All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s05e06 Underwater Mega Tower.eng

This time on Impossible Engineering.

A mega hotel like nothing else on Earth.
I feel so excited and proud.

This is the greatest engineering in the
world.

A giant structure that's underground and
underwater.

The result is a very unique hotel
designed with the latest engineering

technology. And a pioneering historic
innovations.

This place is epic.

375 feet from the bottom to the top.

During an earthquake, this bridge will
move back and forth.

That made the impossible possible.

Shanghai, city of the future.

Vying for attention in this fast
-growing high -tech metropolis

is some of the world's most cutting
-edge architecture

and some of the most extraordinary feats
of engineering on Earth.

There is a great competition for
creating these landmark buildings.

The clients have always asked me, build
me a landmark.

Architect Martin Yokeman has been given
a seemingly impossible challenge to

design a radical new hotel that will
stand out in this hotbed of innovation.

But the unique site totally defies
convention.

It must be built nearly 300 feet below
ground level in an abandoned, flooded

quarry.

When I came here almost 12 years ago, it
was just a hole in the ground.

Now, over the years, against all the
odds, this has changed.

Martin's master plan is one of the
world's most inventive buildings.

Resembling something from a James Bond
movie is the Shanghai Wonderland.

This giant quarry hotel spans 1 ,076
,000 square feet and is the first of its

kind on the planet.

Helping to realize this epic multi
-million dollar fantasy project is chief

engineer Xiaoxing Chen.

I'm very proud of being a part of the
project.

Everybody is excited because it is the
only one in the world.

What at ground level first appears to be
a two -story building is in fact only

the tip of the 337 -room hotel.

It projects out from the precipice and
descends to the base of the quarry 295

feet below.

The glass wall in the center is designed
to look like a waterfall cascading to

the quarry floor.

This will be flooded to create a lake
submerging the two lowest floors.

It's an epic engineering challenge once
thought to be impossible.

Such unusual location brings its
problems to be solved.

These can be summarized into the
building shape, the seismic

the fact that the building is partly
underwater.

Not only must it be waterproof and
earthquake -proof, but the engineers are

faced with a giant problem that looms
all around them.

The biggest problem when we started
designing this building was associated

the quarry itself, the composition of
the rock.

This rock has come out as part of
volcanic erupts and it has cooled rather

quickly, which means some of it is quite
solid, but some of it is crystallized

and very, very crumbly. I can
demonstrate how this... Crumbles easily

hands. This problem had to be really
solved before we could start on the main

part of the construction, both for the
safety of the guests, but also for the

safety of the workers on time.

Failure to secure the unstable cliffs
will mean disaster for the project.

Building this groundbreaking hotel will
need some impossible engineering from

the past.

There's one device that's so effective
at holding up rock walls that climbers,

like engineer Dan Dickrell, are willing
to trust it with their lives.

Oh, here it gets spicy.

So right now I've climbed this rock
face. I'm hanging in the air. And all of

weight is going through that rock bolt,
which is anchoring me to the surface.

The rock bolt is a smart and simple idea
developed over 100 years ago.

And this simple idea might hold the
secret to solving the problems at the

Shanghai Hotel.

In the 19th century, lead mining was big
business.

The number one producer was the St.

Joseph Lead Company, and their mine in
Bonterre, Missouri, was the biggest and

most profitable.

This incredible piece of engineering
ambition was, at the time, the world's

largest man -made cave at over 375 feet
high.

And it was also the first deep earth
-led mine in the world.

Really quite impressive.

This vast cathedral of a mine was
operational for 97 years.

This place is epic.

When it closed in 1962, the water pumps
that had kept the tunnels dry were

turned off, creating a 17 -mile -long
underground lake.

And now the only way to get around is by
boat.

Mining this lead is no easy task.

The miners are looking for the ore in
thin veins, which are spread through the

rock. They have to chip it out in large
chunks of ore.

