All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S04E08.Facelifts.and.Scaffolds.1080p.FUBO.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-FFG_track3_[eng]

How do you construct
an extraordinary building

that represents
the reunification of Germany,

but wants to fall down?

We needed
132,000 cubic meters

of scaffolding
which had to be filled.

How do you build a museum

covered entirely in glass tubes
that lights up at night?

It had cracks,
and the cracks grew over time,

so that scared everybody.

And how do you give
a 100-year-old bridge

a facelift to get it ready
for the next 100?

Keeping a bridge operational

while you build a new bridge
within its own structure,

this has never been done before.

Welcome to a world
where anything is possible.

The space where innovation
and creativity collide.

This isn’t just impressive,
it’s revolutionary.

Where the only limit
is human imagination.

This wasn’t just
ambitious, it was audacious.

No one had ever attempted
anything like it.

Unpacking the miracles
and mysteries of construction.

Sometimes buildings can change the world,

and this is one of them.

To ask,
How Did They Build That?

Want to create a stunning
building in Houston, Texas,

that’s worthy of housing
one of America’s finest,

most valuable
collections of modern art?

Well, first of all, you’re going
to need a touch of class.

And then, you’re going to
need a touch of glass.

1,100 translucent tubes of it,
to be exact.

And the result is quite simply
a modern masterpiece.

The heart of Houston
has been home

to the Museum of Fine Arts

since its first gallery
opened in 1924.

Over the years,
the campus expanded,

with buildings designed

by some of the
world’s greatest architects.

Mies van der Rohe,

Raphael Moneo, Isamu Noguchi,

these are some of the big names
in 20th century architecture.

It was very much Houstonians
wanting to create something

that could one day be like

the great institutions
on the East Coast.

In 2012, as part
of this grand vision,

the trustees decide

to add another building
to its collection.

The brief was to create

a building of approximately
250,000 square feet,

to create a parking garage
with at least 440 spaces,

and to unify the campus.

One of the competing
architects is Steven Holl,

who designed The Reach expansin

to the Kennedy Center
in Washington, D.C.

and the horizontal skyscraper
at Vanke Center in China.

But Holl has an issue
with what the museum wants.

We read the brief
and basically said

they should not be building
a parking garage first.

He throws out the museum’s
plan and starts from scratch.

I said,
"I want you to switch it now

and not build a parking garage,

and build a new glass cell,
and put the parking underneath,

and beautiful tunnels
with art in them."

Anyway, they agreed,

and it was a unanimous vote
for our project.

His audacious plan
will put 100,000 square feet

of gallery space in an
extraordinary new building,

named after patrons
Nancy and Rich Kinder.

The team will need to dig
in waterlogged ground

to house the parking garage.

Above it will be
three stories of galleries,

which on the inside will let
the art take center stage.

And on the outside, there will
be an incredible exterior.

That’s if they can work out

how to bend thousands
of glass tubes.

The next challenge will be

engineering a roof
designed to mimic clouds.

Finally, they must dig down
into the water table,

connecting the campus
through a series of tunnels.

It’s a formidable
engineering challenge.

And they’ve got the Texas
hurricanes and heat

working against them.

On May 31st, 2017,
work starts on the foundation

of the
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building.

But in August,
disaster hits Houston.

We were about 40 feet
below street level

when Hurricane Harvey hit.

That put a stop to everything.

Harvey is the first
Category 4 hurricane to hit

the U.S. mainland in 12 years,
displacing 30,000 people

and causing over $150 billion
U.S. dollars worth of damage.

Hurricane Harvey is
nothing I’ve ever seen before,

and I don’t expect
ever to see it again.

The rainfall
that resulted from it,

which was the damage it did,

was anywhere from a one in 5,000
to one in 9,000 year event.

50 inches of rainfall
causes devastation

across the city, including
the museum’s construction site.

We got a
picture showing

the basement as a pond,
filled with water.

The hole itself
had about a million gallons

of water in it
that we had to pump out

after the storm
had moved through.

Clearing the site
takes four weeks.

But surprisingly, the foundatin
has survived unscathed.

Work starts
on the main building,

which is going to
need to stand out

among some
very distinguished neighbors.

The original building
is 1924 stone,

and then Mies Building’s
glass and steel.

Then across the street, you have
the Moneo, a block of stone.

And I said,
let’s not do steel and glass.

