Dougong: These Ancient Chinese Brackets Make Buildings Earthquake-Proof
Developing earthquake proof building technology occupies a lot of time for architects and engineers. But one country already solved the puzzle of how to get buildings to survive the devastating natural disaster. In fact, they did 2,500 years ago. Ancient Chinese timber building systems have a bracket system called dougong that survives modern day shake tests.
[Image Source: Li Jie/Wikimedia Commons]
Timber framing design science developed in both Europe and China over the last few centuries. One marked difference between the two schools of thought is the need for the Chinese design to be able to withstand extreme seismic activity.