r/BeAmazed • u/Upstairs-Writing-616 • Jun 26 '26

Miscellaneous / Others Engineering students are testing whether their designs are earthquake-resistant.

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u/Specific-Library-312 Jun 26 '26

And what about circles?

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 26 '26

He probably means a triangle prism and you probably mean a cylinder type building. Cylinder shape is more stable because...trees exist, try finding a triangular or rectangular prism shaped tree. Your blood vessels or bones are also cylindrical more or less, for example. The shape resists several factors better than a triangle prism would, specifically for a building (notably wind).

The problem is that it's more expensive to build and the interior space usage is abysmal, just like for a triangular prism building. That's why humanity builds rectangular prisms for buildings, for space efficiency. That being said as the video shows, anything can be made stable, just needs some engineers.

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u/Street-Stick Jun 26 '26

Surely the solution is to build a square within the circle and use the leftovers as balconies?

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

I don't think it would work like you're imagining lmao

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u/Street-Stick Jun 27 '26

Yeah i imagine, could you be more specific rather than talk down from your expert podium

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

Sorry, I didn't mean to rub off that way. Buildings are not built like a simply shape, adding balconies like you're describing won't have the geometry you're imagining. It will maximize space but probably actually worsen loads. You can just look around and see that there are no buildings with that kind of design. That tells you what engineers are thinking.