Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The writing is clicking away in my head and piling up, and unless I get it on paper somehow it's going to create uncomfortable pressure in my skull."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| House-of-Cards Construction | ||
| Architectural technique that uses computers to help buildings maintain their balance during earthquakes. |
Vinge tantalizes us with a glimpse at a future construction technique.
| Juan liked to sit by the outer wall, especially when the classroom was on the third floor. You could feel the wall sway gently back and forth as the building kept its balance. That sort of thing made his ma real nervous. "One second of system failure and everything will fall apart!" she had complained at a PTA meeting. On the other hand, house-of-cards construction was cheap - and it could handle a big earthquake almost as easily as it did the morning breeze. |
| From Rainbows End,
by Vernor Vinge. Published by Tor in 2006 Additional resources -
|
The implication is that a building of this kind is really like a self-balancing robot. Although most tall buildings today are built to flex with stresses like wind and mild earth tremors, as far as I know this is just an idea.
One technique that appears to be in current use is called the "isolated base" technology. This uses a flexible support placed between the foundation and the structure itself; it counteracts the motion of seismic waves. As the earthquake moves the foundation one way, the support moves the other way, and the building stays almost stationary.
I can't find anything on this kind of technique in actual use, but maybe a student of architecture or engineering could chime in.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Rainbows End
More Ideas
and Technology by Vernor Vinge
Tech news articles related to Rainbows End
Tech news articles related to works by Vernor Vinge
House-of-Cards Construction-related
news articles:
- Building Shaker Quake Machine
- Flexible Building Survives Test Quakes
| Blaux Your Personal Commuter Cooling Unit |
| SunnyFive 'Window' Has Full Spectrum Angled Natural Light |
| Liftware Level, Google's Smart Spoon |
| Prufrock The Newest Boring Machine |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'Toran resigned himself to days of careful plotting between Jumps.'
'Most of the stuff written about Bats' Cave gives a wrong impression.'
'The tiger stripes on Jim's mask... made the young people easy to identify.'
I have no mouth and I must scream.
'If he sent out two or three of the small tele-operated devices... [he] could see machinery and construction details in real time from both above and below.'
'THEY sent A SLAMHOUND on Turner's trail in New Delhi...'
'...the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of glass.'
'A man could carry AIs or complete planetary dataspheres in a Schrön loop.'