Let’s not do stone.

Let’s do a complementary
contrast in translucent glass.

To do that,
they need something

pretty solid
to hang the glass off of.

They decide on
cast-in-place concrete.

Meanwhile,
Holl and the design team

are working on the details
of the glass facade.

Stephen Holl is known
as the master of light.

He uses it like some architects
use concrete or timber.

We were
fooling around in the shop,

and we got these
plexiglass tubes,

and we sawed them in half,

and we started to make
the model in that.

And then we said, "Ah,
tubes, hollow tubes of glass."

The entire exterior

will be covered
in these glass half tubes,

causing the finished building
to glow.

Translucent facades
have been done before.

Curved glass
has been done before.

But in this combination,
six to seven meter long

half glass tubes with such
a tight bending radius,

translucent, that
has not been done before.

To create Holl’s vision,

they’ll need 1,100 of these haf
tubes in 29 different sizes.

There are basically
two methods to bend glass.

You can use a machine,

but then the radius
is quite limited.

On the machine,
the smallest tube they can get

is around six feet across.

This is way too big.

So we finally used
the gravity bending method

to fabricate the glass.

You put your
layers of glass over a mold,

then heat it slowly.
And as it softens, it begins

to form a shape around
the mold below it.

It’s reliable,
but it’s not as fast,

and it requires
some very big ovens.

It’s an ancient technique

that’s been around
since the Romans.

But on this scale,
it’s practically unheard of.

We hit a stone wall, I mean
a glass wall, if you will,

because nobody could do this.

These tubes that are
20 feet tall

and 30 inches in diameter,
laminated glass,

that was never
done before anywhere.

So who’s going to do it?

Eventually, they find
two specialty manufacturers

in China to take on the job.

12 test pieces are made
to Schieber’s specifications

and sent to Texas.
But it’s bad news.

Three of the tubes had cracks,
and the cracks grew over time.

So that scared everybody.

Schieber has to
rethink the glass design.

What we did was
slightly increasing the radius

of the tubes,
but only by one or two inches.

We increased the glass thickness

from six millimeters
to eight millimeters.

And no problems occurred

on the next
full-scale mock-up we built.

That gave us the confidence

that we could use it
on the actual project.

But manufacturing
the glass tubes

isn’t the only challenge,
because there’s a danger

this facade could turn the
museum into a giant greenhouse.

In 2023,
there were 45 days

above 100 degrees Fahrenheit
in Houston.

This high heat
on a glass exterior

creates something
engineers call solar gain.

As heat energy
radiates through the glass,

it produces heat inside,
and that air gets very hot,

and can be a problem
if it’s not able to ventilate.

For a solution, first
they choose a clever glass.

By adding four layers of a resn
called polyvinyl butyral,

they can dramatically reduce te
amount of heat getting through.

Then the team turns to a bit of
engineering knowhow

called the chimney effect

Heat rises.

So if you collect heat along
the whole length of a facade,

as the heat rises, it’s gonna
draw cold air up from below

and exhale
all the hot air up above.

It’s like creating
your own breeze.

By creating a gap between
the glass and the wall behind t

hot air will be funneled up.

The curve of the glass
should make this more effectiv.

To find out how well
it will work,

they build a section to test.

The heat gain was reduced

by around 72%
just due to the glass tubes.

It looked good.
It worked in the sun.

It was like, "Oh, thank God,
this is going to work."

All the team has
to do now is attach them.

The tubes are set into place
using cranes with suction cups

for the semicircular shape
of the tubes.

They’re set into the steel frae
and glazed into place.

Which makes for a
nail-biting experience

when the 1,100 glass tubes
being suction cupped into place

are made in a factory
about 8,000 miles away.

It complicates things
because if you break something,

you’ve got to wait to get a
whole new piece made

and brought to site.

In Houston, Texas,

the team building the
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

at the Museum of Fine Arts
must carefully fit

1,100 glass tubes
to its exterior.

So they take their time,

treating each tube like
it was made of... glass.

Less than five
were broken in shipping.

Two were broken on site.

And otherwise,
we did really well there.

As the glass
is being installed,

the team looks
to their next challenge.

In Houston,
when it’s 100 degrees,

you want to walk in a cool space

from one piece of the campus
to the other.

The idea
is to dig two tunnels

that will do much more
than just connect

the new building
to the rest of the campus.

