, knowledge, and attributes. An engineer must be able to make an accurate estimate of materials and time to complete a construction job and also to innovate as the need arises. Engineers must also be able to learn through trials and errors and allow the mental concept of construction to evolve into a tangible thing. This is similar to what the ASCE’s body of knowledge suggests. Engineers must be society and technologically wise. Experience with failure should be a learning lesson for engineers. Vitruvius points out those engineers of the ancient times learned from the failure of the architraves and many other structural components. This is what taught them the limits of proportions. However, this alone did not teach them why failures occur but from consistent learning such as in Ionic order which is still being learned even today.

 
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