All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.2021.S02E04.Elevated.and.Elegant.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_[eng]

[Narrator] How do you build a
huge steel frame

100 feet in the air on stilts?

Initially it was
a head-scratcher for sure,

and a little concerning.

[Narrator] How do engineers move
a 5,000 ton roof over a railroad

while the trains
are still running?

This is one of the
biggest stations in Belgium

It's a logistical nightmare.

[Narrator] And how do you
create a brand new museum

from a giant stone jigsaw
with over 1,000 pieces?

Truth be told, there
were many sleepless nights.

[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 amazing
stories of their construction.

[Corina] This is an
incredible feat of planning

and engineering.

[Narrator]
To try and understand,

"How Did They Build That?"

For me, great architecture
is like great fashion.

While the most daring
and outrageous designs

might look fantastic on
the drawing board or catwalk,

there's no way I could ever pull
them off in a regular street.

But this next building
has done exactly that.

It's a custom classic,
boldly strutting its stuff

right in the centre of Toronto.

[Narrator] In downtown Toronto,
there's a brash new building

that's dividing opinion.

It's powerful,
evocative, playful.

[Nick] I had somebody walk up
to me on the street

and just say,
what is that ugly piece of...?

It's a downtown
landmark for sure.

[Narrator] This is what happened
when an art college

that needed more space
had nowhere else to go...

and an architect got the chance
to go wild.

[Haley] It's crazy.

Like a building is being
airlifted into downtown.

[Narrator] This is the
Rosalie Sharp Centre For Design,

a tall story made real by
extraordinary engineering.

100,000 square feet of new
college extension

balanced on 12 90-foot stilts.

All hovering over
the delicate old school.

You have to worry about
another building collapsing

while you're doing all this.

[Narrator] This pixelated
cuboid of steel

brought the traffic
to a standstill,

but also became
an instant landmark.

And it's where brilliant
planning and engineering

combined to create a new
classroom space out of thin air.

So how did they build it?

Downtown Toronto
has the third most skyscrapers

over 650 feet in North America.

And it's Canada's
financial heart.

Next door to the money making
is the entertainment district,

where people come for music,
theatre, sport,

or just to hang out.

And squeezed in amongst all this

is Canada's oldest
educational institution

for art and design,
the OCAD University.

We are embedded in the middle
of downtown Toronto.

This... Chinatown's over there,
you know,

the entertainment district
is south of us.

[Narrator] Built in the 1920s,
by the end of the century

the main college site
can't cope anymore.

We just needed more studio
spaces for our students.

[Narrator] It's the year 2000,
and now with almost

two and a half thousand
art students registered here,

the site is busting at the
seams.

Another 100,000 square feet
of space is needed,

but they have
three big problems.

Number one, there's no space
to extend the building

outwards any further.

Number two, the foundations
of the existing building

aren't strong enough to add
more floors on top.

We would've been driven
to putting columns through

the existing building,
which was basically a no go.

[Narrator] And number three,
the residents in the apartments

across the road have a view
over to nearby Grange Park,

and they don't want to lose it.

[Paul] The neighbours enjoyed
their view of the park,

and they didn't want to be
blocked by a big, monstrous

building right in front of them.

[Narrator] Faced with no easy
answers, the college knows

it's going to need
a radical approach.

They find it three and a half
thousand miles east

in London, England,

in the unconventional mind
of architect Will Alsop.

[Ellie] Will Alsop is the
maverick's maverick architect.

He pushes engineers
to their absolute limits.

[Narrator]
He can't build outwards.

And he can't build upwards
without blocking views.

But Will Alsop finds a solution

with a characteristic flash of
inspiration.

Will had this idea.

We'll just raise the building
out of their sight line,

so the underside of this
tabletop is basically

at the roof of the apartment
across the street,

so they can still have a
clear view of the park.

[Narrator]
It's a radical concept,

even by Alsop's standards.

[Ana] When it was presented
to the various people who could

make it a reality, I think it
just captured their imagination.

[Narrator]
The engineers, however,

want a little more detail.

[Paul] And he came over
and presented this vision

on the back of a napkin, this
building floating in midair.

And we're saying, well,
we gotta, may have to add

a column here or there.

And that was the big joke
at the time.

[Narrator] But supporting the
very large two-storey building

on stilts is no joke.