It’s easier
to cool a tunnel.

And then if you have art,
it’s an art experience.

It’s not just a tunnel.

However, tunneling in
Houston isn’t straightforward.

The groundwater table
in Houston is really high.

Here, it’s about
eight feet below the surface.

You’ll start running into water.

So to avoid flooding

and prevent the tunnels
from collapsing,

the engineers turn to a commony
used technique called open cut.

You dig a big trench,

you build a concrete box inside
from one side to the other,

and you backfill over it.

It’s fine
for tunnel number one.

But for the longer tunnel,

the open cut system
isn’t going to cut it.

It goes underneath
a main thoroughfare

through this part of town,
Bissonnet Street,

and we couldn’t close that

because of
all the traffic up top.

This means digging
the tunnel deeper,

but then
they hit the ground water.

So to combat that,
they install dewatering wells

which literally
lower the water table

around the excavation site.

Then they dig.
Very, very carefully.

We had to go very slowly.
We had a small excavator

that would dig out
six inches at a time.

Then we would put up an I-beam,

inject grout behind it,
and go another six inches

so that we could reinforce
the tunnel structure

so we didn’t have any cave-ins

that could
have been catastrophic.

It’s slow going,
but there’s no way around it.

Only going
six inches at a time

took us about
100 working days to complete.

Our other tunnel, which was
a more traditional open trench,

took about 60 days.

Both tunnels
do get there in the end,

and without any major hiccups.

Back at the museum,
it’s ready for a roof,

one inspired by the heavens.

I had the idea
of the big Texas sky

coming into a luminous canopy,

where I imagine
these giant clouds

that happen in Texas
very high up

pushing down
and causing the roof to warp.

Just like the real thing,

sections of this cloud-inspired
roof will allow in

filtered natural light,
protecting the art inside.

So ideally, a roof is
a simple structure,

some kind of square grid system.
This was not that.

But it proves
too complicated

for the steel fabricator’s
connection engineer.

The engineer decided
he couldn’t do it,

and so he resigned,
and they came to us to say,

"How do we get this done?"

The problem is that using
traditional steel beams

for this design would require
a unique angled connector

at almost every joint.

When you count
the two ends of each beam,

there were at least 1,000
different rotational conditions

that had to be considered.
We had many conversations,

trying to see what
would be the right solution.

When we did come up
with this idea of being able

to actually twist the
members so that they did

come into alignment, I think
it was a real aha moment.

There’s just enough
flex in the steel beams

to allow the team to
twist them into the roof shape

without having to create
unique connectors at each join.

But each has to be
meticulously checked

to ensure the stresses
haven’t compromised them.

There were 57 different steps

that the contractor
had to go through.

He would connect a series
of beams to create one cloud,

and then he would create

a series of beams
to make another cloud,

those would have
to be connected.

And the difficulties
don’t end there.

We learned that
the whole structure

was not self-supporting
until the final roof beam

was set in place.

That means you’ve got
to support it as you build it.

It takes a lot
of scaffolding, but in 2020,

two years into the build,

the last piece
is put into place.

Once the
final roof beam was set,

we got to take down
all the shoring

and see the roof structure
in its entirety,

and it was very impressive,

spiderweb of beams and trusses
coming together up top.

Over the next few months,

Holl’s impossible 50,000 square
feet of roof clouds is created.

And finally,
on November 21st, 2020,

three years and six months
since construction began,

The Nancy and Rich Kinder
Building is complete

and open to the public.

It’s so beautiful.

It’s definitely a
museum, right,

that go to visit for the art
inside, but also the outside.

Inside,
the exciting gallery spaces

are brightened by a shell
of over 1,000 glass tubes.

It feels very open.
The place is designed

in a way that it makes
the navigation very easy.

And deep beneath
the water table,

day-glow tunnels
doubling as gallery spaces

connect the campus’
different buildings.

I love the building,

and I think people really
love it. My good friend said,

"Steven, it’s the best museum
you ever did."

And if you think
it looks good in the daylight,

wait until you see it at night.

For me to
have the opportunity

to work on
a world-class building

right here for my home city,
was a gift from God for me.

Sometimes, even the
most revolutionary structures

don’t stay pretty forever.
Take the Bayonne Bridge.

State-of-the-art in 1931,
but over time, it became

unable to support modern road
and river traffic

into one of America’s
busiest ports.

