"Fazlur Rahman Khan was, arguably, the greatest architectural engineer of the second half of the twentieth century. Most widely known for revolutionary innovation in the design and construction of tall buildings, he was responsible for structural systems that made possible the 100-story Sears Tower - a building so high it needed Federal Aviation Administration approval before construction could commence. Structural systems he invented - including the "braced tube" and "bundled tube" systems - remain, to this day, fundamental to high-rise construction. Khan's efforts were not limited to structural engineering but played an important role in the form and architecture of the buildings he worked on.". "In Art of the Skyscraper: The Genius of Fazlur Khan, author Mir M. Ali offers a vivid portrait of this seminal figure. Considering in depth Khan's life and work, Ali focuses on a period from the 1950s to the early 1980s when Khan worked mostly at the Chicago offices of Skidmore, Owens & Merrill, then one of the largest architectural firms in the world. As a result of his presence, SOM became the undisputed leader in the development of very tall buildings.". "This, the first published book on the life and work of Fazlur Khan, stands as a powerful testament to this revolutionary mind - and to the technological advances it engendered. More than a source book for research in tall buildings or a biography, though it is both of these, Art of the Skyscraper gives us a tangible link, through photographs and architectural renderings, to the extraordinary sensitivity - to aesthetics, to engineering - that marked everything to which Khan lent his mind and hand."--BOOK JACKET.