All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S03E01.Fantastic.and.Futuristic.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-WhiteHat_track3_[eng]

[Jay]
How do you create

a busy commuter train station
that symbolizes hope

on the site of the 9/11 attacks?

Everything that we did
was watched every day.

Every action we took
was under the microscope.

[Jay] How do you build
a manmade mountain

six feet below sea level

in a country famous
for flooding?

It became the biggest
swimming pool of Amsterdam,

or maybe the biggest
swimming pool

of the Netherlands.

[Jay] And how do
you construct a portal

from the hostile desert
to the final frontier?

It's the gateway
to the edge of space.

[Jay] This is the age
of the extraordinary.

[Dr. Agbedor]
It's totally different

from anything around it.

It's like
a visitor from another planet.

[Jay] Where ingenious
engineers have unleashed

unchecked creativity.

Now their secrets are revealed

as we discover the amazing
stories of their construction.

[Mat] You look at this building

and your brain
just screams at you,

"This building does
not make sense."

[Jay] To try and understand...

...how did they build that.

To design a new transportation
hub in the Big Apple

on the site of
the World Trade Center

is a big ask.

And one that not only
called for a big statement,

but also
a great deal of sensitivity.

And this groundbreaking project

by one of the world's
most exciting architects

has already proven a massive hit

with both New Yorkers

and visitors from
all over the world.

[Jay]
This is the Oculus.

It has to be a building
who brings hope

and belief in the future.

[Jay] To build
this unique station,

the team had to overcome
one of the worst storms

to hit the Eastern Seaboard
of the United States.

[Steve] The water rose
and was almost

up above my chest
within seconds.

And we realized
we had to get out of there.

[Jay] And take on
a design so complicated,

they needed to be
at the top of their game.

When I saw the plans,
my initial reaction

was honestly, was,
"How are we gonna build this?"

[Steve] And it really was
a challenge

because we were
challenging ourselves

intellectually
as well as physically

to produce this iconic structure

that would stand
the test of time.

[Jay] It took
12 years to build

and cost $4 billion,

making it one of
the most expensive stations

in the world.

Soaring from the ground to
give the city a sense of hope,

a beautiful
white steel sculpture

that represents
a dove being released.

So, how did they build it?

New York's skyscraper-filled
skyline is world famous.

But on September 11, 2001,
it was changed forever.

2,753 people lost their lives
in the terrorist attack

which destroyed the Twin Towers,

and also, the World
Trade Center Station--

a vital part of
the Port Authority Trans Hudson,

or PATH, commuter rail system.

In the aftermath, the city
wants to find a way to rebuild.

There had to be a moment
of cleaning up the site,

remembrance, respect,

and then asking
the world to come in

and tell us
how can we do this better.

[Jay] Within
a year of the attacks,

work begins on a temporary
replacement station.

But it takes two years
of delicate negotiations

and fierce debate to decide

what the permanent future
will look like

for the 16-acre
World Trade Center campus.

[Glenn] Selecting
a master plan wasn't just about

putting up towers.

It was also a statement of
how we're going to proceed from

something so horrible
that occurred to us.

And we were telling
the world what we're made of.

[Jay] The final plan
includes six skyscrapers,

a museum,

and a memorial to
the victims of the attack,

and a new, permanent
PATH station

serving a million people a week.

[Glenn] It's one of
the most critical

transportation components
in Lower Manhattan.

It's the only
mass transit system

that connects New York
and New Jersey

to Lower Manhattan.

So it enables
tens of thousands of people

to arrive to
their places of work.

[Jay] To design
something as inspirational

as it is functional,

they bring in
world-renowned architect

Santiago Calatrava.

Not only is he an architect,
he's also an engineer,

but he's also an artist.

He's a phenomenal mind.

[Jay] Known for his
beautiful sculptural buildings,

including the City of
Arts and Sciences in Spain

and the Innovation
in Technology campus

at Florida Polytechnic,

Calatrava wants to make
a transportation hub

that's also a work of art.

I understood
there was a great opportunity

to do something very special.

It's this idea of bringing hope

and believing that things--
that we will overcome it.

[music]

[Jay] What he comes up with

is an astonishing
ribbed structure

designed to look like
a dove being released.

First, they will
need to find a way

to create a new PATH station

with five platforms
below ground.

Throughout the build,

a live subway line will run
directly through the site.

So they will have to work out
how to protect it

and the thousands of passengers
who use it every day.

