About this season
An exploration of how some of the world's biggest man-made structures were built.
Episodes (10)
1. Fantastic & Futuristic
Aired 18 August 2024 • 43 min
A sculptural new transportation hub for New York's World Trade Center is beset by challenges. Then, Amsterdam gains a striking building inspired by a mountain valley, and a new launchpad for space travel prepares for liftoff.
2. Jungles & Bricks
Aired 25 August 2024 • 43 min
A gravity defying university building in Sydney, Australia, is clad in 320,000 bricks. Engineers grapple with making an angular arts center tornado proof in Oklahoma. And a plant-filled office building.
3. Canyons & Curves
Aired 1 September 2024 • 45 min
Engineers grapple with an apartment building, ripped apart by a man-made canyon. The iconic Gateway Arch takes shape in St Louis, Missouri. And an unpromising plot in Copenhagen is transformed by a gleaming new triangular office building.
4. Parking & Sparkling
Aired 8 September 2024 • 45 min
A dazzling new 1400 foot tapering skyscraper is built right next to New York's Grand Central. A curving wine museum requires ingenious engineering in Bordeaux, France. And possibly the world's most glamorous parking garage.
5. Heights & Balance
Aired 15 September 2024 • 45 min
A 1.2 million square foot office building balances precariously on a 39 foot wide base in Chicago. A building named Pterodactyl lands on top of a Los Angeles parking garage. And the world's longest suspension footbridge is constructed in Czechia.
6. Tricks & Trains
Aired 22 September 2024 • 45 min
A new Olympic and Paralympic museum tests engineers with its trailblazing accessible design. A dazzling curved glass skyscraper battles gravity in Milan. And a student center built under a noisy railroad.
7. Floating & Lifting
Aired 29 September 2024 • 45 min
Architects and engineers build an eco-friendly convention center on Vancouver's waterfront, a lift bridge in Bordeaux and a cocoon-shaped skyscraper in Tokyo each with unique challenges like marine habitats and massive spans.
8. Subways & Sightlines
Aired 6 October 2024 • 45 min
A sculptural high-rise with rippling balconies breaks the mold in Chicago. Mammoth machines bore 26 miles of tunnels for an underground railroad beneath London's city streets.
9. Curved & Cables
Aired 13 October 2024 • 45 min
A new performance center with a tent-like glass-and-steel lobby tests engineers in Kansas City; two twisting apartment towers make heads spin in Ontario.
10. Boxes & Birds
Aired 20 October 2024 • 45 min
The American Museum of Natural History gets a cave-like extension; Boston University gains a tower.