All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S01E07.Sky.Gardens.and.Seismic.Stations.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Narrator: How did
a team of engineers

build the world's
longest sky gardens,

over 500 feet above the ground?

Woman: It must have been
incredibly nerve-racking,

they had to be so careful.

Narrator: What do you get

when one of the world's
most radical architects

builds a railway station in the
path of two natural disasters?

Man: Building in
earthquake zones

is enough to make anybody,
any engineer nervous,

but building in the
shadow of a volcano?

Narrator: And how is the
world's most slender tower

strong enough to survive
winds of over 50 miles per hour?

Woman: Tall structures
are prone to move.

They're particularly
vulnerable to wind,

so the thinner they are,
the more serious the threat.

Narrator: This is the
age of the extraordinary...

Man: Where else can you swim

from one skyscraper to
the other 300 feet in the air?

Narrator: Where
ingenious engineers

have unleashed
unchecked creativity...

Woman: Everything
in this building

pushes at the boundaries
of what's possible.

Narrator: Building structures
so outrageous they defy logic.

Woman: The forces on this thing

look like it should
be torn apart.

Narrator: Now their
secrets are revealed.

Discover the incredible
stories of their construction...

Woman: These are
extraordinary feats of engineering.

Narrator: To try and understand

how did they build that?

In a tiny pocket of
downtown Singapore,

the challenge was set:

To create a development
of almost 2,000 apartments

where before it had
been home to just 342...

On a site so small, engineers
had to think outside the box.

It could have been
another boring tower block

of identical floors and units,

but designers and
engineers excelled,

creating the tallest public
housing residential building

in the world:

The pinnacle at duxton.

Hayley loren oakes:
This building is

a spectacular
achievement on a site

that most developers
would have just walked past

and not even
given a second look.

Narrator: A stunning 7-tower,
50-story apartment complex

with 215,000 square
feet of outside space...

But not on the ground.

Engineers did it

by building the world's
longest sky gardens

500 feet in the air.

Nehemiah mabry: It's an
amazing feat of engineering,

but obviously there are going to
be some risks that come with it.

Narrator: A plot too small
to build on conventionally...

Thousands of prefabricated
concrete panels,

light enough to be lifted

but strong enough to
support the 50-story towers...

And sky Bridges
that were too heavy

to be craned the
500-plus feet in the air.

Just some of the
complex problems

faced during construction.

So, how did they build it?

Like lots of cities,
until recently,

downtown Singapore was
home to the financial district,

but practically no one else.

Ready to reinvigorate the area

and attack the lack
of affordable housing,

the government launched
a design competition

to redevelop a tight
and difficult plot.

Architect peng beng's design
was picked from over 200 entries.

Peng beng: The two main
aim of the pinnacle at duxton,

@it was to really inject new
life into this neighbourhood

and also to increase
theúpopulation density of this area.

Narrator: The plot was slightly
larger than two football fields

and had been the site of
two 10-story residential blocks

housing 342 apartments.

The government's plan
called for at least triple that,

on the same space.

Ellie cosgrave: The
other huge consideration

when you're building
mass housing like this

where people are so
densely packed together

is how do you make it pleasant,

how do you make it a place that
people actually want to live in?

Narrator: The
answer lay in a design

that would push
engineers to their limits.

In a bid to increase capacity,

while also creating
attractive, comfortable homes,

peng and his team drew up a plan

that would become
the world's tallest

public housing
residential buildings.

Packed into the awkward
question Mark-shaped plot...

Would be seven 534-foot towers.

Each would be joined to the
next at the 26th and 50th stories

by six enormous sky Bridges.

65 feet wide, these
Bridges would provide

215,000 square feet of
greenery and outdoor space

for the residents to enjoy.

And with each measuring
over 1,600 feet long,

they'd create the longest
sky gardens in the world...

If engineers could figure
out how to build them.

Joshua macabuag: So
the key question here

@is how to get the maximum
amount of usable space

into what is quite a
small and irregular plot,

and what they've done here is

they've arranged a building so
as to kind of weave through the,

through the plot to
really get as much

into the available
space as possible.

Narrator: As construction
began in 2005,

the site revealed the
first of many problems.

There wasn't enough
space to build the towers

using conventional methods,

and there was only one
small access road in and out.

Peng beng: The
site was so tight,

it was so small, plus
it was in the cbd area,

the central business
district area,

which meant that, you
know, we would cause

havoc and traffic jams
during construction.