Though sometimes used in
domestic housing designs,

pillars have rarely been used
to support

very large commercial buildings,

and for very good reasons.

[Hayley] Usually a building is
constructed from the ground up.

It has foundations,
lower levels that underpin

the base of the structure
and, if necessary,

additional bracing to provide
support in strong winds

or even earthquakes.

But this box on stilts
has no such thing.

[Narrator] But that isn't
going to stop this project.

So some serious thinking
goes into making Alsop's

amazing levitating
building a possibility.

The huge two-storey tall
rectangular box

will float 50 feet above the
old college building

and 85 feet above the pavement.

Its main support will be a
concrete core that will also

take all the plumbing, wiring,
elevators and stairs.

But this will still leave
the 275 foot-long structure

precariously balanced.

So six pairs of 90-foot-long
steel legs will be added

in strategic positions to
support its massive weight.

The engineers are confident
these columns will hold it up.

They just don't know
how it can all be built

in downtown Toronto.

Some eyebrows were raised when
the site team

looked at the initial structure,
how we were going to install it.

[Narrator] The first challenge
is how they're going to build

the 1,300-ton steel frame

above the old, but still active
university building.

There's an existing
building down below.

That was a big constraint,
and that housed students.

They didn't want steel
to be hoisted over top

of students below because
if something were to happen,

it would be a high-risk element.

[Narrator] In order to build it
safely, the team decides

work will take place during
the 12-week summer vacation.

That, though, is a very short
schedule to build anything,

let alone this.

[Ed] We had a very tight
window through the summer.

We were under the gun
to make sure that we

achieved that milestone.

[Narrator] In summer 2002,

they begin work on the
central concrete core.

At the height where the frame
for the structure begins,

they bolt on a girder.

This is where they'll attach
the first steel columns.

The clock is ticking,

so they decide to
speed up the build

by prefabricating the steel
structure in a factory off site.

[Edward] It saved weeks and
weeks on the schedule

and made sure that those key
critical structural connections

were done in a shop environment
under high-quality conditions,

because there's a lot of load
going through those columns.

[Narrator] The next challenge

is how to get those huge 90-foot
columns into the tightly packed

grid of downtown Toronto.

Initially, it was a
head-scratcher for sure

and a little concerning.

[Narrator] Next,
the whole project depends

on finding an answer.

[Narrator] In downtown Toronto,
roads are closed to traffic

and cleared of obstacles,

so that the trucks can manoeuvre
the 90-foot-long columns along

the tight route into the site.

The level of planning
required is incredible,

but when you're shutting
down entire city streets,

there is no room for error.

You can see there's very
tight site constraints.

Obviously, overhead wires
were here at the time

for the streetcar system.
It had to be removed.

[Edward] Police escorts are
involved; it's pretty intense.

It had to be very clockwork
operation to make sure that

everything went very quickly.

[Narrator]
As each column arrives on site,

it's hoisted into position
and fixed.

[Edward] Everything had to
be coordinated very tightly

because there's
no room for error.

I was definitely here watching
to make sure that first

column fit as planned.

It was a pretty intense moment.

[Narrator] Once there,
they need to bolt each

of the legs into place
on a system of foundations

engineered to withstand
an earthquake.

No mean feat when they're
supporting 1,300 tons of steel,

90 feet in the air.

[Nehemiah] The big thing here is
that this building is extremely

top heavy, so much like a coffee
table, it's designed where legs

are strategically placed
such that it can support

the structure down
to the foundation.

However, you're looking at it
and you see that the load path

is through each of these stilts,
whereas if one gets damaged

and one goes, then the whole
structure could collapse.

[Narrator]
There's a very real danger

that if a leg gets damaged,

the whole structure
could topple over.

To overcome the problem,
engineers design a system

where two legs are fixed
to a triangle of deep concrete

foundation piles, or caissons,

to give it extra strength.

The columns are in pairs,
so each column comes down

on a caisson.

And the caissons are tied
together with a beam,

but there's a third caisson,
which is stabilising it

in the other direction.

So at the point of the tripod
under the ground,

so it's not gonna move.
Like a triangle's very stable.

And here in Canada, you have
to tie caissons somehow

so they don't start to move
around during an earthquake.

[Narrator] It's now August.

And school starts in less
than a month.

With the columns secured,

they add more girders and steel
to create the rectangular box.