So naturally, it got a facelift.

Engineers literally raised
the bridge deck 64 feet

without ever
closing it to traffic.

And when you look
at this bridge now,

you can tell it’s had
some work done.

But who cares?
It’s fit for the future.

Bayonne, New Jersey,
just across the water

from New York City’s
Staten Island borough,

is home to
an iconic 20th century design.

The Bayonne Bridge was seen as
an engineering marvel

when it was first opened.

It was the longest
steel arch bridge in the world.

You’re talking
about a historical landmark

for the city of Bayonne.

For nearly a century,

the bridge welcomed
international cargo

into the port of
New York and New Jersey.

But in September 2007,

it’s threatened by
an engineering project

2,000 miles away
in Central America.

They were widening
the Panama Canal

to allow larger container ships

to access ports
around the world.

The Panama Canal,

connecting the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,

is being expanded to allow

huge new container ships
to pass through.

Ports around the world

will need to make room for thee
new super tall vessels.

Elsewhere,
they were just

knocking down old bridges.
However, with Bayonne,

the authorities
don’t have that option.

Part of the problem,

aside from the high cost
and the long schedule,

was that the bridge itself was
designated a national landmark.

So we actually would have
to leave that in place.

But they have to
find a way

of letting these new
super large ships through.

They dredged
the channel, made it deeper,

so ships might
pass through at low tide.

But that only gets you so far.

They had dredged
for years underneath there,

but still, the Bayonne Bridge
roadway was too low.

With no other option,

the team dreams up
an engineering world first.

It came to the point where we
have to raise that roadway.

It’s an ambitious plan

that will give this
iconic piece of New Jersey

a brand new road
64 feet above the old one,

allowing the new
super-sized cargo vessels

to pass underneath.

Sounds simple enough,
but it’s not.

First, they need to figure out
how to keep the bridge open

while creating piers to hold up
the new approach roads.

And they must find a way to mae
the existing arch strong enough

to support
the additional road deck

and all the construction gear.

Next, they need to erect
the new road deck,

which will allow vehicles acros
and the superships underneath.

Finally, they’ll need to
demolish the old road

without unbalancing the bridge

and keep it open to traffic
at the same time.

Keeping a bridge operational

while you build a new bridge
within its own structure,

in my experience,
this has never been done before.

In New Jersey,
engineers need to find a way

to raise the height of the
Bayonne Bridge,

so that huge new superships
can pass underneath

and keep the roadway open.

There’s only two
ways in and out of Bayonne.

Economically, you would have
destroyed the city of Bayonne

if you closed that bridge
for two or three years.

How do we put a roadway above
a roadway safely,

and keep the roadway
underneath open?

The team comes up with
a bold solution.

The bridge carried two lanes

in each direction
before construction.

We reduced that to one
lane in each direction

so we could work
on one half of bridge

while we carry traffic
on the other half.

Construction begins
in July 2013.

The first challenge is building
the elevated ramps

right next to people’s homes.

The bridge
connects to roads

that sit on top of
concrete piers.

A higher deck means steeper
roads and much taller piers.

And so these approach roads
need to be much longer,

stretching into
the neighborhood.

In fact, the approach
ramps will each stretch

around half a mile
into residential areas,

and be supported
on 24 new piers.

It’s a big, dirty job.

To build a pier to support
the approach structure,

we would utilize
a huge drill rig,

with a six foot diameter drill,
to drill 20 feet down

through the earth, into bedrock.

Then we inserted a cage of steel
and poured concrete in there.

And then we would stack

these precast
hollow concrete segments,

in some cases
that were 100 tons.

As the columns grow,

so does the anger
of local residents.

The first time
I had a meeting,

I was mayor a couple weeks.
Someone raised their hand

and started
screaming and yelling.

The amount of noise, you know,
when they were pile driving.

They couldn’t use their
swimming pools in the summertime

because of the amount of dust

and everything
that was being created.

It was an everyday battle.

Fortunately, the next
stage involved using

ow,
300 miles away in Virginia.

So by using precast concrete
for the structure,

you actually remove
the concrete trucks,

the placement,
the forming of it, the rebar.

And then there’s no cure time,

so the erection is
a lot quicker.

With the approach ramps
under construction,

attention turns to
the next challenge.

How to build the new bridge dek
64 feet above the existing one.