Above ground, they will
need to construct the Oculus

from 476 individual pieces,

building it in
three key layers--

the lower frame,
the ribcage, and the rafters.

In doing so, they'll create
a train station like no other.

But all the time, the team
will be under huge pressure

from the weight of
building in this location.

[Glenn] Everything that we
did was watched every day.

Every action we took
was under the microscope.

[Jay] Calatrava's
design is announced in 2004.

But before they
even break ground,

with the world on high alert

due to continuing
acts of terror,

the team reevaluates
the building's ability

to withstand an attack.

Every component
that was significant

went through a blast analysis.

[Jay] Amendments
to the design include

doubling the number
of steel ribs

to improve blast resistance.

We had to take care,

that so far as we could,

and so far is possible

to guarantee
the station is a safe place.

[Jay] In September 2005,
they break ground.

The ambition is
to open Oculus in four years.

They start by
carefully excavating

to create
the underground platforms

and ticket hall.

But with 26 different projects

all a part of the master plan,

needing to work
around each other

on the tight 16-acre site
is far from straightforward.

It is a Rubik's cube
of activity.

And we used
to sit there and say,

"Okay, you can go in tomorrow,
you can go in the next day."

[Jay]
The challenge of sequencing

the different projects

means progress
is painfully slow.

And there's another huge problem
for the team to overcome.

A live subway line, the 1 line,

runs through the heart of
the site.

[Jerry] During this
entire construction,

the trains kept rolling.

There were options
that you could've said,

hey, if we remove
the entire 1 line

and took it out of
service for a year,

we could get done a lot faster.

But that was a no go.

[Jay] The team's solution
is to protect the live line

with a box.

They will brace it
before surrounding it

on all four sides
with concrete slabs.

Then, to allow them to excavate

for a passage between
the two sides of the station,

they will support
the box with piles

that go down 50 feet
onto the bedrock beneath it.

Building it is painstaking work.

If this is the box,
we drove 500 piles.

Then proceeded to take
all the soil with Bobcats,

small excavators,
to remove the soil.

[Jay] It adds
months to the schedule

and costs around $355 million.

But finally, by May 2008,
the box is complete.

[Steve] That was
extreme engineering.

The subway line
was not affected.

People going through
it every day.

And it was very successful.

[Jay] The team's next job is to
create the station's

subterranean platforms
and ticket hall.

As if building underground
wasn't tough enough,

they also have to work around
a separate construction crew

directly overhead,

which is racing to complete
the memorial in time

for the 10-year
anniversary of the attacks.

As the delays stack up,

rising labor and material costs

are also adding
to the price tag.

Finally, in 2012,

they are ready to begin work
above ground

when the project is knocked
completely off course.

[music]

[Jay] One of the
most destructive storms

in US History, Hurricane Sandy,
floods the site.

[Steve] Like rapids
coming into the site.

Not quite Niagara Falls,

but something
as dramatic as that.

[Jerry] That water flooded
the entire facility

that was under construction.

[music]

[Jay] In New York City,
the already delayed construction

of Santiago Calatrava's
transportation hub

for the World Trade Center

has been hit by the devastating
Hurricane Sandy,

which causes
a massive storm surge

to flood Lower Manhattan.

It was 125 million gallons
of water

deposited in the site.

[Jay]
They need over 50 pumps

working around the clock
to extract the water.

It leaves behind several hundred
million dollars of wreckage.

It was a lot of damage
to mechanical systems,

architectural components,
electrical.

Anything that saw
that seawater got corroded

and had to be replaced.

[Jay] Underground, the project
is knocked back by almost a year

while they rectify the damage.

While above ground,
the team pushes on

with building
Calatrava's beautiful,

cathedral-like steel sculpture,

which will crown
the entrance hall.

But the steel construction team
is working against the clock.

[Pat] The project was
already behind schedule,

so we were under
a lot of pressure,

not only to meet our schedule,

but to accelerate
and be finished early.

[Jay] To add
to the challenge,

the steel is being cast
near Venice, Italy,

by one of the few companies
capable of handling

the demanding design.

[Pat] This was extremely
complicated to fabricate.

Not only the geometry,

but the architectural
look of it as well.

It's all curved plates.

You don't see
any bolted connections.

That was very, very difficult.

[Jay] The steel travels

over 4000 miles
by sea with ease.

It's the last few miles
that prove to be the toughest.

Traffic in New York
is already tough enough.