The iron workers are so fast,
in just a few weeks,

the frame grows from a single
floor to two rigid storeys.

[Edward] It was more
plug and play versus

lift and hope for the best.

And it all went very well.

So we're very, very happy
that all that preplanning

materialised into a success.

[Narrator] The next challenge
the engineers have to overcome

is mother nature herself.

Toronto is one of
Canada's windiest cities,

with regular gusts
of over 50 mph.

To prevent metal fatigue
and even structural failure

caused by the constant
pounding of the wind,

the team engineers the
building to move a little,

absorbing some of the force.

But this solution creates
another problem,

because the old college building
underneath does not move.

And the two have to be joined by
a staircase allowing people

to escape in an emergency.

If one part moves even
just a few millimetres

and the other part doesn't,
a rigid joint could fracture

with potentially incredibly
disastrous consequences.

[Corina] The last thing you
want during really high winds

or an earthquake is for your
occupants to not be able

to use the escape route.

[Narrator] The engineers
come up with an ingenious fix.

They'll attach the staircase
at the top to the new building.

But at the bottom,

they won't attach it to
the floor of the old building.

It's hard to notice, but they
aren't actually touching.

It means if one moves,
the other doesn't get damaged.

[Paul] It sits down on pads
on top of the existing building,

so this is free to move
in case the two buildings

are moving differently.

We cannot connect the two
buildings together.

In fact, nowhere is the
tabletop connected to the

existing building.

There are always two separate
buildings with either an

expansion joint between them
or some sort of movement joint.

[Narrator] By the start of the
fall semester in September 2003,

they've won the race to build
the main steel box.

Now students return to the
old university building below.

And the team gets on
with finishing the extraordinary

new structure above.

It takes a year,
but in October 2004,

they unveil
the hotly anticipated

new university building.

[Nick] You get all kinds of
reactions.

Surprisingly passionate ones.

[Woman] Some people do
think it's an eyesore,

but I think that's kind of
what makes it important, is that

you need some things that are
standing out in the city.

[Man] It's interesting.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

It's not really a thing
that you get bored of.

[Narrator] The university has
its extra 100,000 square feet

of space for art studios,
classrooms, exhibitions

and offices.
And it has it in style.

It feels so fresh, but probably
pissed off some people

when it was first built,
but over time showed

how important it was to actually
embrace a new way

of looking at the way a building
ought to be, uh,

erected in the middle of a city.

[Narrator]
The award-winning building

may have divided opinion,
but it is unforgettable.

And has put the university
on the map.

[Ellie] And the result
really is mind-blowing.

This building has literally
shaken up Toronto,

which is you know, known
for being quite conservative.

And this building will set the
standard for many years to come.

[Narrator] One man's vision
achieved the impossible,

a box of delights in midair.

This wasn't brought in
because Wills

wanted a building up on stilts.

It was the site that
drove to this design.

Now, some people think it was
just done for showmanship,

but it wasn't.
It has a purpose.

It was designed this way.

[music]

Our next stop is a railway
station like no other.

This one is such a departure...
You see what I did there?

From others, that Hollywood
sci-fi movie makers

think it's centuries
ahead of its time.

Never mind that train trip

through America's
historic terminals.

When you climb aboard here,
there's no mistaking it.

You're setting out on
a first-class journey

into the future.

[Narrator]
When the high-speed trains

of the 1990s arrived in Europe,

journeys from Liege in Belgium
to places like Paris or Cologne

became rapid and comfortable.

But if you arrived in Liege,
you found a small city

with the big problem...

A mainline train track that
split the city in two

and a super-busy train station

no one liked looking at
or using.

This is one of the
biggest stations in Belgium.

It's a logistical nightmare.

[Narrator] So the city
brought in an architect

with extraordinary vision
and ambition to fix it.

The building was challenging
everybody, including myself.

[Narrator] The team created an
incredible city station,

moving in its stunning new
5,000-ton steel roof.

And if that wasn't hard enough,

they did it while the trains
were still running.

[Narrator] A vast, curving
monolith of concrete,

glass and steel.

An extraordinary design that
tests warned could take off

in high winds.

Carved out of a hill with a
history of violent landslides.

This is Liege-Guillemins Station
in Belgium.

So how did they build it?

[Narrator] After four long years
of Nazi occupation,

the city of Liege
in Belgium was decimated.

It had to rebuild itself from
the ruins of World War Two.

