Fazlur Rahman Khan's 88th Birthday commemorated by Google

[SajjLad]

Today we celebrate structural engineer Fazlur R. Khan's 88th birthday.

Below, get a glimpse of his life, accomplishments, and passions in the words of his daughter, Yasmin Sabina Khan:

As a youth my father never imagined that one day he would be building skyscrapers. He was born in East Bengal, British India, which became East Pakistan in 1947 and then Bangladesh in 1971. Graduate studies first brought him to the United States and the promise of challenging work drew him to a busy design office in Chicago – that of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – where he remained until his death in 1982. A surge in demand for residential and office space in the 1960s and early 1970s made tall buildings desirable, but traditional design and construction methods were uneconomical, having evolved for shorter structures. He recognized that a new approach to skyscraper design was needed and set his mind to the task.

In 1972, at 42 years old, he was named Construction’s Man of the Year by Engineering News-Record. His pioneering work in skyscraper design was rejuvenating the design profession as he developed new ways of framing tall buildings, dramatically improving structural efficiency and economy. In 1965 he had initiated the “trussed tube” structural system with his design for Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center. By 1971 he was designing the world’s tallest building, the Sears Tower, using his latest innovation, the “bundled tube” (the Sears Tower, now Willis Tower, remained the “world’s tallest” for the next 22 years). His innovations subsequently formed the basis of tall building design.

A humanitarian in his personal as well as professional life, he was inspired by the belief that his work had a positive impact and he encouraged other engineers not to lose track of the purpose of their profession. When he was named Construction’s Man of the Year, he reflected, “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.”

Doodle by Lydia Nichols


https://www.google.com/doodles/fazlur-rahman-khans-88th-birthday

 

[A.A. Khan]

One of the greatest engineers produced by South Asia, a structural engineer who invented the Tube Design went onto build skyscrapers across United States. Hancock, Sears [now Willis] Tower, Onterie Tower, Jeddah Hajj terminal etc.. But he is not a Bangladeshi or a Pakistani. He is an American. When he designed the 100-storey Hancock centre in 1960s. Shameless Press was denoting it as a 'Pakistani-made' marvel, Fu** them bloody jokers.
Pakistan Govt. at that time gave a scholarship to him for the studies and was able to bring him back in 1955, even though he was involved with the best architecture firm of US, SOM [Skidmore, Owen, Merrill].

Fazlur Khan was wasted in the Karachi Dev. Auth. for 3 years [1957-60]. He was given post as Executive Engineer with no focus or vision. He did his time and ran back to USA who utilized his talent to build the faces of their economic power, skyscrapers.

Fazlur Khan did'nt engineer or design a single building in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

There are jokers who make excuses that we lost millions of nation-builders in 1971 and there are those who complain Pakistan has lack of HR, and import skilled manpower from other countries. He is not only one, there was Abdus Sattar Khan who worked in NASA.

USA used the brain-drain of the Muslim world to their advantage, to today call the muslims as uncivilized and under-developed sub-humans.

Pakistan and Bangladesh's criminal negligence and local politics supplies & distribute their best to the rest of the world. Whether its manpower building skyscrapers in GCC or skilled manpower building products for US like countries creating jobs and technology there instead of here.

No R&D, no research firm no nothing by the bloody politicians to this day.


Look at the google and put a statement SHAME ON YOU to the Bangladesh and Pakistan Govt.. That he has nothing to do with either of the countries.

 

[karthikaqpt]

Fazlur Rahman Khan 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). He was the designer of the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), the tallest building in the world until 1998 and the 100-story John Hancock Center.

Khan 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 construction.

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

Khan Worked for the World-Famous Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architectural Firm

He Took a Major Role in Fundraising for the Bengali People During the Bangladesh Liberation War

He was married to Liselotte Khan until his death in 1982. They had a daughter, Yasmin. Khan died during a road trip on March 27, 1982 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, aged 52. His body is buried in Chicago, Illinois.

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

Khan's initial projects were the 43-story DeWitt-Chestnut (1964) and the 35-story Brunswick Building (1965). His most important projects were the John Hancock Center and the Willis Tower.

