Originalsly:


If I understand you correctly ... you're saying the one column we are seeing is really two separate columns .... each supporting a separate beam in a different section of the lot .... double column... double beam. The split on the second column and the beam to support your point. Point taken. ( If that's really the case ... then I have safety issues with the design in the column is barely half the width of the beam and made worse by being half cylindrical.)

I hear you... but still can't believe such a skinny cylindrical column can actually be two. And we wonder why buildings keep collapsing.
I've seen sooo many columns being made..... various sizes... the amount of steel work that goes into a column amazed me ... concrete just being the icing on the cake... but this one is really beyond me. On columns and expansion joints .... I believe expansion joints are somehow on the top of the columns. I've noticed there's always a lot of "caterings" at the top of the columns ... I guess for attaching to the beams ... flexibility in terms of when the building sways due to wind impact or in cases of earthquakes and I guess for expansion and contraction.

These columns have been designed to fit. The strength of a column is not solely dependent on its shape nor size or material composition only but all three and more depending on the structural analysis of the structural engineers. So yeah semi-circle, rectangular, oblong, cylindrical does not matter. Also, expansion joints in most cases run all through the building at whatever point they are located all the way to the foundation.

Also, the width of the column, in this case, may not matter and only serve the purpose of ensuring the gaps are not so obvious as the previous column might just be enough to support a cantilevered (Suspended) beam all the way to the joint with these 2 semi-circular ones only for visual appeal and safety factor.