As part of that, in 1958,

it drew up plans for a modern,
new railway station

The station was rebuilt
after the war

in an emergency situation

because it was
much more important

to deliver a building than to do
something looking to the future

or something like that.

[Narrator] But in just a
few decades,

the station began
to show its age.

Its unimaginative and
impractical layout made it

totally inadequate for a station
about to enter the 21st century.

So the national railway company,
SNCB,

decided it was time
for a major upgrade.

[speaking French]

[Narrator]
The brief is to create

an efficient modern station

that can handle the latest
super long high-speed trains,

and be a sensational
centrepiece that will unify

rather than divide the city.

They turn to an architect whose
track record includes the

World Trade Center
Transportation Hub in New York

and Valencia's City of Arts
and Sciences in Spain,

Santiago Calatrava.

Very often in railway stations
is this expression you know,

you were born on the wrong
side of the tracks, you know,

because they have divided
cities in two parts,

and it was necessary
to overcome this problem.

[Narrator]
His vision is extraordinary.

The station will be moved
300 feet down the line,

with a footbridge crossing over
it to provide that vital link

between both parts of the city.

In classic Calatrava fashion,
his trademark concrete curves

will wrap around
five new platforms

up to 1,500 feet long, which can
take the high-speed trains.

To top it all off,

an incredible glass and steel
arch will tower 100 feet high,

stretching 600 feet
across the tracks.

This bold statement will
be seen for miles around.

The client, SNCB, is blown away.

[Narrator]
Although it's a stunning idea,

engineers now have to work out
how to build it.

Because the west side
of the station has to be built

into a hill called
Colline de Cointe,

which has a dangerous
history of instability.

In 1950, a major landslide saw
thousands of tons of earth

engulf railway platforms,
immobilising the railroad.

It was very important to have
not this type of event,

to have no problem
inside the station,

to be sure that the final
stabilisation is okay.

[Narrator]
Surveys of the hillside reveal

the soil is soft and unstable.

To prevent any
catastrophic slippage,

they build a huge 70-foot-high
retaining wall.

Initially, it will be
anchored into the slope

by super-strong cables.

Those cables will
corrode over time,

but here's the clever part...

An underground parking garage
will be built into the hill,

which will take over their job

and hold back
the unstable ground.

The pressure of the earth
was given to the parking,

and from the parking also to
the foundations of the station.

The whole complex of parking
and station are holding

and retaining the wall
in the back.

[Narrator] The team
holds its breath

as the hill is scanned
during construction.

Any signs of slippage could put
the whole project in jeopardy.

It was very important to verify
that we don't observe

movement of the hill to be
sure that there was

no problem for the building.

[Narrator] Thankfully,
it goes to plan.

And the underground section is
completed without any movement

in the hill.

Work then moves on.

And over the next year,
they build five new

super platforms that need to
be strong enough to support

the huge new roof.

Weighing 5,000 tons
and covering 600 feet of track,

it will have to be built while
the trains carry on running.

[Hayley] 15,000 people
travel through here every day.

This is a logistical nightmare.

[Narrator] On normal builds,
they'd crane the vast sections

of steel into position,

but here,
that just isn't possible.

[Ellie] They would have
to crane in massive amounts

of steel right over the tracks,

and that would just
be too dangerous.

[Vincent] It was impossible
to use cranes to build

the vertical arches on the final
location of the structure.

[Narrator] So the team comes
up with what they hope will be

a solution to building the roof
with its 39 vast steel arches.

A scaffolding tower will
be built in front of the

old station next to the tracks.

Here the arches are welded
together five at a time.

As each section's added,
the roof's pushed along

a super-sized conveyor belt
across the tracks

by giant hydraulic jacks.

It slides on huge Teflon pads
mounted on iron girders

until it reaches its
final resting place.

It sounds like a fantastic idea.

The question is, will it work?

There is often a stress period
for engineer, of course,

because don't forget that the
weight of the steel of the main

part of the structure at the
time was about 4,500 tons.

So it's a large weight,
and we are in distress.

[Narrator] The first section
of arches is built.

Now it has to be slid
across the tracks.

It's a tense moment
as the jacks are engaged,

ready to move it
in tiny 11-inch steps.

It takes a day and half
to move these first five arches.

There are 34 left to go.

Over the next week,

the sections are added
one at a time

until the whole roof
is complete.