The Search Engine Google is showing this Doodle in few Countries for the Fazlur Rahman Khan’s Birthday. April 3, 2017 would be his 88th birthday. Khan is best known today for designing Chicago’s Sears Tower, known today as the Willis Tower.

 

[Bilal9]

Who was Fazlur Rahman Khan? The genius who made today's skyscrapers possible

Fazlur Rahman Khan celebrated in today's Google Doodle
CREDIT: GOOGLE

3 APRIL 2017 • 1:03PM

In 1931, New York's Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world and a symbol of America's place on the world stage after World War II.

Few expected, however, that at 381 metres (1,250 feet) high, it would remain the world's tallest for more than four decades. After it was completed, the Great Depression hit, followed by World War II and postwar austerity.

Skyscrapers, for all their bombast, were seen as massively inefficient, and anything bigger taller than the Empire State Building was inherently dangerous: the sheer amount of steel required to keep it upright was hardly worth the investment.

Fazlur Rahman Khan
That was before Fazlur Rahman Khan came along. A Bangladeshi-born engineer who moved to America, Khan's "tube" design opened the door for a new generation of skyscrapers that could be built safely and efficiently. His designs have been behind the world's tallest buildings since the World Trade Center in 1972.

On Monday April 3, Google has commemorated what would have been Khan's 88th birthday with a Doodle showing Chicago's famous John Hancock Center, one of his most famous designs.

Khan's life
Fazlur Rahman Khan was born in 1929 in what is now Dhaka in central Bangladesh, but was then British India. After studying Civil Engineering he won a scholarship to travel to the United States in 1952, where he studied at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

It would be a fortuitous destination, for Chicago is now known for two of Khan's famous buildings. While he was working at an architectural firm in the city, there was growing concern about where people would live amid urbanisation and a population explosion, but skyscraper designs like the Empire Trade Building, which required huge steel reinforcements to keep them stable, were seen as inefficient.


'Tube' design
Khan's breakthrough was a new design in which a building was not held up by central supports of steel, but by the exterior frame of the building. A series of vertical tubes make up the frame, which creates a suprising rigidity that protects against high wind speeds and earthquakes. It also allows more space inside the building.

The first of Khan's designs to use the idea was the DeWitt-Chestnut building in Chicago, then Chicago's famous John Hancock Center in 1968. At the time it was the world's second tallest building after the Empire State, and was much more efficient to build, using 145kg of steel per square metre compared to the Empire State Building's 206kg. The tube structure is neatly demonstrated by the John Hancock Center's visible exterior frame.

The John Hancock Building CREDIT: BOSC D'ANJOU/FLICKR
Although it wasn't Khan's design, the tube structure was used in the World Trade Center, which broke the Empire State Building's 41-year streak as the world's tallest building when it was completed in 1972.

Legendary buildings
The World Trade Center only stood as the world's tallest building for two years before Chicago's Sears Tower, one of Khan's designs, overtook it. At 442 metres (1,450 feet) tall, and 108 storeys, it was the world's tallest building for 24 years.

It remained the tallest structure in the United States until One World Trade Center in 2014, although it was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009.

Khan died in 1982 but his tube structure is still used when making skyscrapers, including those that replaced the Sears Tower as the world's biggest.

Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers, Taipei's Taipei 101 and Dubai's Burj Khalifa all use a version of the tube structure.

Legacy
That Khan's skyscraper designs are still used today make him one of the most influential architects and engineers in history. He was also a pioneer in using computer-aided design (CAD), as well as providing humanitarian aid during Bangladesh's war of independence.

When the Burj Khalifa was completed in 2010, The Telegraph called it "the ultimate expression of his audacious, lightweight design philosophy" and said he had "changed both the economics and the morphology of supertall buildings".

He was also mentioned by Barack Obama in 2009 as an example of Muslims' contributions to America.

According to his daughter Yasmin Sabina Khan:

He was inspired by the belief that his work had a positive impact and he encouraged other engineers not to lose track of the purpose of their profession. When he was named Construction’s Man of the Year, he reflected, '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.'