Chapter 24: Analyze The Heavenly Pce From The Architectural Point Of View
What I was most interested in was how Wang Zanghai built this ice shell, because it was actually an architectural paradox. If the ice shell was built first, then this was equivalent to a castle in the sky. If there wasnt any support, then I really couldn''t think of a way toplete the arc of this ice dome without it copsing.
If the wooden piles were put in ce first, then that meant that the piles were only supported by ice at both ends. But it was impossible to support such huge wooden piles with ice alone.
After thinking long and hard about it, there was actually only one possibilityit was originally arge cier. Wang Zanghai first had craftsmen dig tunnels in the cier, insert piles into the tunnel, pour water into it, freeze it, and then cut the dome out bit by bit.
It seemed that this required not only precise calctions, but also very careful engineering nning. But when I thought about it, I found that this engineering technique was the most time andbor efficient method, and could even be said to not be very difficult. Compared to building the pce with ice bricks, this method ensured that the workers didnt need to have a lot of experience like craftsmen did.