Narrator: Already crammed
with materials, heavy machinery,

and hundreds of labourers,

there was little space left.

Casting the 50-story
concrete towers on site

would be impossible.

The solution was to
prefabricate off site.

Peng beng: Using prefabricated
technology was very important

because the site was so crowded.

Narrator: 90% of the
structural elements

would be prefabricated
in a factory 18 miles away.

Then each piece would
be transported to the site.

Instead of seeing
this as a problem,

the engineers turned
it into an opportunity.

Peng beng: Sometimes
when we do prefabricated

it is just a facçade panel,

but in this case we
designed the structure,

the beams and the
columns into these panels

so that as they
were being put up,

the structure was also
being built at the same time

and the rainwater downpipes
were installed into the panels

that would drain water from
the balconies and from the roof.

Narrator: So, prefabricating
the building off site

would overcome the
issue of the small plot

and allow peng to hide
away some of the services

within the hollow walls.

But it also created its own
unique set of problems.

Normally with a
tower block like this,

the concrete would
be poured on site.

It's the cheapest
and most efficient way

of ensuring the structure,

with its central support
columns of concrete and steel.

How would they be able to
prefabricate concrete sections

that were strong
enough to bear the forces

of these enormous towers

but also light enough
to be lifted into position

by the tower cranes?

Coming up with a solution
fell to the engineering team.

So what we have done

in order to reduce the
weight of the component,

we have developed
a hollow core system.

Narrator: Instead
of being solid,

these panels are hollow,
making them lighter.

They're also pre-stressed,

or compressed as
they're being made,

which makes them much
stronger than normal concrete.

Peng beng: These panels
are connected together

in an interlocking way,
just like a lego block,

and then we would put
in high grade concrete

to seal up all the joints

so the joints would
be cast in, in place,

and when this
cured, it would be,

it would then act
as a continuous unit.

Narrator: Although building
using prefabricated concrete

is around 10% more
expensive than pouring on site,

in this case, it turned
out to be a savings.

Although there were
additional costs initially,

the team got faster and faster
at putting the towers together.

Instead of taking 10 to 12 days,

they were soon building
whole floors in just 6.

@hayley: It just illustrates
that to make a building like this,

you really have to approach it

from a completely
different way of thinking.

Narrator: The next problem
the team had to overcome

was to ensure that
the 1,848 apartments

didn't seem identical
on the inside or out.

Peng beng: Part of our challenge

was to use this
way of construction

but produce something
that looked totally unique

and, like as if it
was impossible

to be fabricated off site.

Narrator: The solution
was surprisingly simple.

They created five different
styles of facçade panels,

then mixed them up,

so as you look at the
exterior of the seven towers,

the design appears random.

In fact, it's anything but.

Nina loo: So you actually
have a interesting facçade

and the same time you give
the buyers and the residents

a choice of units.

So you can pick a
unit with a balcony

and you can buy that unit

instead of having
everything all uniform.

Narrator: The idea of uniqueness
doesn't stop at the front door.

Prefabricating the towers

gave designers another
great opportunity,

which would allow the occupants
to make each unit their own,

but also to future-proof them,

for when the residents'
lives changed.

Peng beng: If we could
create opportunities

where people could
make something unique

out of their own units

and they could
feel like, you know,

they were part of the,
the whole growth process

and the building didn't
start to restrict you

but it start to give you a sense
of freedom, a sense of choice.

Narrator: So how do you
build cost-effective tower blocks

of affordable housing

while also creating apartments

that can be radically changed
without radical building work?

Peng beng: In
the typical high-rise

the columns and structure

would, would take up quite
a lot of space within the units,

so we thought that if we
pushed all of this structure

onto the periphery of the units,

the walls could then
be easily taken down

so that if you wanted to

you could tear down
all the internal walls

and you can have just
one huge apartment.

Narrator: So, by building
all of the structural strength

into the unit's exterior walls,

everything inside can be
moved or even removed

to open up endless
possibilities,

depending on the needs
of whoever's living there.

The next major
challenge came in 2009,

when the seven tower blocks
were ready to be joined together

to create one interlinked plan.

On the 26th and the 50th floors,

a series of sky Bridges would
connect one tower to the next,

creating over 215,000
square feet of outdoor space

for the residents.

Nina: We created additional
communal spaces in the air,

which is actually at
the sky bridge level.

So we actually multiplied

the amount of communal
spaces available.

Narrator: The
residents now enjoy

the world's longest sky gardens,

but to put these huge
links between the towers

would be the
biggest challenge yet

for the engineers to overcome.

Made up of giant steel
trusses topped with concrete,

the heaviest bridge
weighs 350 tons,

the equivalent of a boeing 747.

So how did they manage
to get the sky Bridges

hundreds of feet in the air?

Corina: It's no joke trying
to get 200 tons of steel

to the very top.

They couldn't use a crane.

Narrator: Ten years ago,

tower cranes couldn't
lift such heavy loads,

and the site was too cramped
to bring in bigger ones.

So the engineers came up
with an ingenious solution.

Hayley: At the top
of the two buildings

where the sky bridge
was being lifted between,

there was a hydraulic
Jack connected to a winch.

Narrator: Each sky bridge
was attached to steel cables,

and then lifted into place

using four hydraulic
Jacks and winches...

Two on each building.

Computer controlled,
they all moved

at exactly the same
time and speed

to lift the sections into place.

Ellie: It must have been
incredibly nerve-racking,

they had to be so careful.

Narrator: If there
was any wind at all,

they'd have to stop and tie
off both ends of the bridge.

It took 10 hours to lift
each bridge into place,

completing an extraordinary
piece of engineering,

and in the process,

changing the way the
residents would live.

Nina: At the sky Bridges
we have communal gardens,

we have jogging
tracks for the residents,

we have play areas,

and we also have
elderly fitness stations

and we also have
breakout corners,

little gardens where
people can sit down and chat

with their neighbours.

Narrator: Construction was
finally completed in 2009,

at a cost of over $205 million.

The end result is amazing...

A complex that serves
residents' every need.

Neil Kim Powell was
one of the very first people

to move into the pinnacle,
and has been here for 10 years.

Narrator: Over 5,000
residents from every walk of life

live here.

Now this vibrant community
enjoys these sky-facing spaces

high above the hustle
and bustle of the city...

A tourist destination,
thanks to its stunning views.

The pinnacle at duxton

has successfully
injected life into this district

and continues to be a model
of world-class public housing.

Hayley: The pinnacle
at duxton is amazing.

It's like an engineering
magic trick. It's wizardry!

♪

Narrator: On
britain's south coast,

the city of Brighton,

like many English seaside
spots, with its piers and seafront,

has been trading
on its victorian past.

But in 2006, Brighton
decided it needed

a new, state-of-the-art
landmark attraction

to bring the city into a
new century and millennium.

Joshua: It's something that's
going to have to really be built

to stand the test of time.

Narrator: It took
13 years of planning

and would challenge both
architects and engineers.

Julia barfield: It's right on
the edge of the possible.

Narrator: But the
results would be

an extraordinary and
innovative vertical pier

that would allow
visitors to walk on air.

Nehemiah: It looks a lot
like an amusement park ride,

like it's supposed to be
spinning or something,

moving up and down really fast.

Narrator: As well as being
a marvel of engineering,

the i360 is also the
world's most slender tower.

A 46-million-pound landmark

that whisks 200 passengers
up to a height of 450 feet

in the face of
buffeting coastal winds.

Constructing at
this kind of height,

where even cranes
couldn't reach,

engineers had to
think outside the box.

So, how did they build it?

The Jewel in
Brighton's seaside crown

was once the west pier.

It had been the finest
victorian pier in britain,

but throughout the 20th
century, it had fallen into disrepair.

And then, in 2003,

it was all but destroyed
by an arson attack.

Brighton council
were on the hunt

for a must-see attraction

that reflected the
original pioneering spirit

of the west pier,

but with a 21st century twist.

Meanwhile, 60 miles away,

the architectural wizards
behind the iconic London eye,

Julia barfield and David marks,

had come up with a new
and exciting visitor attraction

that they thought
would be the solution.

Julia: The success
of the London eye

@was such that we got approached

by many people
wanting to replicate it,

and so we kind of looked
at what was the essence

of the London eye,

and we then looked at how we
could replicate that experience

in a different form.

Narrator: David and
Julia's design for the i360

would see visitors
rise up into the sky

to get a panoramic peek at
the breathtaking surroundings.

It was decided the
perfect spot for it

would be in the shadow of
the remains of the old west pier.

Julia: It is the site of
the original west pier,

which is one of the only grade
I listed piers in the country.

It was one of the most
innovative piers in its time,

and sadly it burnt down,

so it was like the Phoenix
from the flames, really.

Narrator: The final
design for the i360

would be a world first,

as well as the tallest
structure in all of Sussex.

The 531-foot tower is made
up of 17 stacked steel cans

that get taller and
thinner as they go up.

They're held together
by 1,336 bolts,

weighing a combined 30 tons.

The 900-ton tower supports

a 59-foot-wide toughened
glass and steel pod

that's 10 times the size
of a London eye capsule

and can hold up to 200 people.

It uses state-of-the-art
cable car technology

to drive the pod up and down
at less than one mile per hour.

Construction started in
June 2014 on the beach,

mere feet from the sea.

A tower of such
height and weight

would be enormous
pressure on the base,

so its foundations had
to be extremely strong.

But the engineers would
first need to construct

a stable area to build them on.

Dr. John Roberts,

who'd been chief engineer
on the London eye,

was tasked with the job.

John Roberts: So what
looks like shingle here,

looks like the beach,

in fact is just covering up...

The concrete,

so this is, that's actually
the top of the foundation,

the concrete is just there.

Narrator: It was
just under a year

to lay the foundations
for the tower.

The first stage was
holding back the sea.

John: We're about 3 meters
below ground level here,

and the concrete
foundation is 3 meters thick,

so we had to dig an excavation

more than 6 meters intoúthe
beach from the beach level.

As you are aware, we're
right on the edge of the sea,

so when you dig below sea level,
you usually come across water.

Narrator: The team
drove in concrete piles

around a 260-square-foot
area of beach,

and then started to excavate
7,000 tons of rocks and pebbles.

On hitting sea level,

they had to pump out
water day and night

until they reached the chalk
bedrock over 20 feet down.

Only then could
they begin pouring

the 4,000 tons of concrete.

John: We had to use concrete
coming from every concrete plant

in the whole of Sussex.

I mean, this was one of
the largest concrete pours

that has been done in this
area for many many years.

It was done in two halves,

and even then each half
took more than 30 hours.

You have to have a supply

and you had to have a backup
in case the supply goes wrong,

'cause once you
start you can't stop,

so in fact nobody else
in the whole of Sussex

could have any concrete
at all on those two days.

Narrator: In 2015, with
the foundations in place,

the team made a start on
building the main structure,

comprised of 17
gigantic steel cans

and rising over 530 feet.

Each of these
steel cans, or tubes,

differed in size and thickness
and had to be carefully tailored

according to where they
appeared in the tower structure.

John: There's very
few places in the world

where they can be made.

So the tubes were, were
rolled and welded together

in a special rolling machine
in the south of the Netherlands.

Narrator: It took over
18,000 man-hours of welding

to make them,

before being sailed by
barge from Rotterdam

across the north sea,

arriving right in front
of the construction site.

John: You can also
see here, with this hole,

this is a hole
through the tower,

and you can see how
thick the steel is in the tower.

This is
85-millimetres-thick steel,

and this is the bottom
section, this is can number one,

the one that sits on the ground

of the 17 cans that
make up the tower.

Narrator: They may
have gotten them there,

but the next problem was how
to put them on top of one another.

Nehemiah: The big problem
when you're building tall things

is that the maximum
lifting height of cranes

is 100 meters,
or about 330 feet.

The i360 is over 500
feet, or 160 meters.

Narrator: So how do
you build something

that's taller than the maximum
lifting height of a crane?

The ingenious
engineering solution

was to build from the top down.

A temporary
200-foot jacking tower

was fitted over the spot
where the i360 would go.

Then, the steel can that
would be at the top of the tower

was put at the bottom

and then lifted up
by the 16-ton collar

just high enough for the
next can to go underneath.

These two would then
be bolted to one another

before being lifted again.

John: So if you put number
17 in first and lift it up

and then put 16 underneath it

and put the next
one underneath that,

you can build it
that way instead

and you don't need a crane.

Narrator: This procedure would
be carried out again and again

until the tower reached its
maximum height of 531 feet.

John: The very last operation

to put the last piece
in at the bottom,

the tower that you're picking
up weighed a thousand tons,

so you had to lift a
thousand tons into the air

to put the very last
piece in at the bottom.

It was done in just 10
weeks from start to finish.

Narrator: Now, they had
to make sure it stayed there,

despite being such
an exposed location

and being battered by winds
of over 50 miles per hour.

Corina: Tall structures
are prone to move.

They're particularly
vulnerable to wind.

So the thinner they are,
the more serious the threat.

Narrator: At 531 feet high
and just over 12 feet wide,

the i360 is the world's
most slender tower.

Hayley: So you can imagine
that when the wind blows

the structure vibrates.

Think of it like
a guitar string.

Narrator: This phenomenon
is known as vortex shedding,

where turbulence
caused by the wind

makes the tower vibrate.

Unchecked, these vibrations

could induce motion
sickness in visitors

and even cause metal
fatigue in the structure itself.

So John and his team
devised a solution.

They would add a 5-millimetre-
thick aluminum cladding

with a special finish to
disrupt the flow of the wind.

John: The cladding has been
perforated and deformed in a way

that stops the wind
blowing smoothly

around the tube of the tower,

and it's done to
prevent vortex shedding.

Narrator: It was
time for the team

to turn their attention
to its crowning glory...

The 59-foot-wide
curved glass pod

that would take 200
people up into the sky.

Hayley: The point of
this clever engineering

is an observation tower
that stands completely safely

in a blustery and
highly populated spot

overlooking the English channel.

Narrator: The pod would
need to be strong enough

to carry passengers and
survive all weather conditions,

while offering 360-degree
panoramic views

of the Sussex coast.

The glass would not
only be key to the view,

but also play a major part

in the pod's
structure and stability.

John: So instead of glass

just being added on
as a window afterwards,

the glass is part, it is a
glass and steel structure

and it doesn't have any bracing.

Julia: Yeah.

John: The glass is
bracing the structure.

Julia: Yeah, yeah.

John: It's an
extremely strong shape

'cause it's curved
in all directions,

it's curved around
around the side,

it's curved in all directions,
and curvature gives strength,

so it's a very strong shape.

Narrator: Manufactured
by hand in Italy,

the toughened glass
sections were sent to France,

where they were assembled,

to ensure its complex
geometry fitted together perfectly

before being
shipped to Brighton.

In January 2016, the last
pieces were put into place.

Now it could be hooked
up to its power source

underneath the tower.

John: This is the
machine room of the i360.

This is the heart of the project
in terms of making the pod move.

Narrator: The 94-ton
pod is connected

to an 80-ton counterweight
inside the tower

by eight steel cables.

Raised to the top
by an electric winch,

on the way down it's
much more sustainable.

John: The motor then
operates as a brake

to let it down gently,

and the braking force
regenerates electricity

in the, in the same device,

so the motor
becomes regenerative

and generates electricity
when it operates in reverse,

and you get back
a little over half

of the electricity that
you used on the way up.

Narrator: Over two years
of hard work in all weather,

the i360 was opened
to the public in 2016

and has taken over a
million visitors into the clouds.

It set the standard for
must-see city attractions.

Julia: The whole process
was a huge adventure

and something that has
been really, really positive

for Brighton.

It certainly regenerated
the whole of the seafront.

Narrator: Fabricated
in Netherlands,

using German steel
and Italian glass...

Trialed in France, and
built on the British coast,

the i360 is an
international celebration

of innovative architecture
and engineering combined.

Narrator: In Italy in 2003,

an ambitious high-speed
rail project was proposed

to improve train travel

between the north and
south of the country.

At its heart would be a
stunning new rail hub in Naples,

a curved structure
over a quarter mile long,

snaking over eight
new train tracks...

A stunning,
passively-cooled corridor

for millions of passengers
to sweep through

to its platforms below.

Nehemiah: It's so
perfect in all of its angles.

It also communicates
movement and action.

Narrator: To create
this ingenious building,

engineers would have to
work in the shadow of vesuvius,

the volcano that destroyed
Pompeii and is still active,

in an earthquake zone,

to create a fearless
architect's impossible design

and figure out how to keep
the huge, glass-roofed complex

cool in the scorching
mediterranean summer sun.

This is the napoli
afragola railway station.

So, how did they build it?

In the late 1990s, with train
travel in Italy on the increase,

it was decided that four
new high-speed lines,

three regional lines, and a
single local commuter line

needed to be merged
together at a new railway station

7 1/2 miles from Naples.

It needed to be capable
of handling an increase

from 10,000 to 30,000
passengers a day.

But this would be no
ordinary concrete box.

This station would raise the bar

for stunning looks,
passenger experience,

energy footprint, and
seismic resistance.