So imagine navigating these
hundred-foot-long steel ribs

through Manhattan.

[music]

We had to plan
what was the hours

that it was going to come in,

what was the route
that it was going to be taking.

Work with the city of New York
in terms of

whether or not we needed to
move traffic lights, signs.

Getting the steel here was
nothing short of a nightmare.

[Jay] All the careful
planning pays off.

[music]

[Jay] Now they're ready
to start the enormous job

of putting the Oculus together.

To do that,
they have to commission

two specially designed
185-foot-tall cranes.

Two tower cranes were erected,
which I understood at that point

were the tallest
ever used in New York.

They had to have
a tremendous capacity

in a very small space.

You can see there's a lot
of buildings around us.

[Jay] With the cranes set,
in December 2012,

they can start to
construct the lower part

of the enormous steel frame.

To achieve Calatrava's
aesthetic vision,

all 476 interconnecting pieces

need to be lined up perfectly
from bottom to top.

Any minor error in
the alignment of that connection

can translate right up
the line through the structure

and create major issues.

[Jay]
Not only that, but any flaw

could make the structure
itself unstable.

This whole project was basically
like a 3D game of chess,

where we could not
make one wrong move.

[Jay] Although
they use computer modeling

to help design it,

fitting the pieces on the ground

requires intense attention
to detail

from a team of surveyors.

We had a series of
control points around the site,

on these buildings,
all around us

that had to be
monitored continually.

[music]

[Jay]
With the lower frame complete,

they start to build the ribcage,
working inwards from each end.

The welding alone
is an enormous undertaking.

On most jobs,
it's measured in inches.

Here, there are
52 miles of work to be done

in the most challenging
of conditions.

[Pat] A lot of the welds
were done up in the air,

out of man baskets,

so it's not exactly a stable...

You know, you're moving
around in a man basket.

So it made the welding
very difficult.

[music]

[Jay] Slowly
the ribcage takes shape.

As it does, it forms two
enormous parallel arches,

which will eventually support
much of the weight of the wings.

Each will be completed by
a final keystone piece.

When the time comes to
fit them, in August 2014,

it's a nerve-wracking
moment for the team.

So one of the biggest concerns
is closing that gap, right?

Setting that piece in the middle

and knowing that
it's going to fit.

We were tracking it
the whole way.

We were monitoring it.

But until you see that piece set
and see it fit in,

it definitely causes you
some stress for sure.

[music]

[Jay] Thankfully
they go in without a hitch.

It was amazing
how it all fit together.

[Jay] The Oculus is finally
ready to receive its wings,

created from 114 pieces
of steel up to 80 feet long.

[Pat] I actually started to see

multiple pieces
going up per day.

And we were getting
consistent production

one day to the next,

and that's when
it started to collect that

we were really
going to pull this off

and build the Oculus the way
it's supposed to be built.

[music]

[Jay] Seven years late,

and at a cost of $4 billion,
double the original budget,

Calatrava's Oculus
opens in March 2016,

ready for the million people

who will pass through it
each week.

[music]

The many hundred,
thousands of people

who has put hand
to make it possible,

'cause you feel part of
an important achievement.

I feel like it uplifts people
in the sense of hope.

[Jay] Despite concerns
that delays and overspend

might overshadow the result,

for many, the Oculus's
soaring sculptural form

represents optimism
emerging from tragedy.

It's a tribute to
what happened there,

to the lives that were lost.

It couldn't be anything else.

It gives me a sense of pride
that I was a part of this.

[music]

[Pat] I could look
at this and be proud

that I was a part of
rebuilding this area.

I get emotional
just thinking about it.

[music]

[Steve] I was blessed
to be a small part of it,

and I will take that
as a gift from God

for the rest of my life.

[music]

[music]

Across the pond
to the Netherlands

and a mountain-like skyscraper.

Its jagged peaks have earned
it the name "The Valley,"

as well as turned the way
you build an apartment building

on its head.

In my opinion, this is easily

one of the coolest,
most unique-looking buildings

ever built.

Even if it does look
only half finished.

[music]

[Jay] The Netherlands
is famously flat.

In fact, nearly
a third of the country

sits below sea level.

So if you want to experience
some dramatic Dutch landscape,

you're gonna have to
build it yourself.

I love this building.
It looks like somebody's

taken a bite
out of a skyscraper.

[Jay]
This is Valley,

a mix of apartments and offices

in three jagged towers

made from a jumble of boxes.

