Lev Zetlin

Lev Zetlin
Born(1918-07-14)July 14, 1918
Namangan, Russia
DiedDecember 4, 1992(1992-12-04) (aged 74)
Education
Occupations
  • Structural engineer
  • civil engineer
  • forensic structural investigator
  • professor
Notable work
British military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
BranchBritish Army
Service years1941–1943
ConflictWorld War II
Israeli military service
Allegiance Israel
BranchIsraeli Air Force, Haganah
Service years1948–1950
RankCaptain
Conflict1948 Arab–Israeli War

Lev Zetlin (July 14, 1918 – December 4, 1992) was an Israeli-American civil and structural engineer. Founder of the engineering consulting firm Lev Zetlin & Associates, he developed several innovations in structural engineering including the double layer bicycle wheel roof system which he first employed at the Utica Memorial Auditorium and later patented. Zetlin was the structural engineer on 14 pavilions at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair including the New York State Pavilion which utilized his double layer cable suspended roof design.

Born in Russia, Zetlin began his career in Israel and moved in 1950 to New York to earn his master's and doctorate from Cornell University. After starting Lev Zetlin & Associates in 1956, he designed a number of structures that attracted the attention of architects such as Philip Johnson with whom he had a collaborative career. At various times during his career, Zetlin was a professor at Manhattan College, Pratt Institute, and the University of Virginia. Later in his career, he founded Zetlin-Argo Structural Investigations and consulted on several notable structural failure investigations.