Sir Jack Zunz

Sir Jack Zunz

Engineering an opera house

BY GAIL GORDON

In recognition of his contribution to engineering and the built environment, as well as his contribution through the Ove Arup Foundation, Sir Jack Zunz received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Wits University at its Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment graduation ceremony on 9 December 2015.

Zunz, 92, who was unable to travel from England to attend, pre-recorded his address. A retired director of Arup, James Oppenheim accepted the scroll on Jack’s behalf.

Jack studied civil engineering at Wits, where he met zoology student, Babs Maisel. They married in 1946 and Jack graduated in 1948 – a class renowned for a significant cohort of world-renowned engineering alumni. Jack moved to London and in 1950 joined Ove Arup & Partners. In 1954, Jack returned to South Africa to establish Ove Arup here with Michael Lewis (BSc Eng Civil, 1949). The firm was awarded the design of Johannesburg’s Brixton Tower.

On 26 March 1960, Sharpeville happened. Jack was unable to reconcile himself with a society in which police opened fire on thousands of protestors opposing apartheid “pass” laws. Sixty-nine people died. Jack returned to the UK.

He began work on the Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. The design presented huge engineering challenges. Ultimately the solutions proposed were under Jack’s leadership in collaboration with Utzon.

The roof of fan-like precast concrete arches employed techniques that were used for the first time.

Jack became Chairman of Ove Arup in 1977 and global co-chairman in 1984. He was knighted in 1989 and received numerous prestigious awards recognising his contribution to the built environment.

In his acceptance speech for his honorary degree from Wits, he said, “Education has always been a passion in my life. Education really is key, and you can never spend enough – not just money, but time.”

The Jack Zunz Scholarship was created to provide advanced study opportunities for talented engineers within Arup. The University of Technology, Sydney set up The Zunz Lecture Series in his honour.

His legacy and Arup’s spirit of education endure in South Africa through the Arup Education Trust, established in 2010. The Trust sponsors undergraduate study in the built environment and runs a high school holiday programme.

Several Witsies were involved through Ove Arup in the Opera House:

Michael Lewis (1927–2011) and Jack met at Wits and Jack introduced Lewis to Sir Ove Arup. Lewis joined Arup in1950 and in 1954 co-established Arup South Africa. In 1962 Arup asked Lewis to lead Arup’s work on site in Sydney, while Jack led the engineering design team in London. Lewis went on to lead Arup’s Sydney office before moving to London where he headed up infrastructure work.

Cliff McMillan, Principal at Ove Arup New York and Jack’s friend since 1966, says, “Michael Lewis merits special credit. He was responsible for all the difficult action in Sydney.” McMillan (MSc Eng Civil 1966) himself celebrated 50 years at Arup in 2015. He has an enduring interest in the Opera House. “I arrived in the London office in early 1966, shortly after the architect, Utzon resigned – it had everyone talking. The roof structure construction was already well advanced.” That further kindled McMillan’s interest in computer-based analysis of complex structures. “For my Master’s I taught myself Fortran to analyse structures at Wits using the IBM 1620 – with all of 16k storage!” McMillan first visited the Opera House in 1975 and has returned frequently. “It never ceases to impress me,” he says. “I’ve given many presentations on it and now, with Jack, am one of few surviving ‘authorities’ in Arup.”

Alan Levy (BSc Eng Civil 1956) went to London after graduating. In 1961 Arup persuaded him to accept the position of resident engineer of the Opera House. Levy, then 28, spent a year in Sydney helping with the design and building.