All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.2021.S02E03.Retrofits.and.Airport.Glitz.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_[eng]

[Male Narrator] How do you build
an airport so futuristic

that it's more
rainforest than runway?

There is no other airport
terminal building like this

anywhere.

[Narrator]
Why does a New York skyscraper

take 80 years to finish?

[Norman] It was open,
published speculation,

that was the end
of the tall building.

[Narrator] And how do you build
a gallery as extraordinary

as the art it holds in the
middle of a hurricane hotspot?

We've got 150-mph winds

and we've got
huge pieces of debris

flying right at our building.

[Narrator] This is the age
of the extraordinary.

[Hayley] It's like one of
those insect-eating plants,

only enormous and white.

[Narrator]
Where ingenious engineers have

unleashed unchecked creativity.

Now their secrets are revealed.

As we discover the inside
stories of their construction.

This is an incredible feat
of planning and engineering.

[Narrator]
To try and understand,

"How Did They Build That?"

It takes a lot of money,
materials, and brains

to transform the craziest
most ambitious designs

into extraordinary buildings.

It also takes time,

sometimes an unbelievable
amount of time.

When the world's
tallest building,

the 2,700 foot Burj Khalifa
in Dubai opened in 2010,

it had been under construction
for six years.

But that's nothing compared
to this next project.

A Manhattan landmark that's
sat unfinished since 1928.

Some 80 years later,
it finally emerged.

That's a heck of wait
for a new office.

[Narrator]
A New York's Manhattan Island,

the home of the high rise.

The constant competition
to redefine the skyline with

ever more incredible buildings
is reaching dizzying heights.

But in the middle sits what
should have been a skyscraper

of a bygone era.

Instead the vision of a
newspaper magnate was stopped

at a mere six floors by the
Great Depression of the 1930s.

And had been sitting
there ever since.

But at a moment in time when
it looked as though New York

might never build
another of its towers,

a world-famous architect
had a radical redesign in mind

and he wouldn't take no
for an answer.

[Norman] As I was told,
you would never, ever be able

to do that in New York,
which of course,

was the greatest incentive
to do just that.

[Narrator] It would prove to be
a monumental feat of engineering

rising from the
ashes of catastrophe.

[Norman] There was open,
published speculation,

that was the end
of the tall building.

[Narrator] It had become
a beacon for strength

and resilience as well as the
first of its kind in the city.

New York is skyscraper city,
so to pioneer it here,

it's truly amazing.

[Narrator]
A radical new skyscraper

rising out of the center
of an important old building.

A cutting-edge design borrowed
from nature that would push

engineers to their limits.

And require the city to change
its way of thinking.

This is the Hearst Tower.

So how did they build it?

New York, in the 1920s

was at the heart of the
country's thriving economy.

It was boom time for the city
that never sleeps.

People had flooded in from
around the world to make

their names and their fortunes.

Land prices had shot
through the roof.

And a generation of newly-minted
multi-millionaires

decide it's their opportunity
to make a mark on the Big Apple.

Harnessing new technology
to build bigger and higher

than ever before.

30 years earlier,

Andrew Carnegie finished
his landmark Carnegie Hall.

Walter P. Chrysler,
the automotive tycoon was

planning on building what would
be the world's tallest tower,

the Chrysler Building.

While another gilded-aged
billionaire, newspaper man

and politician,
William Randolph Hearst

didn't want to be left out.

Widely regarded
as the first media mogul.

At its peak, Hearst's newspapers

had a daily circulation
of 20 million people.

His life is so successful,
he becomes the inspiration

for the lead character
for an Orson Wells' film,

Citizen Kane.

But he wanted to make a mark
that would stand tall above

the city for 100 years,
rising from a corner of midtown.

[Peter] He really envisioned
this whole area being

the cultural center of New York

and there was Carnegie Hall
a block down.

He had a site next door,
which he wanted to build

an opera house.

