Throng

Continuing on Five this week is the gripping documentary series that explores huge engineering projects from all over the world. This instalment investigates the construction of the Bahrain World Trade Centre, the first skyscraper in the world to be powered by wind turbines incorporated into the building’s design.

The astounding Bahrain World Trade Centre, or BWTC, is the brainchild of South African architect Shaun Killa, who has won fame for skyscrapers throughout the Middle East. A keen sailor with a passion for sustainable design, Killa hit upon the idea for a huge sail-like structure that would draw its energy from integrated wind turbines.

Thursday 15th October 8.00pm

Concluding this week is the documentary series that explores how disasters throughout the world have influenced the evolution of modern structural engineering. This instalment examines how a series of catastrophic events involving skyscrapers highlighted a number of threats to the buildings’ integrity and forced architects to incorporate new safety features into their designs for the superstructures of the future.

The titans of city architecture for over a century, skyscrapers dominate urban landscapes throughout the world. No other building design so readily accommodates the voracious need for space in urban centres, but there can be a high price for this solution to overcrowded city life. Within such high and crowded structures, the consequences of engineering errors can be catastrophic.

Thursday 8th October 8.00pm

Continuing this week is the documentary series that explores how disasters throughout the world have influenced the evolution of modern engineering. This instalment examines how a series of high-speed rail crashes forced engineers to incorporate a number of safety features into their designs for the trains of the future.

Thursday 24th September 8.00pm

Continuing this week is the documentary series that explores how disasters have influenced the evolution of modern structural engineering. This instalment examines how a series of tragic events at sports stadiums forced architects to incorporate a number of safety features into their designs for the arenas of the future.

Sport stadiums are amongst the most iconic, eyecatching structures of the modern world. Symbols of local and national pride, they play host to huge crowds on a weekly basis. No other structure holds so many people in such close proximity and in such an emotionally charged atmosphere – so when the structures fail, the effects can be catastrophic. Over the past century, more than 1,600 people have died at stadiums across the world. To prevent disasters happening in the stadiums of the future, engineers have had to learn what went wrong in the past.

Thursday 10th September 8.00pm

Continuing this week is the documentary series that explores how disasters throughout the world have influenced the evolution of modern structural engineering. This instalment examines how a series of catastrophic events involving skyscrapers highlighted a number of threats to the buildings’ integrity and forced architects to incorporate new safety features into their designs for the superstructures of the future.

The titans of city architecture for over a century, skyscrapers dominate urban landscapes throughout the world. No other building design so readily accommodates the voracious need for space in urban centres, but there can be a high price for this solution to overcrowded city life. Within such high and crowded structures, the consequences of engineering errors can be catastrophic.

Wednesday 19th August 8.00pm

The gripping documentary series exploring huge engineering projects continues. This instalment follows the demolition of a 40-year-old rocket launch tower at Cape Canaveral. This tough, 90mhigh structure represents a massive logistical challenge for a family of demolition experts. Up to a third of the building’s entire weight must be stripped out before the tower can be imploded. Workers must brave high winds at great heights to ensure charges are planted correctly.

At Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, a family-run demolition company faces its most difficult assignment yet. Controlled Demolitions, Inc (CDI), run by Mark Loizeaux, has been tasked with dismantling a 6,000-ton rocket launch tower known as MST 40. This relic of the space age launched 55 Titan rockets in the 1960s, before being converted into a giant rocket repair shop in the 1980s.

Thursday 3rd September 8.00pm

Continuing this week on Five is the documentary series that explores how disasters throughout the world have influenced the evolution of modern structural engineering. The second instalment examines how a series of major bridge disasters helped engineers discover vital clues about these complicated structures, and led to the development of ever more ambitious bridges.

On 2 August 2007, during a busy rush hour in the city of Minneapolis in the American midwest, the entire span of an interstate bridge broke into pieces and collapsed into the Mississippi River. Tragically, 13 people lost their lives in the ensuing carnage. The incident was caught live on CCTV, and the horrifying images sent shock waves around the world. The nation was sent into a state of panic. How could this appalling calamity have occurred?

