Fazlur Rahman Khan the Einstein of Structural Engineering by Richard G

Great Achievements notable structural engineers Fazlur Rahman Khan The Einstein of Structural Engineering By Richard G. Weingardt, P.E.

ost visible among America’s visual mass.” In his many notable skyscrapers, impressive list of elite Kahn clearly mastered those objectives, often engineering giants are its influencing the final architectural appearance leading-edge structural engi- of signature buildings in a major way. Mneers, the designers of spectacular bridges, Considered the father of tubular design skyscrapers, sports facilities, space-age-looking in high-rises, Khan was a firm believer that ® buildings and national monuments – record- meshing the talents of structural engineers setting complex structures that are often the and architects always resulted in the best solu- biggest, tallest, longest and/or first. Foremost tions. According to John Zils, senior engineer on that list is Pakistan native Fazlur R. “Faz” and associate partner with Skidmore, Owings Khan, a structural trailblazer whose break- & Merrill (SOM), “It was his unique abil- throughs in structural engineering for tall and ity to bridge the gap between architectural long-span buildings exerted an unprecedented design and structuralCopyright engineering that truly and lasting influence on the profession, both set Faz apart from other structural engineers.” nationally and internationally. Because of that, Khan became an icon in both Mir M. Ali, University of Illinois professor architecture and structural engineering. and author of Art of the Skyscraper: The Genius Born on April 3, 1929, in Dhaka, Bengal Fazlur R. Khan. Courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & of Fazlur Khan, said that in addition to being (then in British India), Fazlur was the son of Merrill LLP (SOM) and Stuart-Rogers. labeled as one of the greatest engineers of our Abdur Rahman and Khadija (Khatun) Khan. time, Khan was many times referred to as the His father Abdur was a well-respected high Chicago, he developed methods for using “Einstein of Structural Engineering.” school mathematics teacher and the author shear wall and frame interaction to resist lat- According to David Billington, coiner of the of several seminal textbooks on the subject. eral forces. Later, he refined this system to phrase “structural art,” Khan’s work exempli- He eventually became the Director of Public come up with the “tube-in-tube concept,” fied that concept. Said Billington, “The first Instructionmagazine in the region of Bengal. In addi- initially used for the 52-story One Shell Plaza fundamental of structuralS art is the disciplineT Rtion to hisU father, Fazlur’sC early T decision Uto Building R in Houston. E of efficiency; a desire for minimum materi- become an engineer was influenced by an Khan’s diagonal-framed tube system, first als, resulting in less weight, less cost and less older cousin who preceded him into college used for the John Hancock Center in Chicago, to study engineering. connected widely spaced exterior columns After completing undergraduate coursework with diagonals on all four sides of the build- at the Bengal Engineering College, University ing. The concept allowed the 1965 Hancock of Calcutta, Fazlur proceeded to the University building to reach 100 stories, making it the of Dhaka, where he received his bachelor’s in tallest building in the world. The Hancock engineering degree in 1950, finishing first in Center and Khan’s other masterpiece – the his class. A Fulbright Scholarship, combined 110-story, 1974 Sears Tower with its unique with a Pakistani government scholarship, “bundled tube” structural system – drew brought him to the U.S. and the University worldwide attention to the advancements that of Illinois at Urbana. There, he earned two American structural engineers were making in master’s degrees – one in structural engineer- skyscraper design. At 1,468 feet, Sears Tower ing, and the other in theoretical and applied remained the world’s tallest building for more mechanics – followed by a PhD in structural than 20 years. Clad in a black aluminum skin engineering in 1955. with bronze-tinted, glare-reducing glass and Khan immediately joined the internationally with a gross area of 4.4 million square feet, known architectural and engineering firm the structure was impressive and massive by of SOM in Chicago. By 1960, he was fast any standards. Only the Pentagon had more establishing his trademark of pioneering cre- space at the time. ative concepts for tall buildings framed with Khan’s portfolio of notable international structural steel, concrete and/or composite structures includes the Haj Terminal Building systems. His “tube system,” using all the exte- at the Jeddah International Airport in Saudi rior wall perimeter structure of a building to Arabia, an enormous tent-like structure cover- simulate a thin-walled tube, revolutionized ing nearly one square kilometer (105 acres) tall building design. of area, more space than any other roof in Sears Tower, now known as the Willis Tower. In 1962, while designing the 38-story, the world when built. Kahn allowed that the Courtesy of SOM and Hedrick Blessing. reinforced concrete Brunswick Building in pioneering design of the terminal, with its

