Fazlur Rahman Khan

Fazlur Rahman Khan (ফজলুর রহমান খান, Fazlur Rôhman Khan; 3 April 1929 – 27 March 1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers.

Considered the "father of tubular designs" for high-rises, Khan was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD).

Fazlur Rahman Khan was born on 3 April 1929 to a Bengali Muslim family in Dhaka, Bengal Presidency (present-day Bangladesh).

He was from and brought up in the Khan Bari of Bhandarikandi in Madaripur, Faridpur District.

His father, Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, was a high school mathematics teacher and textbook author who eventually became the Director of Public Instruction in Bengal and after retirement served as the first Principal of Jagannath College.

His mother, Khadijah Khatun, was the daughter of Abdul Basit Chowdhury, the Zamindar (aristocratic landowner) of Dulai in Pabna who traced his ancestry to a migrant from Samarkand in Turkestan.

Khan's paternal uncle, Abdul Hakim Khan, was the son-in-law of Syed Abdul Jabbar, a zamindar based in Comilla.

Khan attended Armanitola Government High School, in Dhaka.

After that, he studied Civil Engineering in Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur (present day Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur), Kolkata, India, and then received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from Ahsanullah Engineering College (now Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology).

He received a Fulbright Scholarship and a government scholarship, which enabled him to travel to the United States in 1952.

There he studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

In three years Khan earned two master's degrees – one in structural engineering and one in theoretical and applied mechanics – and a PhD in structural engineering with thesis titled Analytical Study of Relations Among Various Design Criteria for Rectangular Prestressed Concrete Beams.

His hometown in Dhaka did not have any buildings taller than three stories.

He did not view his first skyscraper in person until the age of 21 years old, and he had not stepped inside a mid-rise building until he moved to the United States for graduate school.

Despite this, the environment of his hometown in Dhaka later influenced his tube building concept, which was inspired by the bamboo that sprouted around Dhaka.

He found that a hollow tube, like the bamboo in Dhaka, lent a high-rise vertical durability.

In 1955, employed by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), he began working in Chicago.

During the 1960s and 1970s, he became noted for his designs for Chicago's 100-story John Hancock Center and 110-story Sears Tower, since renamed Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998.

He believed that engineers needed a broader perspective on life, saying, "The technical man must not be lost in his own technology; he must be able to appreciate life, and life is art, drama, music, and most importantly, people."

Khan's personal papers, most of which were in his office at the time of his death, are held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Fazlur Khan Collection includes manuscripts, sketches, audio cassette tapes, slides and other materials regarding his work.

For enjoyment, Khan loved singing Rabindranath Tagore's poetic songs in Bengali.

He and his wife, Liselotte, who immigrated from Austria, had one daughter who was born in 1960.

Most buildings over 40 stories constructed since the 1960s now use a tube design derived from Khan's structural engineering principles.

Lateral loads (horizontal forces) such as wind forces, seismic forces, etc., begin to dominate the structural system and take on increasing importance in the overall building system as the building height increases.

Wind forces become very substantial, and forces caused by earthquakes, etc. are important as well.

He was made a partner in 1966.

He worked the rest of his life side by side with fellow architect Bruce Graham.

Khan introduced design methods and concepts for efficient use of material in building architecture.

His first building to employ the tube structure was the Chestnut De-Witt apartment building.

In 1967, he elected to become a United States citizen.

Khan was a Muslim at the time when he passed away.

Khan discovered that the rigid steel frame structure that had long dominated tall building design was not the only system fitting for tall buildings, marking the start of a new era of skyscraper construction.

Khan's central innovation in skyscraper design and construction was the idea of the "tube" structural system for tall buildings, including the framed tube, trussed tube, and bundled tube variants.

His "tube concept", using all the exterior wall perimeter structure of a building to simulate a thin-walled tube, revolutionized tall building design.

He was the designer of the Sears Tower, since renamed Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998, and the 100-story John Hancock Center.

A partner in the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, Khan, more than any other individual, ushered in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the 20th century.

He has been called the "Einstein of structural engineering" and the "Greatest Structural Engineer of the 20th Century" for his innovative use of structural systems that remain fundamental to modern skyscraper design and construction.

In his honor, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat established the Fazlur Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal, as one of their CTBUH Skyscraper Awards.

Although best known for skyscrapers, Khan was also an active designer of other kinds of structures, including the Hajj airport terminal, the McMath–Pierce solar telescope and several stadium structures.