Skyscrapers were simply too costly by modern development standards. His characteristic statement to an editor in 1971, having just been selected Construction's Man of the Year by Engineering News-Record, is commemorated in a plaque in Ontario Centre (446 E Ontario, Chicago): 'Innovation Follows Program'.ĭespite apparent advantages, super-tall building construction faced a critical deterrent: expense. FR Khan was always clear about the purpose of architecture. Hancock Centre residents thrive on the wide expanse of sky and lake before them, the stunning quiet in the heart of the city, and the intimacy with nature at such heights: the rising sun, the moon and stars, the migrating flocks of birds. His ideas for sky-scraping towers offered more than economic construction and iconic architectural images they gave people the opportunity to work and live 'in the sky'. FR Khan epitomised both structural engineering achievement and creative collaborative effort between architect and engineer. The series of progressive ideas that he brought forth for efficient high-rise construction in the 1960s and ‘70s were validated in his own work, notably his efficient designs for Chicago’s 100-storey John Hancock Centre and 110-storey Sears Tower (the tallest building in the world for over 20 years). He started his career in the US by joining the famed architectural organisation Skid Moore in 1955.įazlur Rahman Khan was a pragmatic visionary. ![]() He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Scholarship in 1952 to pursue higher studies in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US. He started his career as a teacher in Ahsanullah Engineering College, Dhaka. He obtained the Engineering Degree securing first position in the First Class from Shibpur Engineering College of Calcutta in 1950. FR Khan passed the Matriculation Examination from Calcutta Bulleyganj Government High School in 1944 and was admitted to the Presidency College. ![]() His father, Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, was a renowned educationist and high government official in the education department. Hailed from the village of Bhandarikandi in Shibchar upazila of Madaripur district.įR Khan was born on 3 April 1929, in Dhaka. Fazlur Rahman Khan ushered in a revolution during the second half of the twentieth century in the construction method of skyscrapers. The principle was put on full display in the 100-story John Hancock Center, completed in 1965, and then the 108-floor Willis Tower (née Sears Tower), which demonstrated the concept of “bundled tubes” and held the title of “World’s tallest building” between 19.Khan, Fazlur Rahman1 (1929-1982) a visionary and one of the foremost structural engineers of the 20th century. In that time, he introduced the game-changing “tubular” way of building tall, in which a tower could be supported by its envelope-the “tube”-reinforced with a ton of trussing, framing, and bracing. Khan, who passed away from an heart attack in 1982, was best known for devising the structural systems behind Chicago’s tallest buildings completed in the late 20th-century, and subsequently influencing the design of many a modern skyscraper to come.Īfter completing his graduate studies, earning two master’s and a PhD in structural engineering, the Bangladeshi-American engineer joined renowned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago in 1955 and would spend the rest of his career there, eventually making partner in 1966. Who is it? The magician in this scene is none other than pioneering structural engineer, Fazlur Rahman Khan, who would have turned 88 today. When you pull up Google today, you’ll see a man going “Ta-da!” next to a dark, tapered tower forming the second “o” of the company’s logo.
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