Looking at this building,

it looks like it's going
to crumble and topple over.

[Crees] Seeing the design
for the first time,

it was like, oh my god,
how are we going to do this?

[Jay] But building
six feet below sea level

in a country
notorious for flooding

was always going to be
a challenge.

[Crees] For more than a year,

we were looking at
a really large swimming pool,

not knowing what comes out.

[Jay] So,
how did they build it?

[Jay] It's 2007,

and in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands,

Zuidas, the city's
central business district,

is growing fast.

But the developers
of a new project

want to avoid repeating
mistakes made elsewhere.

If you take a look at
the business districts

of the last 20, 30, 40 years,

what you mainly see
is a cluster of square buildings

quite close to each other

and no trees.

[Jay] As well
as lacking green space,

dedicated business areas
are often deserted

outside of office hours.

So the developers turn to

an architect who believes
good design can change all that.

I think it's super important
that our buildings contribute

to a wider perspective,

that they are not selfish.

This is not an office.
This is something more.

[Jay]
Winy Maas's big idea

is to mix
200 apartments with offices,

restaurants, and public spaces

in a towering
structure named Valley

that looks more like
a craggy natural landscape

than a building.

To create
this manmade mountain,

they'll first need to
figure out how to carve out

three stories of
underground parking

in a famously waterlogged city.

Then they will need to engineer
a structural system

capable of holding up
its three irregular towers

and supporting sections
designed to hang in midair

like natural rocky outcrops.

To finish off the rugged look,

they'll need to create thousands
of bespoke stone tiles

and assemble them like
a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

The finishing touch
will come from

glittering glass windows

and 220 different varieties
of plants and trees.

[music]

[Jay]
It's the summer of 2018,

and the team
is ready to break ground.

But most of Amsterdam
is built on reclaimed swampland

and sits three to six feet
below sea level.

[Gideon] So the minute
you start to dig,

you run into water,

and the water needs
to be mitigated well

in order not to collapse
the building site.

[Jay] In much
of the Netherlands,

buildings sit on piles
above the waterlogged ground.

But Valley will need to
dig down for three stories

of underground parking,

plus foundations
to support the towers.

So how will they stop water
flooding in the hole?

Well, they won't.

[Corina] Rather than trying
to keep all the water out

while you build,

it's actually easier
to work under water

using specialist
waterproof concrete.

Then you can pump the site dry
when you're finished.

[Jay] First,
the team sink metal panels,

called sheet piles,
around the edge of the site.

Then they dig
a 40-foot-deep hole inside,

which they allow
to fill up with water.

[Crees] It became the biggest
swimming pool of Amsterdam,

or maybe the biggest swimming
pool of the Netherlands.

[music]

[Jay]
Now, though, this pool

has to be prepared
for the pouring of

the concrete foundations.

It means calling in
highly trained divers.

We started this
project in March 2018.

It took us six months
with three to four diving teams.

[music]

[Jay] Their first task

is to sink over 1000 piles
100 feet into the ground

to anchor the building down.

It's difficult
and demanding work,

with the teams
working in shifts.

[Marc] You dive two hours.
You go out.

The next one goes in.
And that will rotate all day.

[Jay]
Having sunk the piles,

they now need to guide in
30 huge steel baskets

that will reinforce
the concrete slab.

These engineers have calculated
exactly where they need to go.

But the divers are
working almost blind.

I can't imagine many
divers on the water,

they can see anything.

They have to be careful.

A diver can't go
underneath the basket

to check everything because
that's too dangerous.

[Jay]
It takes six months,

but at last, the preparations
are safely done.

[Jay]
Now they're ready for

the next massive challenge,
pouring the concrete.

[Marc] You have
a concrete specialist.

They pour about 820,000 cubics
of concrete a year,

so they know what to do.

[Jay] A mixer pumps
a continuous flow of concrete

through a long pipe
guided by the divers.

[music]

[Jay]
After a nervous wait

while the concrete
sets under the water...

it's time for
the moment of truth

as they finally
pump the site dry.

[Marc] The moment
the water goes down,

everybody's looking at it
and seeing, okay,

it's okay or it's not okay.

[Jay] As the last
drops of water are removed,

they can finally see
if the reinforcing steel

has been correctly positioned.

[Marc] Baskets are
all in the right spot.

The concrete is
on the right level.

And it's okay.
It's good for us.

[music]

[Jay]
Now work can begin

creating Valley's
jagged boxy structure.

