Fazlur Rahman Khan
		You might be wondering why I dedicated a page to Fazlur Rahman Khan.  I very much respect and admire him for his innovations in structural engineering.  Let's look at it another way... Fazlur Rahman Khan is known as the "Einstein of Structural Engineering."  I hope now you understand where I am coming from =) My two interests are in structural design and geotechnical work.  Therefore, I can appreciate the work Dr. Khan has worked on in his lifetime.
		Fazlur Khan was a pragmatic visionary: his progressive ideas were brought forth in his efficient designs for Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center and 110-story Sears Tower (the tallest building in the world for over 20 years).  One of the foremost structural engineers of the 20th century, Dr. Khan epitomized both structural engineering achievement and creative collaborative effort between architect and engineer.  He believed, only when architectural design is grounded in structural realities can "the resulting aesthetics have a transcendental value and quality." Dr. Khan took on the challenge of advancing state-of-the-art structural engineering.  A decade of revolutionary advances had just begun.  Fazlur Khan's earliest contributions to the field — developing the shear wall frame interaction system, the framed-tube structure, and the tube-in-tube structure – led to significant improvement in structural efficiency. The framed-tube structure has its columns closely spaced around the perimeter of the building, rather than scattered throughout the footprint.  Stiff spandrel beams connect these columns at every floor level.  Because of its great relative strength and stiffness, the tubular form immediately became a standard in high-rise designs. Fazlur Khan introduced another groundbreaking structural system, called the "bundled tube." This design for Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower was structurally efficient and economic.  At 1,454-feet, it provided more space and rose higher than the Empire State Building, yet cost much less per unit area.  Equally important, the new structure type was innovative in its potential for versatile formulation of architectural space.  Efficient towers no longer had to be box-like; the tube-units could take on various shapes and could be bundled together in different sorts of groupings. For the immense roof of the Haj Terminal of the new airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — intended to shelter 80,000 pilgrims at a time, waiting for up to 36 hours — he searched for a coherent scheme that was both efficient and honored the spirit of the Hajj pilgrimage.  The fabric roof structure melds a traditional concept, of the Bedouin tent, with sophisticated technology.  Twenty years after the airport's opening, this fabric roof and the space that it creates continue to awe as well as comfort terminal users. This information above was compiled by perusing the site http://www.fazlurrkhan.com.  I hope you have found it to be as amazing as I have.  Not only did Dr. Khan excel beyond any expectations in the design of skyscrapers and structures here in the U.S., but he also responded to needs and situations back in the East with the design of the airport in Jeddah.  A truly spectacular human being!
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