Then, slowly and very carefully,

the entire roof is edged
into its final position.

We have pushed the 39
steel arches at the same time,

and at that moment,

the trains continue to cross
the station during the building.

[Narrator]
The roof may be in position,

but now they need to
make sure it stays there.

This 600-foot-long structure
has to be strong enough

to withstand gale-force winds.

To make sure it is,
the team creates a model,

which is tested
at the laboratory

with winds of up to 180 mph.

We have made a very nice,
very nice model.

And on that, we have put
many taps to measure the

wind pressure at several points.

[Narrator] Using the data
from the model,

the engineers fix
five very clever

and very strong quad legs
between the roof

and the platforms.

These help to stabilise the
huge roof against the winds.

It's necessary to have the
possibility for a structure

to have a movement,
as you can see on this support.

[Narrator] A giant steel pin is
built into each of the legs.

These allow the entire roof
structure to move up

to 16 inches with the wind,

preventing it
from breaking apart.

There is a possibility to
observe the rotation around

this horizontal axis by the wind
loading on the roof,

a vertical movement
equal to 40 centimetre.

[Narrator] To top the
amazing structure off,

they build a giant
canopy at either end,

then install an incredible
1,300 tons of glass

to glaze the entire roof.

In 2009, Calatrava unveils his
stunning 21st century station

to the people of Liege,

bringing the two divided parts
of the city together.

It was important for the town.

It's an emblematic structure
today here in Liege.

[Narrator] It took
thousands of man hours,

and hundreds of workers
and engineers

nine long years to construct.

And all of that

around a living, breathing
railroad that never stopped.

Santiago's visionary station
hopes to transport Liege

deep into the 21st century.

[Santiago] For many cities,

the railway has been the element
who permit them to project

into the future and still
remain important places.

It's like a gift to the people
looking forward to the future.

[music]

A 28,000-square-foot,
two-storey box

sounds like the kind of place
that might house

a big Swedish
furniture store, right?

But wrap it up in a swirl of
copper and line the inside

with over 1,000 pieces of
robotically sculpted stone

to reflect the flow
of an ancient river,

and what you have is one of the
most extraordinary buildings

on the planet

that's home to an
intriguing collection

of sports and state history.

[Narrator] In 2009,

the state of Louisiana gives
a team of local architects,

designers and engineers
a massive challenge...

To bring together two
very different collections

under one spanking new roof.

It had to be a celebration
of Louisianan sports.

[Jennae]
Sport is massive in Louisiana,

from football, basketball,
to water sports,

hunting and fishing.
We are the sportsman's paradise.

[Narrator] But it also had
to house a collection that

told the story of the region's
sometimes painful history.

Those atrocities were prevalent
throughout this region.

[Narrator] Its design
had to take its lead

from traditional
local buildings,

while being special enough
to draw people in.

[Corina] Over a thousand
unique pieces of cast stone.

This is the jigsaw puzzle
to end them all.

It was as if NASA had come
and put a spaceship here.

[Narrator] Creating this
extraordinary building

would push the team
to their very limits.

I had quite a few moments
of doubt and fear.

[Narrator] This is the
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

and Northwest Louisiana
History Museum.

So how did they build it?

[Narrator] Sitting on the
Gulf of Mexico,

the state of Louisiana
is rich with history

and a melting pot
of different cultures.

New Orleans, Baton Rouge,
and Lafayette

all conjure up thoughts of
Creole architecture

and Cajun cooking.

But Louisiana is also a state
that really loves its sports.

So in 1958, they created
a Sports Hall of Fame.

By 1971, it had outgrown the
building and was moved

to Northwestern State University
in Natchitoches.

And there it stood for 40 years

as more superstar names
were added.

Pistol Pete Maravich,

the all-time college
basketball leading scorer.

New Orleans Saints
quarterback Archie Manning.

And his son, Peyton Manning,

considered one of the greatest
quarterbacks of all time.

But the growing collection
of memorabilia

wasn't looking its best.

It didn't give people an
opportunity to browse

and to have a true,
meaningful visit.

So we always wanted a museum.

[Narrator] Meanwhile,
across town,

a very different collection
of regional history

housed in the old courthouse
also needs needed a new home.

The city decided to combine
both collections in

one extraordinary new building
in the centre of town.

[Trey] The brief was a
building that would include

both the history of Louisiana
and sports of Louisiana.