They start with
a fairly standard concrete core

and supporting walls.

But some of the apartments
are designed to stick out

from the building
as much as 32 feet.

These dramatic
overhanging sections

demand fresh thinking.

With the regular construction,

we had very rigid rules
on what we could do,

how far we could
cantilever out, and what not.

But we wanted
this super-spectacular image.

[Jay] To achieve
the architect's vision,

the engineers
design lightweight,

yet strong prefabricated
steel frames.

[Gideon] We have 11 of
what we call specials.

These are steel structures that

really cantilever super far out,

about 10 meters out.

The steel structures were bolted
to the concrete construction.

[Jay]
When the time comes

to hoist them into
position and attach them,

it's an anxious moment
for the team.

[Gideon] I still
remember the first one.

It was very exciting

to see if all
the connections actually fit.

And the contractor
did an amazing job there,

so...all 11 of
them fit perfectly.

[Jay] It's now 2020,

and with Valley's rugged outline
becoming a reality,

Winy Maas is working
on the finish.

I remember choosing
the material.

And that should be stone

so it looks like a mountain.

[Jay]
To make it look natural,

they plan to use
40,000 pieces of stone tile

in a variety of
shapes and sizes.

The shop contractor
for the natural stone,

he came to us and he said,

"I need at least one year,
a full year of engineering

in the drawings."

And we don't have that time.

[Jay] How will
they finalize the design

without tearing apart
the schedule?

[Jay] In Amsterdam,

engineers are trying to
arrange 40,000 stone tiles

on the jagged
surfaces of a building

inspired by a mountain valley.

They develop a special
3D software program to help.

We managed to get
all of these different tiles

put inside of the 3D model

and optimize as much as we can

to make as many standardized
tiles as possible

while giving this,
like, random appearance.

[Jay] Planning time
goes from a year to months,

with the prefabricated tiles
arriving on site

as a giant kit.

[Gideon] There were
all kinds of crates

and ordered and numbered,

because everything
was really cut to size

for that specific part.

That was quite a
logistic puzzle.

[Jay] Fitting them

is an epic challenge
for the team.

I think you had
more than 100 installers

here on the job site.

That's not normal for us.

[Jay]
As the cladding contractors

slowly work their way
down the building...

Valley begins to emerge
from its scaffolding cocoon.

And it was like a very slow
unwrapping of a present

that took weeks
and weeks and weeks.

[Jay]
Finally, in 2022,

Valley is properly
revealed to the world.

Three jagged towers
reaching over 300 feet.

[Jay]
Containing offices, restaurants,

and 200 extraordinary
apartments.

The apartments really
just seem to defy gravity.

[Jay] 271 trees

and 13,500 shrubs

have been planted
all over Valley,

each with their own
irrigation and drainage.

It's funny to see the amount of
bees that come to this building.

[Jay]
Creating a vertical park

that's open to the public
24 hours a day.

[Gideon] As it ages,
it grows more beautiful.

You see the plants
developing more and more.

You see people using,
really, the space.

[Jay] For those
who live and work here,

this building
has been a revelation.

[Gini] The energy is really good

because you have,
like, everything here,

like my friends,
the restaurants.

You can have, like,
your coffee in the morning.

[Peter] This building
is one of a kind.

Sometimes I'm sitting
on the terrace

with a good glass of wine

and thinking,
"How did it happen?"

[laughs]

I hope that this building shows
that we can break boundaries.

[Crees] This is, for us,

the most iconic building
we have ever made.

If you talk about legacies,
this building is a legacy.

[music]

Over New Mexico,

strange things have been
going on in the desert,

where many believe aliens
landed back in 1947.

Well, almost
eight decades later,

you can say the tables
are finally turning,

and it's the aliens who might
soon be getting a visit

from humankind

via the world's
first purpose-built

commercial spaceport.

The countdown's already begun,

so helmets on
and prepare for liftoff.

[Jay] For millennia, we've been
looking to the stars

and wondering what's out there.

In the 20th century, mankind
broke through Earth's atmosphere

for the first time.

Now, in the 21st,

the state of New Mexico
is taking space travel

to the next level.

Welcome to Spaceport America.

[music]

It's the gateway
to the edge of space.

[Jay]
Designed by some of the world's

best architects.

All I heard was
"Foster and Partners."

And it told me, all right,
this is gonna be something

that's going to be
a once in a career challenge.