And he saw his new headquarters
in the middle of all of that.

[Narrator] Construction began
on his dream tower.

By 1928, the six-story
base was complete.

But hit by the Great Depression
of the 1930s,

Hearst found himself
so deeply in debt that

he had to stop construction and
liquidate most of his assets.

Another attempt at reviving
his dream of the 1940s

was stopped by
the second World War.

Hearst died in 1951, not living
to see his towering glory built.

By the end
of the century though,

the Hearst organization
is in robust health.

And it decides the time is right
to bring its businesses together

under one very tall roof.

It's time for Randolph's
vision for a Hearst skyscraper

to become a reality.

To pull it off,
they turn to one of the world's

most influential architectural
practices led by Norman Foster.

We came without any
preconceptions

and we challenged a lot of the
things that we were told.

[Narrator] Foster has created
extraordinary buildings

from scratch like
30 St. Mary Axe in London.

More affectionately
known as the gherkin.

But he's also radically
reinvented some of the world's

most iconic historic buildings,

including the British Museum
in London.

And the roof of the
Reichstag in Berlin, Germany.

But Lord Foster's idea
for the Hearst Tower

takes reimagining old buildings
to a whole new level.

When you're dealing with
historic buildings,

there's a lot to consider.

For one, you don't want to
damage the existing structure.

The Hearst building is nearly
100 years old.

[Norman] It was apparently
always intended to have a tower,

but there were no evidence,
no drawings of it.

As I was told,

the one thing you cannot do is
take away everything inside.

Now that's called facadism.
You would never, ever

be able to do that in New York,
which of course,

was the greatest incentive
to do just that.

[Narrator] True to form, Lord
Foster tears up the rule book.

He's supposed to keep
the interior as well as

the exterior intact.

Instead, he plans to scoop out
the inside.

Lord Foster plans
to remove the roof

and hollow out the insides of
the original six-floor building.

All without damaging
the historic facade,

so he can create
an enormous new atrium.

Steel megacolumns will then rise
from the foundations all the way

up to the base of the new
10th floor

where the brand new tower
begins.

With beauty and strength,
and mind, the diagonal grid

of four-story-long steel
trusses will interlock

to create a series of triangles,

the strongest shape
which will resist movement

all the way up the 46th floor.

The design is ready
to present to their clients,

so Foster and his team
travel to New York.

The presentation meeting
at the Hearst building

is scheduled for 9:30 AM.

The year is 2001.
The date is September the 11th.

I was walking that morning
for the meeting.

And I realized as people
were gathering and talking

that there was something,
something strange going on.

And there were a group of
truck drivers talking animatedly

and I was curious
and joined them.

Ended up in the cab of a truck
listening to the event

unfolding on the radio.

[Narrator] As the Twin Towers
collapse in the most deadly

terrorist attack on US soil,
the world is changed forever.

It also calls into question the
very future of the skyscraper.

At that time there was open,
published speculation

that was the end
of the tall building.

[music]

[Narrator] Next, will the
Hearst Tower ever be finished?

[Narrator] In the weeks
after the 911 attacks,

New York City
slowly regains its buzz.

Shock has become resilience and
resilience is sparking action.

The Hearst Tower
remains on the table.

There's a brief moment of pause

for people to process
what just happened.

The project went on hold
for about a month while Hearst

decided whether or not to
proceed with the project.

They realize to not build
would signal defeat

and they wanted to show
that the city's resilient

and it became one of the first
commercial office towers

post 911 to be built
in New York City.

[Narrator] With Lord Foster's
radical vision signed off,

the engineering team
gets to work.

The first challenge is to safely

strip the old building
back to facade

while getting it ready
for the 40-story tower,

which is about
to be built above it.

Because of the enormous weight
of the tower,

there's no way
it can be supported

by the existing outer walls
and original foundations below.

Instead the plan is to create
a completely new structure

that doesn't rely on the old
building for strength.

Starting with brand new,
super strong foundations.