If we look over here, some of the
richest veins extend vertically,

375 feet from the bottom to the top.

So the question was, how to reach that
precious metal buried in the walls 375

feet off the ground?

St. Joseph's was a forward -thinking
company that prided itself on

It recruited so -called experimental
engineers, whose job it was to devise

of extracting every ounce of ore.

These early problem solvers faced the
challenge of scaling the heights of

walls.

So this is what they came up with.

The trapezes.

A series of scaffolding suspended from
the ceiling.

The workers would work chipping away
almost a skyscraper above the ground.

The tools they used weighed 50, 60, 80
pounds.

The men themselves were large. The rocks
were heavy.

Such a large amount of weight suspended
above that cavernous drop.

And responsible for bearing all that
weight, the newly invented rock bolts.

This is actually an original 100 -year
-old split rock bolt. You can see the

split on the end.

How would this be installed?

drill a hole in the ceiling, and then
pound a piece of oak in, which

would be a wedge, that when you put the
bolts into that hole and pound it in,

the wedge would slowly split open the
bolt, creating a very, very strong

anchoring point.

Trapeze mining was a great advance, but
it was these rock bolts that proved to

be the real innovation.

It was noticed that after the
scaffolding was removed, the rock bolts

remained in the ceiling were holding up
the loose rock that otherwise would cave

in.

Securing a rock face is precisely what
the team in China needs to do.

So how did the rock bolts achieve this?

I have a container that I'm going to
fill with loose gravel.

Now the thing about this container is it
doesn't actually have a bottom.

So now what we need to do is insert the
bolts down into the temporary bottom.

All right, let's put some gravel in
here.

We're going to take the top washers and
nuts and tighten them down.

This will create a compressive force
that binds all the gravel together.

This will replicate the forces at work
when bolts are inserted into a crumbling

rock ceiling.

I'm optimistic.

I'm optimistic this is going to work.

I'm going to need a bit of help. So I'm
going to have Adam from the Bonterre

mine come in and assist me with this.

There we go.

All right, Adam.

Slowly try and take the bottom off.

Temporary bottom.

What do you know? It worked.

You wouldn't think it's possible.

But check it out. It's really, really
solid.

Management concluded that long bolts
placed close together would safely knit

loose rock in the ceiling above us.
Without knowing it, the miners here at

Bonterre had inadvertently invented real
innovation, which is used all over the

world today.

What an accomplishment.

So how can the engineers in Shanghai
take this century -old discovery and put

to work?

This process is quite unique to this
project.

It has never been done on this scale
before.

To build on the crumbling rock base of
this unstable Shanghai quarry, engineers

will have to supersize it.

In Shanghai, China, engineers are
attempting to use 19th century inspired

bolts to secure the building site for
one of China's most innovative

the Wonderland Hotel.

Here are the rock bolts, which are a
very important part of the stabilization

the cliff.

Architect Martin Jokman and the
engineering team know the importance of

this part of the job right.

The rock bolts are in positions where
they can be most effective in securing

cliff face on a certain grid.

First, the rock walls are blasted in
several places to level them off.

Then, they insert 6 ,000 supersized rock
bolts.

The mega bolts.

measuring up to 50 feet in length, are
placed at regular intervals to make up a

giant grid across over 61 ,300 square
feet of rock face.

For added security, the whole area is
covered with a layer of metal mesh, then

sprayed with a thin layer of cement
called shotcrete.

The mesh together with the shotcrete
will prevent the crumbly face of the

falling down on and endangering the
guests and the visitors.

This process is quite unique to this
project.

It has never been done on this scale
before.

It is in fact one of the great
challenges that had to be overcome to be

end up with this amazing building.

And Martin has the tech to make the most
of seeing his design come to life from

every angle.

Every time I come here, I'm amazed about
the transformation of the site.

To be able to actually get a picture
from the same angle as you're rendering

then be satisfied that this is really as
close as you can get to your concept

vision. That is very satisfying.