[Jay] And built
in a tough, remote landscape.

[Grant] The desert
is incredibly powerful,

totally arid.

Very, very beautiful.

[Jay] A sleek
110,000-square-foot terminal

now rises up from the desert,

ready for voyages
into the unknown.

So, how did they build it?

[music]

[Jay] It's the turn
of the 21st century,

and the state of New Mexico

is looking to
future proof its economy.

It decides to go boldly
where no state has gone before.

-Fire.
-Fire.

[Jay] And build the world's
first airport for space tourism.

There was a lot of
potential benefits

from having
commercial space here

in terms of employment,

in terms of fostering the
overall high-tech environment.

[Jay] The hope
is that companies

like Virgin Galactic

will put space travel within
more and more people's reach.

The current price
is 600,000 US dollars,

which is a lot of money.

If they can get
that down to $15,000,

then the market
is just enormous.

People spend
$15,000 on a cruise,

so I think a lot of
those same people

would be happy to spend
that money to go to space.

[Jay] The project
will be funded by money

allocated by
the state of New Mexico

and local taxes

and built in a remote corner
of the Chihuahua Desert,

180 miles south of Albuquerque.

To design something special,

they turn to a London
architectural firm.

When people said "spaceport,"

no one really had in mind
what a spaceport would be.

Do you refer back to
Space 1999 TV show?

Do you relate back to 2001?

Do you look at Star Wars?

[Jay] For inspiration,
Lord Foster and his team

look to the unique surroundings.

You have this
extraordinary desert landscape.

So on the one hand,
you want to respect that.

You want this building to
grow out of it literally,

to be part of the landscape.

But at the same time,
it's about flight.

And if you look at
this building from above,

it has almost
a birdlike quality.

[music]

[Jay]
The team finally settle on

a low-lying, simple design

that will blend in with
the surrounding desert.

The building will
need to be engineered

so that it can be column-less
and self-supporting

in order to house the
enormous spacecraft inside.

The team will have to make sure
it's able to survive

the huge changes in temperature,

from below freezing at night

to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit
in the day.

And they need to be able to get
the spacecraft off the ground,

which in the thin
desert air means

a runway that's long enough

while being
strong enough to support

their enormous weight.

All this will need to be done

while making the minimum
disturbance to the desert

and the archaeology it holds.

[music]

[Jay] The project gets
the go ahead in April 2008.

But before any construction
work can begin,

there's an important job
that has to be done.

Because although the site
is a barren desert now,

thousands of years ago,

it was a hub
of early human activity.

Some of the oldest
archaeological remains

that we have for humans
in the New World are here.

And they're well preserved.

And they haven't been collected.

They haven't been built over.

They haven't been plowed up.

[Jay]
Each area of the site

needs to be carefully checked

by a team of archaeologists

while the crew
has to wait to break ground.

Any place that we were going to
actually disturb the surface,

we were required
to conduct surveys.

It's a time-consuming process.

Meanwhile, we're under
the gun to meet contracts.

[Jay] The survey uncovers
thousands of artifacts,

leaving as much as
possible undisturbed.

Finally, in June 2009,
construction begins.

The team's
first challenge is building

a very special runway.

Because to make space travel
commercially viable,

instead of using rockets
to launch the spacecraft,

here, aircrafts will carry
shuttles to 50,000 feet

before releasing them
at the edge of the atmosphere.

They use specially designed,
massive carrier aircraft

called White Knight 2.

They're like two jumbo jets
stuck together.

[Jay] To get these
jets safely off the ground,

the runway needs to be
almost two miles long,

200 foot wide,
and 44 inches thick.

It's built up in layers
like strata of rock.

There's a soil-cement mix
on the foundation,

then asphalt,
then another layer of concrete.

[Jay] Each of these layers
has to be laid flawlessly.

Any crack or bump could have
dangerous repercussions.

You can't have
any loose aggregate

close to the surface.
That's very important.

You can't have any potholes.
You can't have anything

that could possibly be
sucked in by the jet engines.

[music]

[Jay] But will
the searing desert heat

threaten
the flawless finish?

[Jay]
In New Mexico,

construction workers
are creating the runway

for the world's
first purpose-built

commercial spaceport.

It needs to be finished with
a layer of flawless concrete.

But achieving this in the desert
will be anything but easy.

If it's too cold,
it won't cure properly.

And if it's too hot,
it can dry out and crack easily.

[Chris] This valley that
we're in is a harsh environment.