Luckily, there is a reason
Manhattan is

home of the skyscraper.

Manhattan's well-known for its
granite base and you don't have

to go down far to hit bedrock
unlike other cities.

And there was no exception
here as well.

[Narrator] Constructing solid
foundations is often one

of the unknown costs
in the construction world.

But here, they are in luck.

With shallow foundations you
don't have to dig as deep,

so it's usually easier to
construct and it costs less.

[Peter] The original building
had a basement and

not far from the basement
is pretty solid bedrock,

so we didn't have
to excavate too much.

[Narrator] The engineers
start work on the megacolumns,

attaching them to the newly
constructed foundation

sunk into the bedrock below.

These huge structural legs
will literally hold the tower

above the old Hearst building.

We wanted to limit the amount
of columns that would touch the

ground because that meant a lot
of excavation and demolition.

[Narrator] The problem
facing the engineers

is how to do this while
protecting the old building.

[Hayley]
In a traditional building,

the floors inside
brace the walls

interconnecting everything.
This creates a strong box.

Take those away and everything
becomes weak and unstable.

[Narrator] Lord Foster's design
requires taking out all the old

internal walls and floors from
the original six-story building

to create a show-stopping atrium
underneath the new tower.

Ahmad Rahimian is the engineer
charged with doing this

without it all falling down.

[Ahmad] In order to provide
lateral bracing,

in absence of the original
floors for the facade,

we devised a new set of framing,

a grid system behind
the existing facade.

[Hayley] Building a super strong
skeleton inside the old walls

and tying these into
the new megacolumns

means you can safely
take away the floors.

[Peter] Once we inserted the
columns and the tie beams,

they were ready to be cleared
out of all the supporting slabs.

[Narrator]
The construction crews

demolish the interior floors

creating a giant hole they soon
hope becomes a stunning atrium.

The megacolumns extend
another four floors above

to the 10th floor,

the structural heart
of the new tower.

The 10th floor is our
major support floor.

Its job is to transfer the load
from the diagrid system above

into the perimeter megacolumns
in the base below.

All whilst incorporating the
visual trick of appearing

to float above the
original building.

[Narrator] Now the engineers
face their biggest challenge,

constructing the new glass
tower that's going to

sit over the old building.

Lord Foster goes for a structure
that borrows its design

from the natural world.

If you want to track that down
through structures in nature,

spider's webs, whatever.

You'll see the principle
of triangulation.

[Narrator]
It's called a diagrid.

An exoskeleton of steel
that takes the load

instead of the internal columns
found in most buildings.

So in the event of
any catastrophe

where you take away
part of that structure,

there are more parts
that the load can take.

So it's more resilient.
It's stronger.

[Hayley] It basically works like
a web of triangles

all pushing together
at their points.

And pushing against each other,

they essentially
support each other.

The diagrid essentially became a
solution to the problem

with the building
being destabilized.

But it also turned out,
there are many other benefits.

Less materials are used and
it looks pretty cool, too.

[Norman] The triangulated
structure in Hearst

uses 20% less steel,

2,000 tons for a structure,
which is actually more rigid.

[Narrator] The engineers
and construction crews

get to work erecting the tower.

New York has never seen
anything like it.

[Corina]
New York is skyscraper city,

yet the diagrid system had
never been used in one.

So to pioneer it here,
it's truly amazing.

[Narrator] The tower grows
and the diagrid structure

is tied into the core
of the building

making it even stronger.

[Ahmad] There is a
symbiotic relationship

between the external diagrid
with that internal-core

structure with both supporting
each other in an elegant way.

[Peter] It's not just vertical
gravity that we're dealing with.

We also have to work
with lateral movement

because of wind and seismic,
so the diagrid takes all those

complicated forces,
interconnects amongst itself

and then ties it back
at every floor.

[Narrator] In most skyscrapers,
the ironwork that gives strength

is hidden away in the structure,
so none of it can be seen.

