Felix Samuely
Austrian-born British structural engineer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Felix James Samuely (3 February 1902 – 22 January 1959) was an Austrian-British structural engineer.
Biography
Samuely was born into a Jewish family in Vienna on 3 February 1902. His father was a medical practitioner, and he had a younger sister. In 1919, he matriculated in science at the Kaiserin-Friedrich-Gymnasium in Berlin. He graduated with a Diplom-Ingenieur degree from the Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1923, having written his thesis on the design of a reinforced concrete bridge.[1]
Career
Samuely immigrated to Britain in 1933.[2] He worked as a consultant engineer and collaborated with Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff on the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea (1935).[2] This project was notable for its use of welded steel construction.[2]
He played a significant role in the Festival of Britain in 1951, where he was responsible for the structural design of the Skylon and the Transport Pavilion.[2] He also designed the structure for the British Pavilion at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.[2]
In 1942, Samuely published the MARS plan for London in collaboration with Arthur Korn.[2] He also worked with George Grenfell Baines on several projects that employed the mullion wall concept.[2] He established his own practice, Felix J. Samuely and Partners.[2]
Death
Samuely died on 22 January 1959 in the London Clinic, 20 Devonshire Place, London, following a heart attack.[2] He was survived by his wife and his mother.[3]