The nights get down
below freezing.

The days get above
100 degrees, 106 degrees.

[Jay] The team
tries to beat the weather

by working in short bursts

when the conditions
are most favorable.

But even then,
the desert climate

ruins some of their work.

[David] We had to pull out

a significant amount
of concrete here.

That always breaks
people's hearts.

It breaks the spirit, too.

[Jay] It means
that building the runway

takes 15 months.

But eventually,
by December 2010, it's complete.

[David] This job was the most
challenging that we ever had

for the weather
conditions by far.

If you can place concrete here,
you can place concrete anywhere.

[music]

[Jay] Now the team
can turn its attention

to the main spaceport terminal,

which has to house
both the spacecraft

and launch planes.

[Man] You are clear to unstrap.

[Jay] And also offer
the paying amateur astronauts

an out-of-this-world experience.

Those who are going to take off
into the fringe of space,

they walk through the hangar

that contains these
extraordinary aircraft.

[Jay] Designing
a building that will allow

those massive
vehicles in and out

creates its own
unique set of headaches.

So you can't have the columns

that you would normally
have inside of a building

that would hold it up.

What we're trying to generate
is a very long-span structure

that is basically column free.

[Jay] The answer
they come up with

is to build
a super-strong steel frame

that will allow the roof
to be self-supporting.

Now normally, that wouldn't
be too complicated to construct.

Your traditional
airplane hangar,

they're often just
literally a large box.

[Jay] Here, though,
the architects have specified

a stunning, undulating
curved roof,

which will blend in seamlessly
with the surrounding desert.

It's a very organic shape,

so right away you knew
that this was gonna demand

a lot of innovation.

[Jay] The problem is

that if they fabricated in
bespoke curved pieces of steel,

the cost of the frame
will be enormous,

and the budget set by the state
of New Mexico can't bear it.

[music]

[Jay] The team's
solution is ingenious.

They design the steel frame

in cheaper, short,
straight sections,

which, when joined together

and topped with
corrugated metal,

insulation,
and a rubber membrane,

will give the impression
of a smooth curve.

Thanks to the clever,
cost-effective design,

the frame quickly
comes together.

You've been looking at it
on a computer screen

and on a sheet of paper
for months,

or, in this case, years.

And then you see
it in real life.

You know, it works.

[Jay] While work
continues creating the hangar,

the team turns to
its final challenge--

they need to find a way
to help the building

manage the extreme climate.

It's crucial to
regulate the temperature

inside the building.

The structural elements need it.

The technology needs it.
And the people need it.

[Jay] They look to
the surrounding desert

for the answer.

[Lord Foster] How do you
take advantage of the fact

that below that
very hot surface, it's cold?

In the same way we go into
the basement of a building

on a hot day here in London,
it'll be immediately cooler.

You're below the ground.

[Jay] To stabilize
the temperature

inside the terminal,

the answer is to half bury it.

They build up walls
around Spaceport

to create thermal mass.

That's a natural capacity
of some materials,

like earth, to hold on to
heat and release it slowly.

[Jay] It's a technique
pioneered in the 1970s

in the earthships,

off-grid ecohouses
built in the desert.

But here, the engineers have
a neat trick up their sleeve

to make them work even better.

Within the earth,
there's a labyrinth.

There's a series of
large concrete pipes

that just meander
back and forth.

[Jay] During the
freezing cold nights,

cool air is drawn through
the huge earth bank,

which is warmer
and heats it up.

But during the day,
the reverse happens.

Hot air drawn in cools
as it passes through the pipes,

maintaining a stable temperature
inside.

[music]

[Jay] In 2019,

10 years after breaking ground,

Spaceport America's
gateway to space

is ready for takeoff.

[music]

[Bill] It was quite
an amazing sight to see.

The building,
it's just almost overwhelming

when you actually see it.

[music]

So when you arrive,
you're going into

what feels like you're
going into a cave, almost.

And then you come
into the main terminal

with this fantastic view
across the landscape.

[Jay] In 2023,
Virgin Galactic's

first tourist space flight
takes off.

If you look at space and risk,
in any new technology,

it's a huge gamble
for everybody.

But here we are,
with 32 new astronauts

in the last year,

seventh commercial flight.

[Kelly] We can actually see the
spaceport while we're up there.

I can look down
and, clear as a bell,

see the runway, the facility.

Every time we do a space flight,
it is incredibly emotional.

[music]

[music]

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