In the Hearst Tower,

Lord Foster decides to celebrate
the framework instead.

The structure is very much part
and parcel of the architecture,

which is holding it aloft.

To clad that in stainless steel
with the sharp angles

means that it's forever
changing its appearance

depending on the weather.

Subliminally that choice of
polished stainless steel

is evocative of other buildings,

which are symbolic
like the Chrysler Tower,

which is one of my
personal favorites.

[Narrator] In 2005,

the Hearst Tower
is finally complete

reenergizing and redefining
the beating heart

of the Hearst Corporation.

[Norman] I go back to Hearst.

New York is the
city of skyscrapers.

Amazing we've got a skyscraper
in New York.

[Peter] The joy of not only
designing the building,

but then to have
our office in the building

is that you're able to see how
the people use it.

Basically, this has been our
home for the past 15 years.

[Narrator] The Hearst Tower
is the perfect marriage

of the old and the new.

Foster's rebellious act of
scooping out the building's

inside has created an enormous,
exciting and welcoming space.

While outside, New York's first
diagrid skyscraper

reinvigorates one of
the city's historic landmarks,

redefining what's possible.

Visionary design and
groundbreaking engineering

puts the Hearst Tower on the map
after 80 years of waiting.

[music]

How do you like
hanging out in an airport?

No?
Me neither.

We got to airports only
to get somewhere else.

The musty air,
the impossible to find bathrooms

and a cup of coffee
the price of molten gold,

no thank you.

But in Singapore,
they do things differently.

Forget squeaky baggage carousels
and security lines

longer than your holiday
and think tropical rainforest

with infinity waterfall
falling from the sky.

At last, an airport that is a
destination itself.

As for the overpriced coffee,

yeah, I'm afraid that's
just an airport law.

[Narrator] With a population of
close to six million,

Singapore is a small country
with a big economy

and a determination to create
a world-class impression.

So in 2013,

as the city state is growing
in economic power and stature,

it wants the new airport
to reflect its vision.

Somewhere that will blow away
anyone who sees it.

[Cristobal] There is no other
airport terminal building

like this anywhere.

[Narrator] It has the world's
largest gridshell roof

with a huge cylinder of water
pouring through it.

Becoming the tallest indoor
waterfall on the planet.

This is Jewel Changi
in Singapore.

The engineers
that made this happen

are pure magicians, period.

[Narrator] It's a place where
lucky passengers wander

through a huge indoor garden
that's among, you guessed it,

the largest on the planet.

Between them,
architects and engineers

created a 10-story tall,
1,460,000 square foot

man-made paradise.

And all of this happened
while one of the world's busiest

airports stayed open and a train
ran right through the site.

Next find out how they built it.

[Narrator] It's 2012.

Singapore Airport
is handling around

50 million passengers a year.

And come second in the
world airport awards.

Good, but not good enough.

In a country that wants its
already successful economy

to really take off.

Hoping it will increase capacity
and attract new business,

they decide to create a
brand new departure's hub

and invite some of the world's
leading architects

to come up with
a startling design.

Boston-based Safdie architects
are invited to bid for the job.

The bid document that we
received requested an expansion

of the retail facilities
at Changi Airport,

but also a major attraction of
unknown design and program.

And so our task was
to conceive of some kind of

unknown attraction.

Together, it is something
that would be

a destination for Singaporeans
and visitors alike.

[Narrator] The team that wins
the bid will get a huge prize,

a project with a budget
of 1.6 billion dollars.

Even though airport
structures are big,

with a budget of over
a billion bucks,

you can make something
really special.

And that's exactly what
Singapore Airport wanted to do.

[Narrator] Home to some
of the world's most

groundbreaking pieces
of architecture

like the Sky Gardens
and Gardens By The Bay,

the bar is already set
pretty high in Singapore.

But it also gives the
Safdie team inspiration.

[Jaron] Singapore's a place
that is the Garden City.

And we said, well,
the garden is the attraction.

A garden is a
timeless destination

that would draw people
from near and far.

Something so spectacular
and the scale of which

has never been done before.

[Narrator] They come up with
a truly extraordinary design

for the new airport.

Part shopping mall,
part urban forest.

They will create a valley
that climbs up steeply

over five floors

hiding over 300 places
to eat and shop.

All of this will be covered
by over 9,000 panels of glass

with practically no support
from underneath.

In the center, there will an
oculus or hole to the outside.

Through it, every minute,

10,000 gallons of water will
fall into a pool 130 feet below.

The experience of being within
this transport-hub wonderland

is expected to be
completely unique.

But before anyone can enjoy it,
engineers have to figure out

how on earth they're
going to build it.

Starting with the enormous roof,
all 325,000 square feet of it.

The first time I saw the design
from the Safdies, I was like,

wow, what a great space.

They, of course,
they had drawn things without

having a very good idea of the
engineering behind it,

but I sensed that it had a logic
that I could work with.

[Jaron] The test was how do you
make it as light

and as elegant as possible?

We were trying to create as
visible impression of the sky

as possible.

[Narrator] The solution is to
create a super-strong structure

known as a gridshell.

Gridshells are awesome.
They're strong and light,

which means you can create huge
spans of unsupported roof area.

But ideally,
they need to be symmetrical.

This means that the load
can be evenly distributed.

And it's also just
a lot easier to build.

[Narrator] Here though,
it can't be.

A sky train runs through
the middle of the site,

which would put it right
underneath thousands of tons

of water cascading down
onto the tracks.

We couldn't have the water
over the airport train.

We couldn't shift
the airport train,

but we had to shift the
waterfall over to the side.

[Jaron] Of course,
it would have been interesting

to go through the waterfall
on the train,

but the engineers didn't
really like that.

[Narrator] Moving the waterfall
from the center of the roof

has big consequences.

It means that each panel
and every connection is

different from the next.

[Cristobal] You have thousands
of different elements

and only one element
belongs in one place.

They're not like,
interchangeable.

And so basically what you're
gonna do is you're gonna

manufacture all these pieces
that are all different,

all customized using computers
and milling machines.

We digitally milled these
steel surfaces in Germany

and places like Malaysia.

And they were all shipped
to site in containers

and then bolted in place
in the exact position

that they needed to be.

[Cristobal] I think this
building showcases

what you can do now with
computer-aided design

because it allows you to sort of
mass customize something.

[Narrator] Next, 9,304 unique
triangular panes of glass

are fitted to complete the roof.

Although the dome
weighs 4,000 tons,

it's so strong and has been
engineered so precisely

that it needs
minimal support inside.

[Cristobal] There's 14 columns.
We call them tree columns that

support the gridshell between
the perimeter and the waterfall.

[Narrator] Incredibly,
all through construction

the airport keeps
functioning as normal.

Even the sky train runs
through the site

shielded from potential damage

by a temporary
protective tunnel.

The next challenge for the
engineers is creating a system

for getting 10,000 gallons
of water up onto the roof

to feed the waterfall

without ruining the look
of the beautiful design.

[Cristobal] We are doing
something that we hadn't

done before and we're going
to make something beautiful,

but you know, there's always
a little level of fear um,

that we have to control.

[Narrator] Although the team
had created waterfalls

inside buildings before,

they'd not done anything
on this scale.

In fact, no one had.

[Jaron] It wasn't our first
rodeo in a sense

in terms of creating a waterfall
inside a building,

but in order to deliver this,

we had to do two and
a half years of research.

We built full-scale mockups.

[Narrator] The extensive testing
yields a system

that is efficient, ecological
and invisible to the public.

You want to do it in a way
you can't really tell

where the water is coming from.

[Narrator] And that's
exactly what they achieve.

The water starts its journey in
a 115,000 gallon holding tank

built in the basement.

From thre it's pumped
in eight pipes up four floors

to ground level.

This is where the roof becomes
visible to anyone inside.

And the water needs to be
moved in secret.

[Cristobal] So the pipes
that feed the waterfall

come out at level five

and they actually
go through the fins

that are on the outside
of the gridshell.

And there the water all collects

and then it all
gets directed downward.

[Narrator]
With the water on the roof,

the next challenge is how to
deal with the deafening noise

created by five tons of water
per minute

crashing down
into the pool below.

But the specialist
water featured team

comes up with a slick solution
to turn the volume down.

They install a huge
dished acrylic funnel,

which reduces impact,

so the water slides quietly
down the four floors below.

This also creates an incredible
visual feature to see

in the basement
shopping mall below.

And in addition,
the waterfall creates

air currents that cool the
building and cool the garden,

and help temper the air
for the people

who are enjoying
the gardens below.

[Narrator] The next challenge
is working out how to create

a healthy 5.6 acres of forest
garden in the cooled valley.

Many of Singapore's tropical,
indigenous plants

will struggle to survive.

So the five stories of
steep terraces are planted

with 120 species normally found
in high-altitude forests

around the world.

The team have to plant 60,000
shrubs, ferns and flowers.

Plus 3,000 mature trees,

including 40-foot palms
so heavy,

they have to be
winched into position.

And a 120-year-old tree
from Spain.

It's taken six years.

It cost 1.25 billion dollars
to complete.

The question now

is will anyone like it?

[Narrator]
Most of the world's airports

are 21st century bus stations,
drab and gray,

shaped more by
the mechanics of transit

than the beauty of design.

But on Easter Sunday in 2019,

the boldest most spectacular
airport terminal in the world

opens its doors.

And 600,000 people
rush in to see it,

10% of Singapore's
entire population.

[Jaron] It was almost like a
festival had arrived at Jewel.

There were so many smiling faces
upon the opening of this project

and it was just heart-warming.

It was a proud moment
for the whole team.

[Narrator]
Underneath seven acres of steel

and glass gridshell,

visitors can enjoy sky nets,
crystal clouds and mazes.

Or they can brave
the 165-foot long,

glass-bottomed canopy bridge
suspended 75 feet in the air.

While below it,

travelers enjoy the spray
wafting from the rain vortex.

When you see people arriving
with their suitcases,

they're just kinda, they're
like, a little bit dumbstruck.

They can hear the waterfall.

They can feel the wetness
from the waterfall.

They can see the green.

And it think it's just like,
kind of overwhelming.

It's a very inspiring space.

[Narrator] And nighttime
brings an even more

show-stopping spectacle.

With light projections
dancing off the cascade.

This airport is no longer a way
station to other destinations.

It is a destination itself.

No surprise that Jewel Changi
surpassed its annual target

of 50 million visitors just
six months after opening.

I don't know any other
airport where people say,

I want to have a stopover,
because that way I can see it.

In that sense, I think it really
put Changi Airport on the map.

[Narrator] In 2019 and 2020,

Singapore Airport is ranked
the world's best.

It also gains an
unbeatable platinum award

for sustainability.

[Jaron] I don't think I'm alone
in saying that Jewel was one

of the most complex projects
that I've ever worked on.

And I'm very proud that we were
able to deliver what we promised

if not more than
what we promised.

[music]

Now if you were asked
to design a museum

inspired by Salvador Dali,

one of the greatest surrealist
artists who ever lived,

how tempting would it be
to shape it

like a huge melting clock?

Or like a lobster telephone?

That would be crazy.

Almost as crazy as say,

building a museum around an
endless helical staircase.

No one would ever be crazy
enough to do that, right?

Wrong.

[Narrator]
St. Petersburg, Florida.

Locals call it St. Pete.

Tourists attracted by an average
of 361 sunny days per year,

call it Sunshine City.

Home to around 270,000 people
who came for that sun and water.

