Building Big Series Overview

How does a dam withstand the crush of millions of gallons of water? Or a suspension bridge the forces of wind and endless traffic? Why can we walk in the shadows of mammoth skyscrapers, drive through miles of tunnels, or sit beneath soaring stadium domes confident that these gravity-defying giants will not collapse?

The answer lies in the science of monumental engineering, and who better to explain it than the man who taught the world the way things work? David Macaulay, author-illustrator of The Way Things Work and other award-winning books, hosts BUILDING BIG, a five-hour miniseries on megastructures from the makers of NOVA. With sketchbook in hand, Macaulay scrambles up, over, around, and through spectacular structures, explaining the secrets that allow them to span great chasms, hold back gigantic lakes, reach to the sky, and otherwise appear to defy natural limits.

Episode 101  Bridges takes students from the stone arch bridges of the Roman Empire to Japan's giant, all-steel Akashi-Kaikyo suspension bridge, the longest in the world. Through the sagas of the Brooklyn, Golden Gate, and other great spans, Macaulay shows how engineers have conquered ever-wider chasms with better construction materials and innovative designs.

Episode 102  Domes explores the object that has long been called the perfect form. When the Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, he chose the dome as uniquely symbolic, impressive, and complex. Little did he realize he had created an enduring role for the dome as a symbol of human achievement that would cover the largest gatherings of people, whether at prayer services or football games. Macaulay explores the tricky technology of domes, right up to the geodesic marvels of Buckminster Fuller and beyond.

Episode 103 Skyscrapers explores the buildings that are as much about ego and advertising as engineering. At 1,476 feet, the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are the tallest structures in the world–for now. Plans are in the works for even taller buildings. The program looks at the quest to build high, from the medieval towers of Italy's San Gimignano to today's dueling skyscrapers. Macaulay also investigates the remarkable achievements of the Gothic cathedral builders and the near-disaster of New York's Citigroup Center, which needed an emergency repair to keep it from toppling over due to a change in construction specifications.

Episode 104 Dams looks at the biggest, most controversial structures of all. Big dams store water, prevent floods, and generate electricity, but they also can displace large numbers of people and wreak havoc on the environment. Macaulay explores the engineering challenges and social consequences of big dams, from Hoover's concrete arch confronting the Colorado River to the Aswan High Dam, a veritable underwater mountain sitting on the Nile riverbed, holding back a lake the size of England.

Episode 105  Tunnels plunges students into the incredible dangers and difficulties of tunneling through hard and soft ground. What does it take to build a twenty-four-mile-long rail tunnel under the English Channel? Why don't we pass out from carbon monoxide poisoning every time we drive through a long automobile tunnel? Macaulay probes these and other questions, while highlighting the risky job of those who do the digging, from slaves chipping away at rock to make way for ancient Roman waterworks to heavy equipment operators on today's Big Dig beneath Boston.

BUILDING BIG™ is a coproduction of the WGBH Science Unit and Production Group, Inc., of Washington, DC, and is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Major funding for the series is provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional funding comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. National corporate sponsorship is provided by the American Society of Civil Engineers and by Siemens.

BUILDING BIG is closed captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers by The Caption Center at WGBH Boston. Narrated descriptions of BUILDING BIG are provided by Descriptive Video Service® (DVS®), a national service of WGBH Boston. For more information about BUILDING BIG, visit www.pbs.org/buildingbig.