Such an ambitious plan called
for a trailblazing architect...

Queen of the curve.

Zaha hadid had most
recently designed

the jaw-dropping antwerp
port authority extension.

Hayley: When zaha
hadid designs a station,

you know it's not going
to be an ordinary station.

Narrator: The
first challenge was

that pulling all
the lines together

would normally cut
off the area in the north

from that in the south.

Filippo innocenti was
the project architect.

Filippo innocenti:
Quite an ambitious brief.

The area is divided in two
by the presence of the rail,

so as it often
happens, the rail,

it creates a barrier
in between two sides,

so it is fundamental to provide
a straight, clear connection

in between the two sides

of these areas
separated by the railway.

Narrator: Zaha's
solution was to create

a huge, 320,000-square-foot,
elevated passenger concourse

on five levels

that would bridge
over the tracks

and link the north and south.

1,640 feet long
and 140 feet wide,

the steel and concrete
structure would rise up 98 feet

to straddle the railway lines.

Built from curved,
poured structural concrete,

the design was so complicated,

it would take computer
rendering to make it possible.

The five floors would be covered

by a 5,400-square-foot
glass roof

cleverly engineered to let
the light in and the heat out.

These windows would
flood sunlight into the atrium

in the centre of the
elevated concourse.

The entire complex
would be cooled

without an
air-conditioning unit in sight,

by creating a system
of underfloor pipes

filled with ice cold water

from the natural
aquifers 260 feet below.

Not only would this be a
place to catch or change trains,

it would be a meeting
place for the local community

and 30,000 travellers every day.

Hayley: Most large stations
have an entrance hall

with ticket machines and
cafeés and shops to one side

and maybe an entrance
hall next to the railway tracks

on the other side,

but here they've put all
of that on the actual bridge

above all the railway tracks.

Narrator: Construction on
the 60-million-euro project

started in 2009,

and the engineers working here

had a constant
reminder on the horizon

of a clear and present danger.

Filippo: In afragola
we are quite close

to one of the most important
volcanoes we have in Italy,

which is the vesuvius,
which is still active.

Narrator: Mount vesuvius
is the only active volcano

on mainland Europe.

Its last eruption in 1944
killed a hundred people,

and the danger
remains very real,

with the potential to
unleash the thermal power

of 100,000 Hiroshima-sized
atomic bombs.

Volcanic activity
isn't the only threat.

The area is also at serious
risk of catastrophic earthquakes.

Filippo: The seismic
area of afragola is 3,

in the range of zero to 4,
so still quite challenging.

Nehemiah: Building
in earthquake zones

is enough to make anybody,
any engineer nervous,

but building in the
shadow of a volcano,

that destroyed Pompeii,

yeah, you need to
take that very seriously.

Narrator: Builde

the 1 million square feet

of the station's exterior

from 50,000 tons of poured
concrete using formwork.

This is where concrete
is shaped using molds

and reinforced by steel.

While it's strong and
durable, it's also inflexible,

making it more vulnerable
to damage from earthquakes.

If the engineers
ignored this danger

and created a continuous

1,640-foot concrete
and steel structure,

the station could
fracture and collapse

in the event of an earthquake.

But the engineers had a plan.

@joshua: The more
modern approach

is to allow movement
of the building,

so in this case as well

where you have a
number of flexible joints,

what happens is it
concentrates all of that movement

at the flexible joints

and then allows the movement
energy to dissipate as heat,

so it means that you get
some movement there,

you get some cracking as well,

but you don't, you limit
the structural damage

to the rest of the building.

Filippo: When you are
exposed to seismic loads

these movements
can be significant,

can be in the order of
10 to 15, 20 centimetres,

which means that
the whole building

has to be broken into elements,

and these elements
has to possibly move one

with respect to the other

in the event of a
serious seismic load.

Narrator: They decided
to divide the building

into a sequence
of separate zones,

each no longer than 164 feet,

and each able to move
independently by up to 2 inches.

Tommaso martellucci
was the project's engineer.

@tommaso martellucci, translated:
These Bridges on the second,

third and fourth level
are connected at the hub

with expansion joints that can
absorb the stress and movement

during seismic activity.

Narrator: So the station was
engineered to be tough enough

to withstand an earthquake,

but that wasn't the
only force of nature

engineers had to deal with.

The design featured a
continuous glazed roof

to allow in as much
natural light as possible.