So the original deck
in the arch itself,

it is suspended
by suspender cables.

Because it’s a

National Historic Civil
Engineering Landmark,

the new roadway needs to be hug
in exactly the same way.

At one point, we had two decks
on the same bridge.

We had the existing deck
and we had the new higher deck.

So the arch has to
carry two live roadways,

plus the construction equipmen,
plus all our people.

That is a lot of weight.

Part of the solution turns
out to be a stroke of luck.

We found that the original arch
was designed for two tracks

of heavy freight railroad,
but it never got built.

So we were able to take
advantage of that strength

and use it for the second deck.

Even then, the team needs

to further strengthen
the old arch.

We did that
by using LIDAR.

Laser scanning the whole bridg,

so you know where
every nut and bolt is.

You’d have to knock out
the existing rivets.

Then you would bring these
steel plates

that were specifically designed
to fit exactly over the holes

of the existing rivets.
We’d line them up, and then

we would put
high-strength bolts through

to increase the integrity of the
bridge and allow it to handle

the higher weight of carrying
two decks at one time.

In February 2017,
the new deck is open to traffi.

And work begins
removing the old deck,

which has to be done
before the arrival

of the first new
giant container ship.

Our next task
was to remove

10,000 tons
of steel and concrete

from the existing roadway.

Doing this
could unbalance the bridge

and cause irreparable damage.

We were working from the center
back towards the approaches,

removing concrete, steel,

and working backwards
to create that opening.

There’s also danger
in demolishing the old deck

above a very busy river.

The challenge of this work
is working at height,

hundreds of feet
above the water.

You can’t have
a fear of heights.

It has to be in your nature
to really get this job done.

In New Jersey, the team
tasked with raising the height

of the Bayonne Bridge
faces their final challenge,

removing the old deck

before the arrival of
the first new super ship.

This is the world’s
busiest shipping channel.

If anything should
fall into the waterway,

it was a significant danger

to the ships and the crews
passing below.

That would cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars of impact

to these shipping
companies and to the region.

By September 2017,

the original bridge deck
is completely removed.

The first
huge new container ship arrive,

and attempts to pass underneat.

The atmosphere on
the opening day

for shipping traffic
was really spectacular.

We have a park
right on the water there.

Everybody just lined
the whole shoreline,

and watched
as the ship came down.

When you
see a ship that large,

the Teddy Roosevelt, come
through? It’s a big ship.

It almost looked like

it wasn’t going to fit
under the Bayonne Bridge,

and I really got nervous
at that point.

I’m like, "Oh my God,
tell me that we spent

"all this money to raise
the bridge,

and this ship’s not going
to fit there."

We watched it glide effortlessly
onto the new raised bridge.

It was an amazing experience.

When it did, yes,
there was a cheer on our vessel.

It was like,
mission accomplished.

Raising the Bayonne Bridge

has meant the Port of New York
and New Jersey can now handle

some $200 billion U.S. dollars
worth of goods every year.

Since the bridge
has been raised,

we have definitely seen
the benefits economically.

The port commerce that comes i,
the amount of jobs it creates,

it’s only going to get better
and better for this area.

It’s a project that not
only benefits

the local community,
but it also showcases

world-class engineering
and ingenuity at its finest.

It was
a very difficult project,

and it’s a success
for everyone involved.

So I’m very proud of it.

The Berlin Wall, once an
eyesore with a dark history,

was the backdrop
when a media company

chose to rebuild its
headquarters right next to it.

Their vision?

To create a symbol of everything
the wall stood against:

peace, hope, and unity.

Once you get a glimpse
of this building,

there is no doubt
that they succeeded

in creating a structure
that stands as a testament

to innovation, resilience,

and the power of design
to help heal old wounds.

In 2020,
Germany’s capital, Berlin,

is celebrating 30 years of
the country’s reunification.

And a bold new building,
the Axel Springer Neubau,

home to a German media empire,
is ready to mark the occasion.

I really felt this need

to create something that
is truly contemporary,

cutting-edge architecture,
ahead of the curve.

Its location
couldn’t be more symbolic,

where the Berlin Wall
once divided the city in two.

It’s located directly
on the death strip

on the former East Germany.

Designing a place
steeped in history

isn’t just about
putting up steel and concrete.

It’s about capturing its soul.

Every little detail has to honor
the legacy that came before it.