But this unique design has to be built
to withstand the most destructive forces

on the planet.

There's no precedent for this type of
building in terms of seismic design.

There is no greater destructive force on
the planet than that generated by an

earthquake.

And China is one of the most active
seismic regions in the world.

As the point of convergence of the
Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, the

country is riddled with fault lines.

Engineers here are experienced in using
methods to combat earthquakes in

conventional buildings.

But nothing like this has ever been
attempted before.

There's no precedent for this type of
building in terms of seismic design. So

this creates a completely new problem to
be solved.

had to be done from the first principles
with the latest engineering technology.

To help it withstand the forces of an
earthquake, massive foundations are

required.

As you can see, the foundations are
immense, almost 50 ,000 cubic meters of

concrete. It had to be so to give the
steel structure the rigidity it needs.

The concrete for the foundations has to
be mixed at the surface, then delivered

to the base below.

But sending it straight down a vertical
drop means it's traveling too fast.

The mix would start to separate, and by
the time it reaches the bottom, it's

unusable.

Completely new method of pumping had to
be devised for this.

It's up to Chief Engineer Xiaoxian Chen
and his team to come up with a

pioneering solution.

During the construction, we have
encountered numerous challenges.

And sometimes in the midnight, I wake up
to think of the project, to think of

the problem.

I should result.

The team needs to find a way to slow
down the concrete's rapid descent to

sure they end up with a stable mix.

So they insert additional mixing
stations.

The concrete drops down the first 50
feet, then enters the station.

It gets remixed and sent on its way,
passing through two further mixing

stations.

So once it reaches the base, it's the
perfect consistency.

I'm very happy about the result.

But incredibly, over 1 .7 million cubic
feet of concrete on its own is not

enough to protect it from an earthquake.

Due to the hotel's unique design, the
team needs an extra engineering solution

to prevent it from being pulled apart by
opposing forces.

It is a tall building attached at both
ends, and in the event of an earthquake,

both. parts of the building move in
different direction and different speed.

So this creates completely new problems.

To prevent disaster, the engineers have
to find a way to protect this unique

structure.

Italy has suffered centuries of
devastating earthquakes, more than any

European country.

So engineers here have been developing
new ways of building, which won't yield

to the forces that regularly rock the
landscape.

These might hold the key for the team in
China.

During the last 40 years, we learned to
build the structure safe

to withstand earthquakes.

Seismic protection engineer Samuele
Infanti.

works for the company that designed
Europe's first bridge engineered to be

earthquake -resistant.

The Sanplago Viaduct.

Its twin decks run in parallel across
Lake Cavazzo.

And despite being three -quarters of a
mile long, it remained standing when a

powerful earthquake destroyed the nearby
village.

So how exactly did the bridge remain
intact?

Like the Wonderland Hotel, it's attached
to high ground at the top and low

ground at its base.

The secret of its success can be found
where the underside of the road deck

meets the top of its vertical piers.

The idea was to isolate the deck above
the bearings from the

ground.

Using a principle known as seismic
isolation, the key mechanisms are the

bearings which cap each individual pier.

These are made up of sliding metal
plates, which allow the deck to move

protecting it from tremors at its base.

During an earthquake, this bridge will
move back and forth along the

longitudinal direction.

The ground will move in a very quick
manner, while the deck will move slowly

immediately after the earthquake.

the bridge can be ready to survive
another event, an aftershock.

And this way we can avoid the damage.

The principle of base isolation has been
applied to structures around the world,

saving countless lives.

But can the engineers of China's
Wonderland Hotel use the same method to

their revolutionary building from
destruction in the heart of a major

zone?

Building on the side of a quarry
presents a number of unique issues, and

building in a seismic hot zone only
intensifies the challenge.

The structural solution is totally
unprecedented and comes with the fact

it's a building fixed up to end.

Architect Martin Jokman explains how he
and the engineering team behind

Shanghai's unprecedented Wonderland
Hotel made the structure earthquake

In order to satisfy the seismic
requirements of the earthquake, it is

that this structure can move to a
certain extent.

Here in the inner atrium, the rear of
the hotel looks out onto the rugged,

exposed wall of the original quarry and
the steel framework that supports the

building.

It's this that provides the ultimate
defense against earthquakes.

The structure consists of horizontal
trusses that sit on a concrete beam.

These are then connected to the vertical
trusses that are firmly embedded in the

mass concrete at the base of the hotel.

Together, they form very rigid
structure, but in case of earthquake,

still move.

The horizontal trusses are not fixed to
the platform at the top.

Should the worst happen, the horizontal
trusses can slide back and forth.

and ride out any seismic activity.

It's actually sitting loosely on a
platform that will allow it to move

This will make it possible for the
building to stand up during a very

earthquake. It is a unique solution to a
unique construction problem.

With a structure that's earthquake
-proof, the engineers must face the next

impossible engineering challenge.

creating rooms underwater.

Such unusual location brings many
challenges.

One of those is the fact that part of
the building is underwater.

In fact, where we are standing will be
submerged.

Once the quarry is filled and
construction is complete, walkways will

man -made lake to a central island and a
brand new waterfall will be built on

the west face of the quarry.

The bottom two stories will be submerged
below water level, and an underwater

restaurant and bedrooms will be
surrounded by giant fish tanks.

One of the biggest problems to overcome
when designing this building was the

underwater rooms and public area.

Architecture design manager Hao Tseng is
overseeing this part of the project.

You can see there is no light in this
corridor because right now we are

on the water space.

Here is our very special and exclusive
room.

There is no traditional window.

Instead of that, we have a big aquarium
here.

To make this experimental concept a
reality, The designers are giving

a seemingly impossible task.

Our biggest challenge is how to deal
with the water pressure and how to deal

with the waterproof.

The volume of water required exerts so
much pressure that ordinary glass would

break and flood the rooms.

In order to realize their dreams of
underwater living, the engineers needed

look to the skies of the 1940s.

At this airfield just outside of Los
Angeles, engineer Dan Dickrell is

out what the team in China can learn
from one of the most important planes in

wartime history, the Boeing B -17.

As a child, I built models of this.

One of the most iconic bombers of the
Second World War.

It's absolutely breathtaking.

Known as the Flying Fortress, this
heavily armored warbird was designed to

penetrate deep into enemy territory to
carry out precision daytime bombing.

One, two, three, four, five, five,
seven, eight, nine, ten, starting number

three again.

This is one of the few airworthy models
left in the world.

This is the aircraft that captured the
world's imagination.

It has a cruising altitude of 35 ,000
feet at a speed of 287 miles per

hour.

It weighs 29 tons.

It's really, really a solid, solid
aircraft.

At one point during the war, one of
these B -17s returned, missing two out

the four engines.

180 black holes in it like a piece of
Swiss cheese. But it returned safely,

which is a testament to how strong this
particular airplane is.

However, the early versions of the B -17
had a weak spot.

The original nose of the B -17 was
composed of a metal frame and large

of real glass.

And the solution past visionaries
discovered might just inspire the

engineers of today's Wonderland Hotel.

We want a view of water tank as big as
possible, but due to the water pressure,

the material has to be very thick.

The original model of the iconic World
War II fighter plane, the Boeing B -17,

was a stalwart fighting machine, but it
had one glaring vulnerability.

The original nose of the B -17 was
composed of a metal frame and large

of real glass.

To solve this shattering flaw, in later
models, this was replaced by a clear

dome made of a new, hardier material,
plexiglass.

It was the invention of chemist Otto
Rum.

Rum's life's work was in the development
of new plastics, but he discovered

plexiglass by accident.

Rum had NMA, which is a rudimentary
acrylic in a Petri dish.

Sunlight hit the dish, heating up the
NMA and polymerizing it, creating PNMA,

which we call plexiglass.

He discovered that if it was heated, it
could be molded.

So I'm going to keep mechanical strain
on it while it hardens.

As it cools, it will retain the shape.

Yeah, it worked.

It's a great material.

But crucial for aviation engineers was
how it responded to stress.

Plexiglass doesn't shatter.

And that particular property is what
enables this aircraft to be such an

effective daylight bomber.

This was a major development.

The nose is one of the most tactically
important parts of the plane because

where the bombardier sits.

And plexiglass was not only safer, but
greatly improved visibility.

This tough, transparent material could
help the team in China achieve their

vision.

Within the giant concrete foundations,
fit massive water tanks.

We want a view of water tank as big as
possible, but it has to be very

clear. And due to the water pressure,
the material has to be very thick. So we

found acrylic glass.

It's like 13 to 16 centimeters.

And you can see it's very clean and
people can easily see through it.

But with added thickness comes added
weight.

This window alone weighs more than two
tons.

The

largest

windows on site weigh four tons, used in
the hotel's underwater restaurant.

So now we are standing in the biggest
space underwater.

This is the dining room of our specialty
restaurant.

You can see there are five pieces of
acrylic glass.

The big acrylic glass is more than 5
meters wide and 3 .5 meters height.

It's very, very big and heavy.

But behind them, it's a big water tank.
It's like 30 meters wide.

We really want the client to feel like
they're staying in the ocean.

From the watery depths of this
extraordinary construction to its heady

the engineers still face a high -level
challenge at the summit of the cliff

face. To build something at the top of
the cliff is a really big challenge for

us.

Building in a quarry is an enormous
undertaking.

But the setting has provided inspiration
for its biggest and most complex design

feature. Dreamed up by Martin Jokman.

The glass waterfall is symbolic of the
connection of the rock face, the clips

with the water.

And the shape is itself suggesting the
falling water shape.

The most difficult part of the whole
structure.

It's curved, it's irregular, it's
covered with glass.

So it was a great challenge to actually
put it together.

A complex steel framework is being
covered with over 53 ,800 square feet of

flat and curved frameless glass panels
to create the illusion of a glass

waterfall.

Now we are actually inside the glass
waterfall.

It is a vertical circulation containing
observational lifts which will take

guests and visitors from this floor down
to the base and to their guest rooms.

When I see what's been produced, I'm
very happy that my original idea

that I escaped a long time ago is there.

All credit to...

The team, the people involved in the
design, the structural design and the

construction.

The next phase is to start filling the
quarry pit to create the man -made lake.

It will need over 52 .8 million gallons
of water.

With such a huge volume, it's a slow
process.

Filling water of the pit, I'm very
excited for it.

It will take four months to fill it, but
I'm very patient.

But the Wonderland Hotel team isn't done
engineering the impossible just yet.

It's a wonderful engineering feat.

We are using ideas that are 100 years
old mixed with modern

technology.

Shanghai's Wonderland Hotel is all
coming together.

The quarry is filled.

The main building is both water and
earthquake -proofed.

But for architecture design manager Hao
Feng and her team, there's one more

challenge.

An audacious final addition to make the
most of this unique location from

every angle.

It's a really magic and amazing view
here.

The team wants to somehow create a
walkway right at the top of the 295

-high cliff base.

It's an ambitious plan.

To build something at the top of the
cliff is a really big challenge for us.

want to build something sticking out of
the cliff wall, and it should be strong

and safe enough.

It's really tough for us.

The solution could lie in an engineering
innovation embraced by a famous

trailblazer of the past.

In the wilds of Pennsylvania, tumbling
rivers cut through the forests of the

Appalachian Mountains.

It's here that a landowner threw down
the gauntlet to a renowned architect to

design him a home.

