Do buildings in Star Trek utilize structural integrity fields/shields?

[Brent]

I was thinking about something, internally, we've seen that Starfleet buildings in San Francisco look similar to their starships. So that made me think, do those buildings also use structural integrity fields and have shields?

I could see many advantages to buildings on Earth (Starfleet or other) using these technologies. They could build extremely tall buildings using structural integrity fields. If the buildings also had shields that would be a good defense for any attack on Earth by an alien civilization. At the very least, equip their most valuable buildings, like the Presidents office, with shields.

I just thought, if their starships have these technologies, why not their buildings too?

 

[USS KG5]

Re: Do buildings in Star Trek utilize structural integrity fields/shie

Judging by the minimal damage the Breen fleet did to Earth before Starfleet destroyed it, I'd say its fair to assume Earth's defenses include shields of some kind.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Re: Do buildings in Star Trek utilize structural integrity fields/shie

I'm guessing that at some point buildings in San Franciso, Tokyo and the like were reinforced with SIF barriers, since you never know if earthquakes are still a problem. They wouldn't be permanently "on", but available in the event of a disaster to activate independently and keep everything standing.

Mark

 

[Whorfin]

Re: Do buildings in Star Trek utilize structural integrity fields/shie

One point is to distinguish between civilian buildings, "infrastructure", and military establishments.

The latter are likely to get almost everything available to defend them, depending upon their importance. SIF, armor, shields, forcefields.

Critical civilian construction is likely to be fortified but only the most important would get similar treatment to military buildings, if then. The U.S. Whitehouse has been, to some extent, fortified -- but it is not a buried concrete bunker (though there presumably is one below it).

Normal buildings probably would not be fortified. The exception being if they are built to exceed ordinary construction materials (which in the 23/24 Century would be quite a feat) or (as mentioned) because of a particular environment that requires it (earthquakes, underwater?, etc.). In other words, if a building is built so tall that it literally can't hold itself up, then it would need integrity reinforcement. This is essentially the same role that the field is supposed to carry out for a starship, keeping it together despite enormous loads due to mass and acceleration (i.e., tearing itself apart). Instead it sometimes was treated as if it were an internal shield, which it really shouldn't be.