Fazlur Rahman Khan: Father of Modern-day Tall Building
Vognoduut224
Md. Safiuddin
Fazlur Rahman Khan is very prominent in the engineering world as the "father of
modern-day tall building" for his contributions to new structural systems
employed in tall buildings or skyscrapers of today. His contributions enabled
the modern cities to rise in a new vertical scale. Khan symbolized both
state-of-the-art structural engineering and creative architecture in his
skyscrapers. The skyscrapers such as the John Hancock Center and the Sears
Tower are glorifying the name of Fazlur Rahman Khan as a great genius from
Bangladesh.
Fazlur Rahman Khan was born in Dhaka in 1929. He obtained his Bachelor of
Engineering from the University of Dhaka in 1950 while placing first in his
class. Thereafter, he began his career in Dhaka as an Assistant Engineer. In
1951, he started teaching at the Ahsanullah Engineering College. In the
following year, he went to the United States of America to pursue advanced
studies at the University of Illinois with a Fulbright Scholarship. Khan
completed two Masters Degrees and a Doctorate Degree only in three years. He
achieved one Masters Degree in Structural Engineering and the other in
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy Degree
in Structural Engineering in 1955, and immediately started working at Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill in Chicago as a Structural Engineer.
Dr. Khan returned to Dhaka in 1957 and started private design work. Later, he
became an Executive Engineer for the Karachi Development Authority.
Unfortunately, he could not stay there for long time. He missed the advanced
technology of North America and therefore decided to return to Chicago in 1960.
He started working again at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In the following two
decades, he designed a number of tall buildings using his new and innovative
approach. Dr. Khan applied his excellence in technical expertise very
ingeniously for designing tall buildings. He believed that the social and
visual impact of a building is important to express its natural strength. He
was motivated with this belief to create new structural systems and designed
many structurally sound tall buildings for charming skylines.
Dr. Khan was a mastermind in structural engineering. He invented various
structural forms. He comprehended that the design of tall buildings is
dominated by the resistance to lateral loads such as from winds and
earthquakes. Considering the impact of lateral loads, Khan implied different
structural forms economically and effectively. His novel concepts were used
successfully in many buildings which are still the marvels of the world.
The 38-storey Brunswick Building is the first reinforced concrete building
where Khan employed the shear wall frame interaction system. The framed tube
structural system was first used in the 43-storey DeWitt-Chestnut Apartments in
Chicago. He first applied his tube-in-tube concept in the 52-storey One Shell
Plaza. His concept of truss-tube has been used in the 100-storey John Hancock
Center. He introduced diagonal bracing to stiffen the exterior frames of this
building and thus improved the efficiency of the structure.
Khan used his groundbreaking structural concept of bundled tubes in One
Magnificent Mile and the Sears Tower. The 110-storey Sears Tower was the
tallest building in the world for over 20 years. He bundled the framed tubes
both in One Magnificent Mile and the Sears Tower to increase the lateral
stiffness and stability of the structures. Khan also developed the composite
tube and the fabric structural systems. He designed the immense "tent" roof for
the Haj Terminal of the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia. Furthermore, Khan introduced the concept of telescopic tubes and the
super frame during the last few years of his life. He designed an ultramodern
160-storey Mega-structure using the concept of super frame. However, this
Mega-structure has not been built yet.
Fazlur Rahman Khan became reputed during his lifetime. The Engineering News
Record cited him five times as one of the "Men Who Served the Best Interests of
the Construction Industry. The "Chicagoan of the Year" Award in Architecture
and Civil Engineering was conferred to Khan in 1970. He was selected
"Constructions' Man of the Year" in 1972. Khan won the Wason Medal for the most
meritorious paper from American Concrete Institute in 1971. He was presented an
Alumni Honor Award from the University of Illinois in 1972. He also received
Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award from American Society of Civil Engineers in 1972.
In the same year, he was honored as the "Chicago Civil Engineer of the Year" by
American Society of Civil Engineers.
He was rewarded the J. Lloyd Kimbrough Medal from American Institute of Steel
Construction and elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 1973. He
also received the Alfred E. Lindau Award from American Concrete Institute and
the Oscar Faber Medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers, London in
1973. In 1977, Khan received the Ernest E. Howard Award from American Society
of Civil Engineers. Several honorary Doctorate Degrees were also conferred to
Dr. Khan. He received first Honorary Doctor of Science from Northwestern
University in 1973. Later in 1980, Lehigh University and Die Eidgenossische
Hochschule also respected his genius in structural engineering with Honorary
Doctorate degrees. Khan received the Distinguished Service Award from Chicago
Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1982. Besides, in 1983, the
American Institute of Architects paid tribute to Dr. Khan with an AIA Institute
Honor for Distinguished Achievement. He was also honored in 1983 with the Aga
Khan Award for Architecture for designing the marvelous Haj Terminal in Jeddah.
In 1987, Khan was honored by the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois
with the John F. Parmer Award. Besides, a Faculty Chair Position in Structural
Engineering and Architecture has been created at Lehigh University after the
name of Fazlur Rahman Khan in order to recognize his contributions. Also, a
Khan Prize has recently been initiated at Lehigh University as a tribute to
Fazlur Rahman Khan.
Fazlur Rahman Khan mostly worked in Chicago. Throughout his professional
career, he became famous for his merit, unique ability, wholeness, and keen
perception for architecture and engineering. Unfortunately, he could not
continue to work for long time. He died of a massive heart attack in 1982 only
at the age of 52. Dr. Khan is no more in flesh and blood; still his works are
motivating structural engineers to aim for more heights. Khan was not a
physically tall person, but his skyscrapers have crafted him as a great human
of the 20th Century. Dr. Khan departed but his structures are still standing
and will remain for years: he is not with us but his ideas are.
There is no doubt that Dr. Khan was an outstanding innovator. He will be
remembered for his novel engineering knowledge and creativity. The Chicago City
where he worked his entire career has esteemed the brilliance of Fazlur Rahman
Khan. The street leading to the Sears Towers has been named "Fazlur R. Khan
Way" in 1998. Also, a sculpture of Khan has been created by the Spanish artist
Carlos Marinas.
The sculpture is sitting at the entrance to the Sears Tower evoking his great
excellences. The Bangladesh Government also honored Dr. Khan by issuing a
postage stamp. His portrait appeared in a 4-taka postage stamp of Bangladesh.
Two Khan Scholarships in Engineering and Architecture were also started at the
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology for his commemoration. Yet,
this great genius of engineering and architecture deserves more honors from his
homeland.
Acknowledgement:
The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude to Yasmin Sabina Khan,
daughter of late Fazlur Rahman Khan, for her solemn cooperation in writing the
article.
Md. Safiuddin writes from ,University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada