March 24, 2016 Chicago By Feryall Rahman

"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." - Dr. Fazlur Rahman Khan

Dr. Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi American structural engineer and architect who lived and worked in Chicago. He is world renowned for his invention of tubular structural systems and other systems for building skyscrapers. His engineering inventions influenced the design and construction of tall buildings all over the world, including the previous World Trade Center in New York and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. His most famous buildings in Chicago are the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and the John Hancock Center.

There are several other buildings in Chicago which were also designed by him. In the U.S., he designed the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Internationally, he designed the award winning Hajj Terminal in King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia. In addition, he designed notable buildings in Bangladesh and Melbourne, Australia.

He pioneered the concept of a sky deck or lobby at the top of skyscrapers, and using computers in structural engineering architecture.

He was born on April 3, 1929 in Dhaka, but was brought up in Faridpur. He went to Armanitola Government High School in Dhaka. He did his undergraduate work at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Calcutta University (formerly Bengal Engineering College) in Shibpur, and received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET - formerly Ahsanullah Engineering College, Dhaka University). He received a Fulbright Scholarship and a Pakistan government scholarship, and came to the U.S. to study at University of Illinois at the Urbana Champaign campus (UIUC). He earned two master's degrees in only three years, one in structural engineering and one in theoretical and applied mechanics. He was employed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, one of the largest architectural firms in the world, right after and was made partner eleven years later and then general partner. He also went on to receive his PhD in structural engineering. In addition, he received Honorary Doctorates from Northwestern University, Lehigh University and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.

During his career, he received numerous awards and honors for his seminal work in structural engineering. He passed away from a heart attack on March 27, 1982, in Jeddah, and was brought to Chicago for burial. Dr. Khan's personal papers, are held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Fazlur Khan Collection includes manuscripts, sketches, audiocassette tapes, slides and other materials regarding his work.