And what is that relationship?

And how has it
evolved over time?

[Narrator] Like other states
in the deep South,

Louisiana's past is marked
by the dark stain of slavery.

During the 1700s,

the French transported thousands
of captives from West Africa

to work as slaves

in the region's
vast plantations.

Those atrocities were prevalent
throughout this region,

the plantations.

It was about,

wow, we can bring equity
to a place that at one time

in history was about
the lack of equity.

[Narrator] Trey and the team
come up with a design influenced

by traditional local buildings

and its riverbank setting,

creating something that at first
glance looks like a simple box,

but is anything but.

The exterior of the building
takes inspiration

from the shading louvers
found on Louisiana's

old plantation houses,

while inside,

the 28,000 square feet
of exhibition space

will be linked by a single
sinuous corridor

that flows like
the river outside

through the building
and into the galleries.

Made from cast stone,

coloured to match an ancient
local building plaster,

it promises to remake
the museum experience

for the modern age.

[Jennae]
The design was beautiful.

I was just so impressed
at how well it flowed.

And again, how well it fit
into the community, also.

[Narrator] But David and the
team of engineers brought in

to actually build the structure

are taken aback by the
unconventional shapes

they have to construct.

[David] Once I was on board,

it was in a bit a moment
of fear and panic

because I realised how
difficult this was going to be

and it looked like
quite a challenge.

Truth be told, there
were many sleepless nights.

We had the shape determined.

But the question was,
how do we build this thing?

[Narrator] In 2010,
construction starts.

They lay the foundations,

build the two-storey,
steel-framed rectangular box,

and add weatherproof
exterior panels.

It's a straightforward structure

and gives no hint of how
complicated building the inside

is going to be.

One of the most
important elements

is the flowing
riverlike corridor.

Inspiration for the material to
build that comes from the houses

of 17th century French settlers.

Called bousillage,

they used a mix
of river clay and moss

to make a type of plaster.

[Hayley] Bousillage is put
in between timber

to fill the gaps when building.

When it hardens,
it turns a cool, white colour.

[Narrator] The first problem
the engineers face

is that bousillage is far
too fragile to use

in a modern public building.

So they need to find a material
similar in colour and finish

that is strong enough
to do the job.

It turns out
the answer was even older,

dating way back
to the Roman Empire.

They used cast stone to create
the arches and the gateways

of the Colosseum.

And the beauty of cast stone is
that it can be made in almost

any colour or texture you want.

And it provides a very
highly refined surface,

much finer than regular
concrete, which is very good.

Normally, this is a really
quick and efficient,

and cost-effective
mode of construction

because once you've
built the mould,

you can just churn
the pieces out.

But with this system, because
every piece is different,

they each need their own mould.

[Narrator] It's so complicated,
that 3D computer software

is needed to design
each different mould.

[Corina] The pieces of cast
stone are made by hand-packing

stone cement mix into a mould.

Once it's set, pop it out

and there you have it,

a rock-hard,
perfectly-shaped stone.

[Narrator] With many of the
cast stone pieces weighing

over a ton and having to fit
together precisely,

the next challenge is coming up
with a way of holding

each of them in exactly
the right position.

For that, the team turns
to perhaps the most famous

statue on the planet...

the Statue of Liberty
in New York.

The Louisiana team borrows a
technique from Lady Liberty

more than 100 years
after she was built.

[David] You have copper panels
that form the surface

of the statue,
which are very irregular.

And you have to hold those
panels in place somehow.

Copper panels were attached
to a steel frame,

so to me it was kind of
an analogous approach,

except in modern times.

[Narrator] So a sculpted
framework of steel,

much like the one
that sits beneath

Liberty's copper skin,

is built inside the
box-like outer structure.

Designed using the same 3D
computer software

that modelled the cast stone,

it is shaped precisely
to take the sculpted pieces.

[Trey] So that required
in the placement of the

cast stone material in its form
unique to each piece.

[Narrator] With the heaviest
stones weighing around six tons,

the next challenge the team
faces is working out how to fix

the 1,000-plus pieces in place.

[David] Then you had
to hold them up

from falling to the ground.

Or if they were hanging over
your head as in the ceiling

and they were
completely suspended.

[Hayley] Here everything was
unique, every panel size,

so installing such
bespoke components

is anything but repetitive.