Civil engineer Professor Scott Hamilton
is here to see how it might help the

team in China.

Falling Water, a truly amazing
architectural building.

It challenges the very landscape it sits
upon.

And many have described it as America's
most famous house.

The Falling Water House is the
brainchild of innovative architect Frank

Wright.

Falling Water was commissioned by
wealthy Pittsburgh businessman Edgar J.

Kaufman.

Kaufman wanted a home where he could
hide away in nature.

Yet it had to be a big enough space
where he could entertain lots of people.

Like the hotel in China, the location of
the site proved the biggest challenge.

Surrounded by rock faces and a river,
the plot of land wasn't big enough for

house Kaufman craved. So he left it to
Wright to find a solution.

What Wright came up with is this, a
series of rooms and gigantic balconies.

with seemingly no support beneath,
essentially creating spaces in thin air.

Wright pulled off this balancing trick
by anchoring these platforms so deeply

into the central chimney they didn't
need any other support, providing he

them strong enough.

This will be my falling water house,
just like Wright's design.

So we take our ground -level balcony.

As you see, if we put it out, we need
something to counterbalance.

We might use this chimney stack and the
main structure to do that.

So I'll use a brick.

And then we have our next level. And
again, we need something to

that. And then we have our top level.

And we'll counterbalance that.

So here's my falling water house model.

So let's have a look with what can
happen when things go wrong.

As we take our load and we put it on our
balcony, we see it starting to bend

down. As we increase the load, we see it
bending more and more. We get closer to

our limits and we have a failure.

So Wright's ingenious solution was to
reinforce these cantilevered floors with

lengths of steel.

So there we have our reinforced
cantilever.

So let's give it a go and see what
happens.

We put our load on and we see it hold,
just like we want it to.

This design relied on a careful balance
of both geometry and tension and

compressive forces.

If one part of this was off, the whole
structure would fail.

It was so radical for its day.

Falling Water is a national treasure and
a truly great engineering feat.

Wright's innovative cantilever design
made Falling Water an icon.

But Hao Zeng and her team will need to
supersize the engineering behind it to

make their impossible skywalk a reality.

Innovative design relies on impossible
engineering.

Architecture design manager Hao Feng and
her team at Shanghai's Wonderland Hotel

are turning to Frank Lloyd Wright's
iconic falling water design to inspire

ambitious Shanghai walkway.

But Wright's cantilevered platforms
started from 32 feet above the water

In China, they're eight times that
height.

This is the skywalk.

You are 80 meters high above the bottom
of the quarry.

To create this impossible structure, the
team turned to Wright's cantilevers.

We use cantilever series to support this
skywalk.

We cut holes into the rocks and insert
many reinforced bars to build such

a horizontal concrete base.

Using the cliff itself at the anchor
point, 42 holes were drilled up to six

a half feet deep.

Steel beams were then inserted to carry
the 243 -foot stretch of reinforced

glass.

It's a wonderful engineering feat.

We are using ideas that are 100 years
old mixed with modern

technology. I love it up here. It gives
you the best possible view of the

amazing engineering that went into
building this hotel.

12 years in the making, from the first
concept to five -star reality.

The Shanghai Wonderland is almost ready
to open its doors to the world.

Creating this unique subterranean
structure has been an epic undertaking.

When I first saw the site, what I saw is
really, really incredible.

Working on this project. It's like a
dream comes true.

The engineering challenges in turning an
abandoned quarry into a luxury resort

have tested those involved to the limit.

The whole idea seemed too fantastic to
be realizable.

I'm happy to say that the results are
quite amazing.

By drawing on the great pioneers who've
gone before.

It's absolutely breathtaking.

adapting, supersizing, and creating
innovations of their own.

The engineering and architectural teams
of this real -life wonderland have

succeeded in making the impossible
possible.

This is the most important project in my
life.

When the first guest arrives, I will
want to cry.

I love every part of the hotel.

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0