But here in southern Italy,

it would also be subject to
the fiercely hot summer sun.

Nehemiah: Building
a glass structure

makes a lot of sense

when you have a lot of people
that need to move through

and it needs to be well lit,

but that becomes
a different situation

when you're dealing
with temperatures

as high as 36 degrees celsius,
or 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Narrator: So how would
engineers overcome the challenge

of filling the
concourse with daylight

but cooling it in an
eco-friendly way?

Filippo: Naples can
be extremely humid.

There are days where the
temperature goes really high

and the humidity
is really unbearable.

I have to say that I
was quite nervous

at the idea of having a
building with a big glazed roof.

Narrator: They
needed a solution,

because normal air-conditioning
would have come at huge costs,

both to the budget
and the environment.

Filippo: What
you're trying to do is

to maximize the daylight that
you can have inside a building

and minimize the
costs of the ventilation

that you would have to
fight against the solar heat.

Narrator: Expert
environmental engineers

stepped in to solve the problem,

using state-of-the-art
technology

based on ideas developed by
the romans 2,000 years before.

First, they built internal
shading fins into the roof,

which filter the sunlight,
holding heat above it,

and preventing it
from coming through

into the passenger areas.

A series of roof vents running
the entire length of the station

then allow the hot
air to be funnelled out.

Filippo: The building is based
on a mixed ventilation concept;

it's combining
natural ventilation

together with
mechanical ventilation.

Narrator: On its own, this isn't
enough to cool the concourse.

The main cooling system

is underneath the
public area of the station,

in the service tunnel.

[Speaking Italian]

Tommaso: Here we are in
one of the underground rooms

at the heart of the plant
that runs the station.

One of the keys to the success

of the building's
energy sustainability

is the air cooling and
reverse cycle pump systems.

Narrator: This passive
air cooling system

keeps temperatures down
even on the hottest of days.

Engineers drilled down 260 feet

to access cold water
from the natural aquifers,

running through the
rock under the station.

This is then pumped up
and into a system of pipes,

similar to underfloor heating,

that have been laid
throughout the station.

But instead of giving off
heat, the cold water absorbs it,

and then it's pumped
back down into the aquifers,

taking the heat with it.

Nehemiah: A water
source heat pump

actually works very
well in this situation.

It's really good at absorbing
the heat into the water

and then running the heat out
using the water as a medium.

This was a idea that
was actually developed

pretty early on in the 1850s,

but the first one
actually wasn't built

until about the 1940s.

Narrator: In a world
increasingly concerned

about our environmental impact,

these passive systems
have come a long way,

including creating the
very coolest of chairs.

Tommaso: Within these
seats there is a system

that allows hot or
cold water to circulate

and cool or heat the
seats for the passengers.

Narrator: Set
throughout the station

to allow passengers
and locals to congregate,

the elegant seating offers
the perfect place to admire

one of the most innovative
uses of materials here.

To cover the concrete
surfaces inside and out,

the designers wanted a
smooth, weather-resistant finish

that could flow over the
building's ever-changing curves.

They chose a material
developed 50 years ago

for domestic kitchens.

Tommaso: The outer
skin of the building

has about 20,000 square meters,

has been realized in corian.

Ellie: Corian is a
brand of durable acrylic

that most people might know
from their kitchen worktops,

but more recently it's being
used to clad entire buildings.

Filippo: And we were
looking for a material

that could be bent easily

and to follow the simple
curve of the building

and to resolve
the residual torsion

of a number of
areas of the facçade,

and the corian
was ideal for that

because a continuous surface

that allows to be bent
at very low temperature,

basically around 100 degrees,

and can be put into
shape very easily.

Narrator: The panels
were computer-modelled

and cut with
2-millimetre tolerances.

Filippo: Corian
is made in panels,

and then they are bent in
order to serve the purpose

of allowing the
curve of the facçade.

You basically treat
it as wood panels,

you can cut them and
you can glue them perfectly

without any trace of the
junction between the panels.

A very easy way of, of
creating shapes with it.

Narrator: In 2017, napoli
afragola was finally able

to welcome passengers
onto its elegant concourse.

For now, only four
train lines are open,

but by 2022, all eight
lines will be in service.

This station will then beúat
the heart of the rail network

in southern Italy,

still keeping a
low energy profile,

but standing tall as an example

of how ambitious
design and engineering

can make life
a little bit better.