[Narrator] It requires
the engineers to design

a complex system
of unique brackets.

Each will hold a number
of pieces of stone

in exactly the right place
on the steel frame.

We had one connector
we called Frankenstein,

which was just so absurd
that we couldn't think of

any other way to do it.

I think there were five
different panels connecting,

and that was probably
the oddest of the odd.

[Narrator] These brackets
have to be strong enough

to maintain a small gap
between each piece of stone.

The worst-case scenario
would be loads would flow

from panel to panel
and might overload the anchors

and blow out the anchors
or crack the panels.

[Narrator] The system works
well on the lower sections,

but when the team
starts fitting some

of the larger, higher pieces,

they hit a major problem.

So the steel structure
was deflecting.

It was moving.

[Narrator] It's 2010,

and work is underway
constructing the new

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

and Northwest Louisiana
History Museum.

As each huge stone is fixed
to the steel frame

of the museum's
snaking corridor,

the engineers make allowances
for some sag,

but the system is proving
a real headache for the team.

So that was one kind of
nail-biting moment.

Somehow, as we're adding weight
to every panel that's connected,

our frame begins to deflect,

and then panels we thought
would fit would not fit.

The great weight of all
this cast stone caused

a lot of deflections
on this area.

Another area there was
a little smaller

that also had some issues.

[Narrator] They need to come up
with a way of correcting it,

and quick.

They had to temporarily
stabilise or redirect

some of the loads.

[Narrator]
The solution is simple

and very heavy.

They pre-deflect the frame
using ballast.

[David] So what we had
to do to make this work

was to hang the heavy tub...

I believe here was something
like 16 tons of weight,

and over there I believe it was
about eight tons of weight...

To make that steel frame
flex down a bit.

See here,
the other end would flex there,

and we'd start
erecting these panels,

so as these panels came in
and added weight,

we'd release weight
from this hanging tub.

And we'd release weight
from that hanging tub,

so that the frame would stay
more or less in the same place

all through the process.

So that way we could guarantee
that all these panels would fit

properly without clanking into
each other and causing problems.

[Narrator] With the build
back on track,

the team prepares to move
the highest and heaviest stone

into position.

It's a whopping 9,600 pounds.

One of the most nerve-wracking
moments was the largest panel,

making sure that
went in safely and fit.

[Narrator] July 2012,

the piece is safely
craned into place.

Work now focuses on finishing
the outside of the building

using materials that will
improve as they get older.

We discussed the
element of time.

How does time enrich a building?

[Brad] It did start out
as a wood facade,

but there was a concern
about longevity.

[Narrator] Finally, copper is
chosen to make the cladding,

another material
with a local connection.

And even some roof systems here
in Louisiana are made of copper.

Copper is, of course,
a beautiful material,

the way it ages and darkens
and patinas is really beautiful.

And there's almost an
unpredictability to it.

[Narrator] The copper is
shaped into a cladding

of pleated sheets.

Reminiscent of the louvers
on traditional Southern

plantation houses, they also
help with its sustainability.

They provide shade.

And they also provide
cooling for the building

or breezes throughout
the building.

[Narrator] The exterior finish
also protects the valuable items

that will be on display inside.

[Brad] We utilized the pleated
copper and the louvers to filter

the lighting and actually not
allow any direct light

to make its way into the
exhibition spaces.

[Narrator] In June 2013,

after taking three years
and $23 million to create,

the Louisiana Sports
Hall of Fame

and Northwest Louisiana
History Museum

is ready to open its doors
to visitors.

The displays are
beautifully presented,

but it's the new building
that gets the attention.

When I first walked
into this gallery,

I thought for a moment,

it's a shame we have
to put anything in it.

That's how beautiful it was.

And I would have never in my DNA
have had that thought had it

not been something that was
remarkable and unprecedented.

[Narrator] As if to match the
massive engineering achievement,

one of basketball's greats

leads a fresh set of inductees
into the Sports Hall of Fame.

I owe Louisiana everything,

so when they told me
I was getting inducted,

you know, it's a great honour.

[Narrator] It's been a
long wait for Louisiana,

but clever design,

pioneering engineering

and a nod to both
past and future,

has created a building
as inspiring

as the collections inside.

[Brad] To finally have a home
to actually induct into,

it was really incredible
to see that open up

and see those people
all finally have a place

here in Natchitoches.