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> Paul Christiano, Dario Amodei, and Geoffrey Irving write equations on a whiteboard at OpenAI, the artificial intelligence lab founded by Elon Musk, in San Francisco, July 10, 2017.

Can someone explain the architecture in that photo? It shows two pretty heavy wooden pillars each literally right next to another much larger steel I-beam pillar. I don't get it. It seems like the wooden pillars would be totally redundant, and it looks kinda dumb having them so close.




Perhaps as a potential mounting point? Much easier to hammer nails into wood than steel. Wouldn't really explain why they are so hefty though.

It could be that some rewelding was needed on the steel and they wanted additional support while that happened.

Feng shui?


The answer is hiding in the caption: the I-beam is earthquake retrofitting. The wooden beams are original. (Huge I-beams cross and/or frame many indoor spaces in SF at odd/surprising angles -- a consistent visual signature.)


That makes sense, thanks!

Though I'm surprised they kept the wood beams. They would look cool on their own, but they look stupid right next to the I-beams.




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