October 6, 2011 Stacked Rocks Monastery

[CaliforniaMama]

So, I am curious . . .

Why all those spikes of rock sticking out all over the place? It seems like it would be hard to balance the other rocks on top. It seem like the sticky-outy rocks would want to tilt the rocks on top . . .

I wonder if that was part of the point?

Would there be a reason to have that upward pressure against the rocks being placed on top of the pointy-outy rocks?

I know nothing about engineering . . .

PS: What's up with the smilies in the right panel (when writing reply)? It seems like they were always in the same place and today they keep changing around on me.

I can't deal with the chaos!

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama

So, I am curious . . .

Why all those spikes of rock sticking out all over the place? It seems like it would be hard to balance the other rocks on top. It seem like the sticky-outy rocks would want to tilt the rocks on top . . .

I wonder if that was part of the point?

Would there be a reason to have that upward pressure against the rocks being placed on top of the pointy-outy rocks?

I know nothing about engineering . . .

I'm guessing they project into the dome and are some sort of rafter support or beam. They might be projecting out to balance the weight a bit more, like a cantilevered beam. ?