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10. Radical & Resplendent
September 12, 2022
Not all remarkable structures follow the same timeline. Some are constructed under a huge time pressure. Others are abandoned, then reimagined decades later. Still others are stuck in development hell for a century before finally getting the greenlight. Join host Jay Ellis (Insecure) as he uncovers the improbable journeys of three ambitious buildings: the long-awaited Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., the eyesore-turned-eye-popping Montreal Tower, and the staggering Equinor building in Oslo.
9. Mirrors & Marble
September 4, 2022
What do architects and engineers do when confronted with restrictive planning regulations, shaky earthquake zones, and an unstable building location? They rip up the rulebooks (and in one case reinvent an ancient piece of technology) to make their challenging visions a reality. Join host Jay Ellis (Maverick: Top Gun) as we visit a museum that's seismically tough while ecologically friendly, an underwater opera house that sits in a shipping lane, and a massive sky garden that banishes shade thanks to 300 intelligent mirrors.
8. Breakthroughs & Bridges
August 28, 2022
Across the globe, brilliant designers and engineers are reinventing what buildings can look like, how bridges can function, and just how far modern architecture can go when it's pushed to the limit. Join host Jay Ellis (Maverick: Top Gun) as we visit London to show how a skyscraper called the Gherkin dragged the city kicking and screaming into a new millennium. We then head to Seattle to discover the secrets behind its record-breaking, 1.4-mile floating bridge. Finally, we head to Lyon, France to check out a gravity-defying, mercurial museum.
7. Steep & Stunning
August 21, 2022
What do a funicular in the Swiss Alps, a condo in Miami, and a military museum in Germany have in common? Each required bold designers and engineers to embrace or invent revolutionary ideas in order to get the job done. Host Jay Ellis (Top Gun: Maverick) reveals the secrets behind the Stoosbahn, the world's steepest mountain railway and the 1000 Museum condos, built in the middle of a powerful hurricane. Then we head to Dresden to see how the Bundeswehr Museum of Military History was redesigned to reframe Germany's dark military past.
6. Upside Down & Undersea
August 14, 2022
A small triangle of land with stringent planning laws. A steeply sloping plot in the middle of an earthquake zone. A restaurant site 18 feet below the waves of the North Sea. When modern day architects and engineers are given seemingly impossible building locations to work with, they don't shirk at the challenge. Instead, they throw out the rule book, and reinvent what a building can be. Join host Jay Ellis (Insecure) as he presents three marvels of engineering: the Vancouver House, Under restaurant in Norway, and the Seattle Central Library.
5. Skywalks & Suspensions
August 7, 2022
The Grand Canyon Skywalk, British Columbia's Audain Museum, and Vienna University's Library and Learning Center all began with big dreams...dreams that nearly pushed their designers and builders over the edge. Yet somehow, they overcame the logistical and geographical obstacles to create masterful engineering achievements. Host Jay Ellis (Insecure) reveals how they created a bridge that floats 4,000 feet above the canyon floor, a reading room that defies gravity, and a gallery that merges with the landscape of the harsh Canadian Rockies.
4. Elevated & Elegant
July 31, 2022
Sometimes architects and builders are challenged by logistical barriers and wildly ambitious plans. But often, it's those very obstacles that lead to the most ingenious structures. Join Jay Ellis (Top Gun: Maverick) as he presents three marvels of engineering, starting with a design school in Toronto with an extension built on stilts! We then visit Liège, Belgium and a railway station that looks like the set of a sci-fi movie. Finally, we enter a sports hall-of-fame museum in Louisiana with over a thousand unique pieces of cast stone.
3. Retrofits & Airport Glitz
July 24, 2022
When it comes to creating the perfect skyscraper, airport, or museum, some things are worth the wait...even if it's over 80 years! Join host Jay Ellis (Insecure) as we head to Manhattan to see how the Hearst Tower was finally completed after being stalled by the Great Depression and World War II. Then we visit the Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore—part shopping mall, part urban forest, featuring the world's tallest indoor waterfall. Then things get surreal in Florida as designers and engineers attempt to create a museum worthy of Salvador Dali.
2. Swamps & Swagger
July 17, 2022
Across the globe, architects, and engineers are upping the ante on what a building can look like, how it can function, and where it can be built. Join host Jay Ellis (Insecure) as he visits Florida Polytechnic's Innovation, Science and Technology Building to see how they created a brand-new university campus on an area of swamp. We then head to Spain, where the $165 million Guggenheim Museum is itself a work of art. Finally, we see how New York's cultural center The Shed can shapeshift to provide different venues for different shows.
1. Riverparks & Artworks
July 10, 2022
How do you create a brand-new Manhattan park without any land to build it on? How do you turn an artist's elegant sculpture into a working office building? And how do you take a wild, cutting-edge design of an art gallery—inspired by the Rocky Mountains—and make it a reality? In this episode, we travel to New York City, Denver, and Nice, France to witness astonishing structures that ripped up the rule book and pushed architecture to its limit. Then we meet the brilliant people who pulled off the impossible and made these modern wonders possible.
Description
Where to Watch How Did They Build That?
How Did They Build That? is available for streaming on the An Ideal Production website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch How Did They Build That? on demand at Paramount+ and Apple TV.
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