Continuing on Five this week is the gripping documentary series that explores huge engineering projects from all over the world. This instalment sees a family of demolition experts attempt to bring down one of the USA’s oldest luxury resorts – the Sheraton Bal Harbour hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

In the busy tourist spot of Miami Beach in Florida, one historic hotel is due for demolition. Once host to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and even John F Kennedy, the 50-year-old Sheraton Bal Harbour now stands empty. In order to make way for a new, multibillion-dollar complex of luxury apartments, the 17-storey hotel and its 12-storey car park must be flattened. To get the job done, the land owners have hired the best in the business – a family-run company from Maryland called Controlled Demolition, Inc (CDI).

Continuing tonight on Five is the documentary series that lifts the lid on some of the most incredible structures and machines in the world. Tonight’s episode looks at the engineering behind Freedom of the Seas – the largest passenger ship ever built.

When the colossal RMS Queen Mary II (QM2) superliner was completed in 2003, she was by far the longest, tallest and broadest ship of her kind ever built. But just three years later, the QM2’s crown was taken. Measuring a quarter of a mile in length and standing at a height of 18 storeys, Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas is the largest passenger ship in the world and a wonder of modern maritime science.

megastructures
building the world (3/3)
20.00–21.00

Concluding tonight on Five the series that lifts the lid on some of the most incredible structures and machines ever created. Tonight’s instalment looks at the construction of a group of islands in Dubai in the shape of the world map. Large enough to be seen from space, these artificial land masses represent an extraordinary engineering challenge, as construction teams race to meet an incredibly tight deadline.

The kingdom of Dubai is fast transforming itself into the luxury tourist capital of the world, with construction projects as diverse as the world’s tallest hotel, and artificial islands in the shape of palm trees. Now this tiny desert state is the location of the most audacious reclaimed land project to date. From the depths of the Arabian Gulf, 300 new islands are appearing above the waves to form the outline of the world map, which will eventually be home to hundreds of luxury hotels, villas and facilities. This programme tells the story behind this remarkable feat of engineering.

megastructures
qm2 superliner (2/3)
20.00–21.00

Continuing tonight on Five is a new series of the programme that lifts the lid on some of the most incredible structures and machines ever created. Tonight’s episode looks at the colossal RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) superliner – the longest, tallest and broadest ship ever built at the time of its completion in 2003.

The Queen Mary 2 was designed to reinvigorate the world of ocean cruise liners, which had been almost killed off by the advent of commercial transatlantic flights in 1958. This £500 million ‘city at sea’ was built to replace its predecessor, the Queen Elizabeth 2, on the 3,000 mile Southampton-New York route.

The man behind the project was billionaire Micky Arison, who first dreamt of building a new ship when the 1997 film ‘Titanic’ inspired a wave of nostalgia for ocean liners. Arison bought the world-famous Cunard line and drew up plans to replace the QE2 before her retirement in 2004. This gave engineers only two years to complete the new vessel. For naval architect Stephen Payne, the QM2 was a dream job: “It was such a mind-blowing, mind-boggling project to be involved in,” he says.

megastructures
world’s tallest hotel (1/3)
20.00–21.00

Returning to Five is a new series of the programme that lifts the lid on some of the most incredible structures and machines ever created. Megastructures reveals the stories behind some unbelievable feats of engineering, from aircraft to airports, and bridges to oil rigs. The first episode looks at the construction of the world’s tallest hotel, the Burj Al-Arab off the coast of Dubai.

Megastructures heads to the tiny desert kingdom of Dubai to explore the remarkable engineering behind the seven-star Burj Al-Arab Hotel. Five years in the making, this striking building stands like a gigantic white sail off the shore of Dubai. As this programme reveals, a refusal to compromise on the part of the hotel’s young designers ensured that the project pushed the boundaries of design. The Burj Al-Arab was envisaged by Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as a means of diversifying the country’s economy away from oil into tourism. The Sheikh dreamt of a luxury hotel that would put Dubai on the world map, and surprised many by choosing a relatively inexperienced British firm to supply the design.