Building the resorts and casinos of Las Vegas, NV
It's the diamond industry's frozen frontier: Canada's North. Our cameras will visit Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine-the biggest thing ever built north of the Canadian tree line. Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. is spending $1.3 billion to build a mine just 30 kilometres south of Ekati that will have a life of about 20 years. And this northern community stands to join Antwerp and Tel Aviv as one of the world's leading diamond-cutting centres.
The rebuilding effort going on in Berlin, Germany
The Dutch have been holding back the sea for more than 2000 years. This system of dikes and windmills has evolved into one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World: the North Sea Protection Works. We will find out how engineers created the 30-kilometre-long enclosure dam that collars the Zuidersee, the impressive Delta Project that protects southwest Holland and the Eastern Schelde Barrier, made of steel gates slung between massive concrete piers.
Building Hong Kong's new airport, Chek Lap Kok.
Forget the Love Boat. The cruise ships of the 21st century are floating palaces that are destinations in themselves. Take the Voyager of the Seas-the world's largest cruise ship at three times the weight of the Titanic and has her own ice rink, rock-climbing wall and plush six-storey theatre. We'll see how these holiday homes are planned and constructed.
There’s a construction boom going on in the United States: a prison construction boom. But not just for humans. Chimps are among the strongest and cleverest escape artists in the animal world. New enclosures aim for an escape-proof layout. But perhaps the greatest challenge in the world of secure construction is an invisible one: menaces such as the Ebola virus. Advanced air pressure and filtration systems, interlocking door systems and multiple mechanical systems are under construction to protect workers and the public from the worst incurable diseases inflicting humanity.
Building the International Space Station
Building of the Confederation Bridge in Canada.
Building the Sable Offshore Gas drilling platform.
Buildings with lots of curves.
Making buildings stronger, to resist disasters.
Building the Oresund Link, a road/rail bridge.
Building the Millenium Dome in London.
Building of the Eurotunnel between France and England.
Working on Boston's Big Dig project, to build new highways underground.
Building the worlds tallest skyscrapers.
Heavy trucks and mining equipment.
Very high /Aerial construction techniques.
Moving heavy buildings.
Building for World Fairs.
Top 10 Construction Projects Of The Twentieth Century
Using Robots for doing dangerous work.
Building Olympic installations around the world.
How they built Tokyo's city of the future.
Using Tent roof structures.
A strange structure is taking shape in the rolling green hills of southern England: Engineers are building "Eden" - an enclosed garden the size of thirty football pitches. A sixty metre deep crater is being capped with space-age plastic domes that will be home to thousands of rare plants. The lightweight galvanized steel tubular frames are going up to form enormous self-supporting shells. A computerized production line calculates the length of each of the shell sections and automatically cuts them to exactly the right size. Eden will act as giant laboratory where scientists can study the complex relationships that make this planet work. The Japanese have recreated the ocean with the world's largest dome covered beach. Measuring an incredible three hundred metres in length, this man made ecosystem was designed to reproduce everything from rolling surf to a jungle with live giraffes. The dream of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem has been studied for thirty years by NASA. We'll check in with NASA engineers for the latest glimpse of sustainability on distant planets and space stations.
In July 1981, two suspended walkways within the atrium of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed, resulting in the death of 114 people. It was the single largest structural disaster in terms of loss of life in U.S. history. To determine the cause of the disaster, officials turned to forensic engineering. Armed with electron microscopes, pachometres, metallurgy laboratories, sophisticated portable field testing equipment and some basic detective skills, forensic engineers are able to determine why a structure collapsed and ascertain the exact state of a structure's health before disaster can occur.
With predictions that the United Arab Emirates would run out of oil in ten years, the cash-rich Kingdom of Dubai decided to create a vacation city for businessmen and European tourists. The multi-billion dollar project has been carved out of the desert on a 24 square kilometre site on the shores of the Arabian Gulf in Dubai. Digging out the desert and bringing the sea inland was a monumental feat of engineering. This oasis in the desert will take 12 years to complete in one of the harshest desert environments. The world's third largest construction site includes the tallest hotel in the world, housing for 100,000 people and striking architecture that has become a symbol for Dubai. (Also known as Dubai: City of Dreams)
Constructing with glass.
From the world’s tallest Bhudda to the sumptuous restoration of the Palace of Versailles. From the spectacular “Endless Column” in Romania to the Painted Desert in Arizona, this episode takes us to the structures that celebrate and commemorate achievements of the human spirit. We’ll see the work, toil and engineering might required to erect structures that are meant both to last and have a lasting meaning.
Often, before something can be constructed, something else must be destroyed. Enter Jim Redyke of Dykon Blasting in Oklahoma. He travels the world to dramatically "shoot" buildings, bridges, towers and even roller coasters. The results of his work often makes the evening news. Few understand the preparation and science behind the dramatic pictures. At the other end of the blasting spectrum, engineers are using explosives to move mountains. The biggest bangs are in Labrador, where the Iron Ore Company of Canada blasts up to a four-million tonnes of rock at a time.. Meanwhile, scientists at Queen's University are experimenting with ways of making explosions safer, cleaner and more efficient. This episode will take us inside the world of crashes, bangs, flashes and fire -- we'll see explosives detonated in test fields, buildings topple and sides of mountains disappear.
Using computers for Virtual Engineering.
Cranes
Building the Egnatia Odos highway in Greece.
