Does a structural engineer design buildings or does the architect solely do that?

Question

I am interested in structural engineering. Does the structural engineer design buildings, or is it just his job to make sure they dont fall down. I would like my job to be designing buildings and making sure they are safe, and overseeing the construction, etc. Is that what a structural engineer does?

Answer 1

Overseeing construction can be what a structural engineer does to a small extent, as with a design-build situation, but it can also be what a Construction Manager does (on large projects, say a hospital or an office building) or just the contractor (on a small project like a house).  That said, most U.S. civil engineering programs that train structural engineers have a class or two (if not a whole concentration) in construction management.

Designing buildings and making sure they're safe is exactly what structural engineers do, though.  It's design of buildings (and large non-buildings, such as bridges and dams) from a functional and pragmatic standpoint, where the concerns are things like constructibility (i.e., "Can it actually be put together at an affordable cost?") and load resistance (e.g., "Will the roof support the weight of the maximum amount of snow that it's reasonable to expect will accumulate during a harsh winter?").   Design where the concerns are aesthetic and philosophical, rather than practical and functional, is architecture.

Answer 2

they do it together.

architects can design beautiful buidings that would fold like a house of cards if somebody sneezed inside them. To avoid it, they collaborate with structural engineers.