Architect, Engineer. He was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who specialized in building skyscrapers. He was considered the "father of tubular designs" for high-rise buildings, which made the cost of building lower, yet the structure safer. This technology was inspired by the bamboo plant. He was an associate of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and designed the John Hancock Building in 1970 and the 110-story Sears Tower in 1973, which was the first skyscraper to have the tubular design. The Sears Tower, which was renamed the Willis Building was the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998. Born into a Muslim family, his father was a mathematic school teacher. After high school, he studied civil engineering at Bengal Engineering College, and graduated in 1950 from Ahsanullah Engineering College of Dacca, now renamed Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship in 1952, he enrolled at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he received master's degrees in both applied mechanics and structural engineering and a Ph.D. in structural engineering. He saw his first skyscraper when he was 21 years old. Upon received an important position as executive engineer of the Karachi Development Authority, he went to Pakistan for a short time before returning to the United States. In 1955 he joined the prestigious architect firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and made partner in 1966. He became a United States citizen in 1967. Credited with 14 buildings, he was part of the construction of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado and McMath–Pierce solar telescope in Arizona. Besides buildings in the United States, his later projects included the Haj Terminal of the King Abdul Aziz International Airport, which was finished in 1981 and the King Abdul Aziz University, which was finished in 1978, both located in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. While in Saudi Arabia, he died from a sudden heart attack at age 52 and his remains were repatriated to the United States for burial. He was married and had a daughter.