Tholobate

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a really tall building like a skyscraper? Well, the part of the building that holds up all the floors is called the "superstructure". But there's a part underneath that you can't see called the "substructure".

One important part of the substructure is called the "tholobate". It's kind of like a very strong and sturdy base that the superstructure sits on top of. Imagine if you were building a really tall tower out of blocks, you would need a very stable base to make sure the tower doesn't fall over. That's what the tholobate does for the building.

The tholobate is usually made out of concrete and sometimes has steel reinforcements inside to make it even stronger. It's usually buried underneath the ground so you can't see it from the outside, but it's definitely necessary to keep the building standing tall and strong.