[potato3732842]

This is almost a "spherical cows" level gross over simplification. If you weren't defending it in other replies I'd think you were satirizing people who only have book learning and no real world experience.

At the limit the failure of your statement obvious. If instead of a thick walled wood tube hundreds of feet tall this structure were an orders of magnitude wider cylinder of thin plies the same height it wouldn't even be able to hold itself up, it would flop over, tear and all fall down under its own weight if not from manufacturing variances then from the wind and differential expansion/contraction from the sun and if by some miracle it survived that it would flop over

The material has to support itself and tolerate undefined small (relative to the main load) loads in other directions as well as point loads from fastening it to whatever you are using it to bear the loads of, going all in on "large and thin" fails to optimize for this for more or less the opposite reasons that going all in on "solid" does.

[pinkmuffinere]

The parent is explaining why it’s hollow instead of being a truss. They accurately explain that the hollow tube is optimal to counter the wind loads. Your criticism is that they didn’t discuss gravity loads, but that wasn’t “in the prompt” — the gravity load doesn’t explain why they’re a hollow cylinder. There are a wealth of other irrelevant things that could be discussed, but have been neglected because they are irrelevant to the question.

Frankly your comment disappoints me. wizardOfScience gave a _great_ answer, that would make any solid mechanics professor proud.

[potato3732842]

You're strawmanning bot me and the comment I'm replying to. Whether you're using a truss design or a solid material wall what I'm saying holds true. You can't just go all in on "put the material at the perimeter" because it'll have other problem. Gravity is just one of those problems.