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The Beauvais Problem: When Ambition Outpaces Your Foundation
Imagination and bleeding-edge ambition leading to catastrophic failure is more a feature than a bug in the realm of human endeavor. Built during the highly ambitious Gothic period, the Beauvais Cathedral has suffered multiple collapses throughout the centuries. The intent was to scale the height of the spires due to fierce competition with other cathedral builders of the era. These collapses are primarily due to pushing the known limits of design and less than ideal subsurfac

Sarah Edwards
Feb 133 min read
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