That’s the true test
of an architect

on a project like this.

The idea
comes about in 2013,

with a competition for a
building that will honor

Berlin’s past, while
representing the digital future

of one of Germany’s biggest
media and technology companies.

I said
in the briefing,

"I want to have a building
that is so beautiful,

"that we will have car accidents
in front of the building,

because people are
looking to the building."

Renowned architects OMA,

famous for its stunning
Seattle Central Library,

win the contract, based
on a design that makes a virtue

of the city’s troubled history.

Our site is exactly located
where the previous wall

between
East and West Berlin was.

And on either side of the wall,

there was that kind
of death zone.

Where people were
not allowed to walk.

Their idea is for
a huge open plan glass atrium

that will represent the no-mans
land that once divided the cit.

Measuring 13 stories, it’s a
very tall building for Berlin.

Normally,
buildings in Berlin

are 70 feet in height,

and this is the maximum line
for the height of the buildings.

At 150 feet high, the
design looks destined to fail.

We said, well,
"I’m not so optimistic

"that the Berlin Senate
will approve that,

because they’re
very strict about it."

But then the senator
who was in charge for that,

she said, "Okay, in this case,
we have to make an exception,

"because it is so convincing,

"it is so strikingly beautiful
and special,

that we approve that."

The unifying design
will transform Berlin

right where it was once divide.

A stunning media headquarters

with a massive 11-story
glass atrium at its center.

The new building will be
a physical representation

of the coming together
of East and West Berlin.

First,
they will have to navigate

a tiny building site
in the heart of Berlin.

Then, they’ll need to
build a structure

with a 150-foot-high void
at its center,

without it collapsing in
on itself.

Next, they have to construct
a delicate glass facade

that can withstand
Berlin’s fiercest weather.

Finally, they must ensure
that the 3,500 workers

can escape the huge open plan
office in the event of a fire.

When I first saw
the design of this building,

I thought,
"Oh my God, we can’t build it.

How is it possible?"

On May 3, 2016,
construction begins.

The first challenge? Excavating
100,000 tons of earth.

That’s 5,500 truckloads

through Berlin’s
residential neighborhoods.

Day by day, there was
a caravan of trucks coming in.

Minimizing disruption
to the residents

takes meticulous planning.

The construction company
told all the truck drivers,

"You have to come in in this
tight 15-minute time slot."

"If you don’t come
in in this time slot,

"then we will talk to you
very, very clear

that you have to be here
in your time slot."

Nine months later,
with the site excavated,

they face their next hurdle.

Building on a plot

that’s smaller than
two American football fields,

in a tightly packed city cente.

Standard construction cranes
with fixed arms

don’t really work
in tight spaces where

there’s not enough room for them
to turn without colliding.

That’s why they went with
the luffing jib cranes.

These are built for
tight quarters.

They can angle their arms
and their booms up and down

without smashing
into everything around it.

You have to work with them
like an orchestra.

And that means
very precise sequencing.

So the crane drivers
had to be trained.

"You move now
and you don’t move now."

They have to be very careful.

By January 2018,
the lower floors are in place.

Now, their attention turns
to the central atrium

that will honor
the city’s history,

of once being divided

between Communist-controlled
East Berlin,

and the Allies who
controlled the West.

During this time,

newspaper publisher
Axel Springer

built his original company
headquarters in West Berlin,

right next to the border
with the communist East.

Axel Springer wanted to be here,

because this is the
old media part of Berlin.

When the headquarters
is completed in 1966,

it’s visible across
the Berlin Wall,

standing as a beacon
for democracy.

We want to
fight for freedom and democracy

with our newspapers here on
the pole position by the border.

The media magnate
is determined

that his homeland will
one day be whole again.

Axel Springer believed
in a German reunification,

and he was called a
fool for his belief.

Springer never lives
to see his dream come true.

The Berlin Wall
comes down in 1989,

four years after his death.

Fast forward 30 years,
and the 150-foot atrium

of the new headquarters,
now under construction,

will stand as a tribute
to both a unified Germany

and the dreams of Axel Springe.

But with a huge hole at the
center of the building,

there’s nothing to hold up
the upper floors and roof

until its complete.

A typical building
has a grid of columns

spaced every nine meters or so

that supports the floor plates
top to bottom.

But if you want a big atrium
in the middle of your building,

you need another way of
supporting those upper floors.

