Povl Ahm

Povl Ahm CBE FICE FREng (26 September 1926 – 15 May 2005) was a structural engineer and former chairman of Ove Arup & Partners.

Life

Born in Aarhus, Denmark, Ahm attended the Polyteknisk Læreanstalt in Copenhagen, from where he graduated in 1949.

Ahm married Birgit Moller in 1953, with whom he had two sons, Carsten Ahm and Peter Ahm.

He was a keen sportsman, and a good footballer. He played for the London amateur team Corinthian-Casuals and played in the 1956 Amateur Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

He died of cancer on 15 May 2005.

Career

He joined the firm Ove Arup and Partners in London in 1952, where he worked on Coventry Cathedral with Basil Spence. In his own words:

Ahm was given great responsibility on this project, working directly with Ove Arup.

He also worked on early conceptual design schemes for the Sydney Opera House, and worked on other projects, including Smithfield Market, London and Centre Pompidou, Paris – some of Ove Arup & Partners' most prestigious projects.

The architect of Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon, later went on to design a house for Ahm in Hertfordshire - a project which avoided the many problems of Sydney Opera House.