St. Pete has another attraction

that might broaden
the city's appeal.

Because it's also home to one of
only two major museums in the

world dedicated to the works of
Spanish artist, Salvador Dali.

A building that's almost as
strange and arresting

as the paintings
that hang inside.

The result is a mind-bending
building to look at.

[Narrator] A building as
tough as it is good looking.

It can stand up to a
two by four being

shot out of a cannon at it.

[Narrator] It's protected from
the worst of Florida's weather.

This is the Dali Museum,
St. Petersburg.

So how did they build it?

St. Petersburg may not
immediately seem

the most obvious place to find a
collection of over 2,400 pieces

by the Spanish artist,
Salvador Dali.

A man whose paintings sell for
tens of millions of dollars.

The story behind the museum
and the artwork in it

begins with a love affair
started some 80 years ago.

This collection,

which is the preeminent
collection of Dali in the world

was formed by Reynolds
and Eleanor Morse.

They had collected Dali
from the first days of

their romantic engagement.

They actually bought
each other a Dali painting

as a wedding present.

[Narrator] That was in 1942.

And over the next 25 years,
they added to their collection

becoming both Dali's
patrons and friends.

In 1971, they decided to open
their first Dali museum

in Cleveland, Ohio.

With Dali attending
the opening in person.

Ten years later, they decided
to move the collection.

And eventually, they found a
location in St. Petersburg.

The museum opened in 1981
in a downtown marine warehouse.

And here it stayed
for another 28 years.

But there was a problem.

Florida's six-month hurricane
season wreaks yearly destruction

up and down the coast.

And every time a major storm
threatened the area,

the incredible collection of
paintings and rare books

worth millions of dollars

had to be moved in case
the worst was to happen.

In 2008, the museum decides it
wants to redesign the building.

To do it,
they bring in Yann Weymouth.

Who'd been involved
in creating the glass pyramid

at the Louvre in Paris.

Yann has bigger and bolder
ideas than simply

redesigning the existing space.

[Yann] The museum was right
on the water

and it was very vulnerable
to potential storms.

The first goal was protect it

from any potential
climate events.

The second goal was,
oh, and by the way,

we would like the museum
to be unlike any museum

we've ever seen, and iconic.

[Narrator] Having convinced
the foundation that this

irreplaceable collection needs
a completely new building,

Yann gets to work designing
somewhere strong enough

to protect it from Florida's
most violent hurricanes.

[Ellie] We've got 150-mph winds.

We've got storm surges.
We've got floods.

And we've got
huge pieces of debris

flying right at our building.

Protect the collection
is making this place a fort.

[Narrator] At the heart
of the design

is a box that will be so strong

that it will fend off anything
the weather throws at it.

The walls are 18-inches thick.

And they are laced with

hundreds of kilometers
of steel bars.

[Narrator] The engineer charged
with building

this impregnable gallery
is Scott Martin.

[Scott] We wanted to make the
building to protect the artwork.

That's what really drove me to
and got me excited

to protect the artwork
no matter what elements

mother nature
had to throw at it.

[Narrator] Although concrete
and steel is a tried and tested

construction method,

building in Sunshine City

gave the engineering team
its first headache.

[Hayley] When poured in hot
weather, concrete sets faster,

so you must work quicker.

Moisture evaporation is
accelerated making cracking

more likely reducing the overall
strength of the concrete.

[music]

[Narrator] Next,

can they pour it fast enough?

[Narrator] In Florida,

the new Salvador Dali Museum
is under construction.

And the massive job of pouring
the concrete is underway.

Because so much concrete
would be visible

in the finished building,

the design spec also
requires minimal joints.

The engineer's solution
to both challenges

is to use a system
of form work or molds,

which they then fill with
huge batches of concrete.

But that creates
another problem, wood,

the material traditionally used
to build the molds

isn't going to be up to the job.