Otherwise, that
wonderful open space

becomes a forest of columns.

In Berlin, Germany,
the team building

the Axel Springer Neubau’s
150-foot-tall atrium

must find a way to support
the roof and upper floors.

We needed
a lot of scaffolding

to hold up the
upper half of the building.

And they mean a lot.

It was roughly
132,000 cubic meters

of scaffolding
which had to be filled.

We built that up
until we reached the roof,

the scaffolding growing taller
with every floor we built.

It’s slow progress,
but as the scaffold grows,

the team is able to build
the top floors and roof

that will enclose the atrium.

In some places,
we’re hanging four floors.

In some places,
we’re hanging two floors,

because of the shape of the
atrium that we’re carving out.

By September 2018,
the upper floors are in place.

The next engineering challenge?

Making sure they stay there
when the scaffolding comes dow.

There aren’t enough columns

to support
the upper floors from below.

So they have to hold them
in place from above,

using something called
a transfer structure,

a heavy load steel grid,
built into the roof.

we’ve effectively built a table
at roof level

and we’re hanging the upper
floors from that tabletop

It’s a brilliant piece
of engineering. If it works.

You never really know
if a transfer structure

can hold the load until you
strip the scaffolding away.

That’s the heart-stopping
moment of truth,

and there’s no safety net.

The crew used powerful hydraulic
presses to jack those floors up.

The upper five floors were
lifted for roughly an inch.

They peeled away
one layer of the scaffolding,

then slowly eased off
the hydraulic presses,

letting the steel frame
gradually take the weight.

This is a moment where
we thought,

"Perhaps the whole building
is going to crash now."

And it didn’t.
That was quite a moment.

By October 2018,
the huge shell of the atrium

is in place and the team
faces its next challenge.

The 150-foot-high glass window
needs to be strong enough

to survive winds that can reach

close to 80 miles per hour
in a storm.

Stiffness is important to glass.
A thin piece of glass,

maybe over a few meters,
the wind blows on it,

you don’t really notice.

You make that glass
bigger and bigger.

All of a sudden, you know,
it moves. It moves alarmingly.

To increase the stiffness
of the glass facade,

the team turns to some very
simple, but effective physics.

Think of this sheet of paper
like a flat wall of glass.

Too much force,
and it buckles and gives way.

But if you corrugate
the surface of that glass,

it spreads the force evenly
through the ridges and valleys,

making it able to withstand
the same kind of force.

We modeled it physically.

You could already see
how much stiffness

that simple corrugation created.

The corrugated window

requires over 1,500 panes
of glass, with no two alike,

and engineered to fit within
a bespoke 3-D super frame.

I was
really a bit afraid.

Isn’t it too complicated
to erect a facade like this?

It takes nine months,
using a team of 100 fitters

to piece the complex 3-D facade
together, from bottom to top.

It worked
like a puzzle,

but really smooth
that the facade grew up,

in a way, organic.

So it was really happy
to see how it grew up.

With the atrium
almost complete

and just three months
until opening,

the team faces
its next obstacle:

How to control a fire
in an open space

that measures
over four million cubic feet.

Atriums and fire, they don’t
really go well together.

Without internal walls,
the smoke can spread rapidly.

But their plan is to try to tun
the void to their advantage.

Can we not use
the atrium as one big chimney?

So we will make sure that
the smoke will only collect

on the upper part of the atrium.

It’s a radical idea

that calls
for some serious equipment.

They installed massive
smoke extractor fans in the rof

that can clear smoke
from the lower atrium

in a matter of minutes.

It’s kind of something new,

and something that
has never been done before.

So to prove it works,

they have to conduct
a live fire test.

The fire started,
and everything was full.

You can’t see people standing
just a few meters beside you.

I was praying that these
machines please start,

and that everything works out.

If it fails,
the building can’t open.

And then you hear the sound
of the machines starting,

and the fog lifts and lifts.
That was a good day.

In spring 2020,

after three years
of painstaking construction,

the 600,000-square-foot
Axel Springer Neubau

opens for business.

It was
a very emotional moment.

A building that not only
looks to the future,

but is connected to the past,

and heals the space where the
wall once divided the city.

I think we’re extremely proud
on what we’ve achieved.

It’s just great. It’s fantastic.

It has exactly the right
balance, and I’m biased,

but I love it in every corner.

♪ MTV ♪