Maurice Koechlin | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1856-03-08)8 March 1856 |
| Died | 14 January 1946(1946-01-14) (aged 89) |
| Relatives | SeeKoechlin family |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects | Garabit Viaduct Eiffel Tower |
| Awards | Officer of the Legion d'Honneur |
Maurice Koechlin (3 June 1856 – 14 January 1946) was aFranco-Swissstructural engineer from theKoechlin family.
A member of the renowned AlsatianKoechlin family, he was born inBuhl, Haut-Rhin, the son of Jean Koechlin and his wife Anne Marie (Anaïs), née Beuck. He was the first cousin once removed ofAndré Koechlin, and the great-grandfather of actressKalki Koechlin.
When France lost theFranco-Prussian war to Prussia in 1871 the entire Koechlin family decided to become citizens of Switzerland and thus dropped French citizenship. After the defeat of theGerman Empire in 1918, however, the Koechlin family again applied for French citizenship.[1]
Maurice attended the lycée inMulhouse, then between 1873 and 1877 studiedcivil engineering at thePolytechnikum Zürich underCarl Culmann. In 1876 he became a citizen of Zurich ("Zürcher Bürger")[2] Between 1877 and 1879 he worked for the French railway company "Chemin de Fer de l'Est".
Much of his work was done forGustave Eiffel's "Compagnie des établissements Eiffel", which Koechlin joined in 1879. In 1886 Maurice married Emma Rossier (1867-1965). They had six children: three sons and three daughters. Maurice and Emma were lifelong members of thePlymouth Brethren.
In 1887 he started work on his plans for the"Tour de 300 mètres" in Paris, along with his younger brother Henri Koechlin andcivil engineerÉmile Nouguier. Maurice Koechlin became the Managing Director of Eiffel's company when Eiffel retired from the engineering profession in 1893. The company was renamedSociété de construction de Levallois-Perret.[3]
Maurice Koechlin died in 1946 inVeytaux,Switzerland in a house built by himself in 1900.[4]
Major structural designs include:
Though named after a project of Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower – symbol of Paris – has its structural concept and form from the responsible chief engineer Maurice Koechlin.Koechlin was an engineer of outstanding ingenuity and well versed in the structural techniques of his time. He possessed therefore the best qualifications for evolving such technically innovative conceptions for which Eiffel and his firm were renowned.
— Trautz (2002)
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