15 May Separated at conception?

Anyone who saw Cirque du Soleil’s recent shows in Halifax will have noticed the circular structure used to convey people and props between the stage and the upper reaches of the MetroCentre’s girders.

The shape of this trussed torus, and the way it hung in the air, reminded me of something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Then it hit me:

Alexander Graham Bell’s circular kite, two fabric-covered disks, conjoined by tetrahedral trusses, flying over Beinn Bhreagh. No larger point here — the structures aren’t even all that similar in detail — just a striking confluence of shape, style, and scale across the span of a century.