Beaumaris is presented as a near-perfect castle plan that was never completed. Its unfinished state makes it a useful engineering exercise: work out how the remaining structures could be built. Clarke uses that problem with his engineering students, asking them to turn the plan into a practical construction proposal.
Notable Point · 2:10:16-2:10:35
Beaumaris as an unfinished castle-design exercise
The unfinished plan of Beaumaris becomes an engineering exercise in deciding how to complete a castle.