STRUCTURE magazine44 February 2011 STRUCTURE magazine intricate fabric tension roof, was based on highly creative and innovative designs in his the union of architecture and engineering, relatively short career. form and function. Active in several engineering groups, Khan Zils said, “In addition to Faz being an inno- was a leader in many of them. He was, for vator of the highest order as evidenced by instance, chairman of the Council on Tall his introduction to the profession of numer- Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1979 until ous innovative structural systems (tubular his death. He was also an adjunct professor at structural concept, tube-in-tube, braced tube, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), often bundled tube, etc), he was the consummate teaching and working there late at night. team leader. You never worked for Faz, you In addition to his participation in profes- always worked with him as an equal. Plus, his sional societies, and providing leadership and enthusiasm for whatever the task at hand or mentoring to young and up-and-coming engi- the project was contagious. His philosophy neers, Khan was active beyond engineering in was that there was always something new and his community. For many years, he served on interesting about any task or project, and that the board of trustees for the condominium ® it was up to us to find and pursue the issue.” development in Chicago where he lived. And John Hancock Center. Courtesy of SOM and Many times, Zils observed Faz getting he never forgot his roots. Timothy Hursley. involved in something that appeared on the Khan’s homeland came to be called Pakistan surface to be quite mundane, only to find in 1947. During 1971, the country was Khan and his wife, Liselotte, who emigrated that in the end he had discovered something divided into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from Austria, had one daughter, born in unique or interesting about it. and West Pakistan,Copyright with its government 1960. A structural engineer like her father, Said Zils, “I believe his ability to see the and military centralized in West Pakistan. Yasmin Sabina Khan said of her father, “He opportunities that each situation presents Because of this, the economic conditions was concerned, foremost, with people and was a major factor in Faz’s ability to think in East Pakistan (Khan’s homeland) dete- how engineering affected them. He wanted beyond the norm, and create and innovate riorated so much that its people protested his structures to be part of a culture and as he did. Working on projects with Faz was the unequal distribution of the country’s society that strove to benefit its people.” In always a joy because he was always probing income and wealth. To discourage unrest, celebration of his life, she wrote an in-depth and challenging the norm. He always did the Pakistani government sent its military book about him and the impact of his work, this in a collaborative way, incorporating the into East Pakistan to terrorize the people. Engineering Architecture: The Vision of Fazlur entire team in the process. As a result, you Ten million Bangladeshi refugees eventually R. Khan, published in 2004. always felt a part of the process, and when made their way to India. Khan died of a heart attack while on a busi- the task or project was complete, all who As a result, Khan founded a Chicago-based ness trip in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March participated felt some sense of ownership in organization,magazine the Bangladesh Emergency 27, 1982. Only 53, he was a general partner the result.” This collaboration,S believedT Zils, RWelfare UAppeal, to helpC the peopleT in hisU in SOM, R the only Eengineer holding that high is why Khan was able to produce so many homeland. The group, which met at Khan’s position at the time. His body was returned home, raised money for aid and for lobbying government officials. Many of the Bengalis involved (including Khan) had family and friends in Bangladesh who were in obvious danger; Khan’s group did everything it could to make it safer for them. India’s aggressive intervention finally put an end to the killing. Fazlur’s younger brother Zillur Khan said, “My brother was not only a creative struc- tural engineer, he was also a philosopher, visionary, educator and humanist. As my guide, he always told me, ‘Think logically and find the relationships which exist in every system, because it will help you understand nature itself, making living more meaningful and exciting.’” Khan 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, himself, was an aficionado of classical music, especially Bach Onterie Center. The strength of the building’s and Brahms. For enjoyment, he loved singing structural system is expressed in its facade. Courtesy Tagore’s poetic songs in Bengali with family Brunswick Building. Courtesy of SOM and Hube of SOM. and friends. Henry-Hedrick Blessing

February 2011 STRUCTURE magazine45 February 2011 ®

Khan (left) with SOM architect Bruce Graham and the John Hancock Center model. Courtesy Copyright of SOM and K&S PhotoGraphics. to the U.S. and is buried in his adopted home Thomas Middlebrooks Award (1972) and from Northwestern University in 1973 and of Chicago. Ernest Howard Award (1977) from ASCE, Lehigh University in 1980. In 2006, he Posthumously, the city of Chicago named the Alumni Honor Award (1972) from the was inducted into the Illinois Engineering intersection of Franklin and Jackson Streets, University of Illinois, Kimbrough Medal Hall of Fame (sponsored by the Illinois located at the foot of the Sears Tower, “Fazlur (1973) from the American Institute of Steel Engineering Council). R. Khan Way” in his honor. One year later, in Construction, Oscar Faber Medal (1973) His works and his citations are reflective of 1999, Engineering News-Record listed him as from the Institution of Structural Engineers Khan’s main legacy – more than any other one of the world’s top 20 structural engineers (UK), AIA Gold Medal for Distinguished individual, he helped usher in a renaissance in of the last 125 years. Three decades earlier, Achievement (1983) and Aga Khan Award skyscraper construction in the U.S. during the when Khan was 41 years old, the Chicago for Architecture (1983) from the American second half of the 20th century. He epitomized Junior Chamber of Commerce had named Institutemagazine of Architects, and John Parmer both structural engineering achievement and him Chicagoan of the YearS in ArchitectureT RAward (1987)U from theC Structural T Engineers U the needR for creative E collaborative between and Engineering. Association of Illinois. architect and engineer. To him and his col- Among Khan’s other honors were the Wason Khan was elected into the National laborators, for architectural design to reach its Medal (1971) and Alfred Lindau Award Academy of Engineering in 1973, and highest levels, it had to be solidly grounded (1973) from the American Concrete Institute, received Honorary Doctorate Degrees in structural realities.▪

Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., is Chairman of the Board for Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc. in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Weingardt is the author of nine books. His latest, Circles in the Sky: The Life and Times of George Ferris, is the one-and-only biography of Ferris and how he built his 1893 Ferris Wheel. Mr.Weingardt can be reached at [email protected].

Hajj Terminal. Courtesy of SOM and Jay Langlois of Owens-Corning Fiberglas.

STRUCTURE magazine46 February 2011