[Scott] There's a lot of outward
forces exerted on the form work,

so they use steel form work
here and with strong ties going

between the two, so when they
pour the concrete inside of it

and the concrete wanted
to force the forms apart,

the forms kept it together
and were able to

because they were
made out of steel.

[Narrator] It takes seven months
and 20,000 tons of concrete,

but in October 2009,
the cube is complete.

That was the first part
of the concept, strong box.

The problem with a strong box is
the gold of the United States

is kept in Fort Knox in Texas.

And fortresses are not
terribly inviting to come in.

A challenge that engineers
and architects face

is that balance
between form and function.

The easiest way to protect the
art would have been to lock it

in a big concrete box,
but where's the fun in that?

This building is not only
about keeping something safe,

it's also about showing it off.

How do you make a museum that
people will want to be in

and how do you make that
museum not claustrophobic?

Well, that's very simple.

You give them light.
You give them space.

You give it volume.

The box needs to be somewhat
disrupted by something in glass.

[Narrator] Yann's solution is
to leave open part of the

concrete box in order to bring
light into the huge atrium

and the galleries.

They'll then create a futuristic
glass dome worthy of Dali

nicknamed The Enigma.

It will be made up of 1,062
triangular panes of glass.

Although the idea comes
from Yann and the team,

the final design isn't
down to any human.

This structure is possible

because of
computer-aided design.

By using computer software,
we can create

really complex designs
allowing us to push the limits

like never before.

[Narrator] Despite being
largely made from glass,

Enigma has to be super tough.

Fabricated in triangular panes,
the strongest shape.

It is also made from
reinforced structural glass.

Then it needs testing to
make sure it is tough enough.

Because we're in a large
missile-impact region

or a windborne debris region,

um, and that's anywhere
in Florida where the winds

can go over 140 mph.

Any kind of glass needs
to be impact resistant,

which means it can stand up
to a two by four

being shot out of
a cannon at it.

So all the glass panels
have been designed and tested

at a wind tunnel test in Miami.

They've got a
two by four cannon.

They shoot it at glass panels
to make sure

it can stand up to
large missile impact tests.

[Narrator]
With the artwork safe

and the outside
of the building solid,

Yann has one very large
surrealist twist in mind

for the center of the museum.

Something that would have
made Dali himself smile.

[Yann] We have three high-speed,
very efficient, energy-conscious

elevators to take people up,

but how do you signal to people
that there's a way up?

A spiral staircase
seemed a natural.

Dali loved spirals.

He loved DNA.
It's a structural tour de force.

[Narrator] The enormous spiral
staircase is to be made entirely

out of steel and concrete

touching the building
at two points.

The engineers pour the concrete
in eight-foot sections

and have to support
it as they go

because it won't be able
to stand by itself

until it's finished.

And even then,
only if they get it right.

[Scott] We'd never done a stair
like this before

that was free standing
like this.

So when using shoring on
something like this

and the concrete has
to stand on its own.

[Narrator]
The moment of truth comes.

And the engineers remove
the form work to see

if their calculations
are correct.

One mistake and they will be
left with a pile of rubble.

[Scott] It's always a little
nerve-racking and um, maybe

get a couple of sleepless nights
out of it, but at the end it all

came out like we designed it to.

[Narrator] It may have taken
three years in the making,

10,000 yards of concrete,

220 miles of rebar,

and 1,062 triangles of glass,

but in 2011, the Dali Museum
is finally complete

and ready to throw open its
doors to the public.

[Yann] They were astonished.

I'm sure some of them
thought it was strange.

There's a sense of life to it.

[Scott] I think Dali
would have been impressed.

It's something that's
outside the box.

It's surreal, that's unique,
that's completely atypical

to anything else around here
or in the country.

Uh, I think he would
have been proud of,

of the building that we built.

[Narrator] Designed to survive
the worst hurricanes imaginable,

the Dali Museum will continue

to keep this
quiet corner of Florida,

weird, for years to come.