All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S03E09.Curved.and.Cables.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-WhiteHat_track3_[eng]

[Jay] How do you keep
a glass giant tent

from collapsing
on a futuristic new art center?

[Greg] DEFCON level went up.

One of these cables
were to break,

that could've caused
a lot of damage.

[Jay] Can engineers realize
an extraordinary vision

for two skyscrapers
that appear to spin?

These look like two giant
twisting Slinkies

that could almost move.

[Jay] And how do you make
a science museum

where visitors
can experience the ocean depths?

[Seth] The 500,000-gallon
shark tank,

the impact of a leak
could be catastrophic.

[Jay] This is the age
of the extraordinary.

[Woman] 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?

Over in Kansas City, Missouri,

mind-blowing architecture
and world-class acoustics

were given leading roles

in a brand-new
performing arts center,

a design so bold
and unlike anything else around,

it's won more standing ovations

than most Hollywood stars
can ever dream of.

I've seen it several times,
and all I can say is

bravo, bravo.

For decades, Kansas City
sports fans

have flocked
to its iconic football

and baseball stadiums.

But since 2011,

performing arts lovers
have had

their own double-header
attraction too.

[Nehemiah] This isn't the sort
of building

people are used to seeing
in Kansas City.

[Jay] A state-of-the-art
concert hall and a theater,

housed in two space-age
metallic shells,

draped in a gravity-defying
glass curtain.

It grabs your attention.

It's very dramatic
and beautiful.

It looks like an armadillo
from one side.

[Jay] However you view it,

this cutting edge
performing arts center

took exceptional engineering.

To be world-class,
you had to do things

that were new
and untested.

[Greg] This is, by far,
the biggest thing

that I had done
in my career.

[Jay] Combining
radical design.

Multiple angles,
multiple shapes.

[Jay] With technical precision.

[Greg] How do I keep
the building

from being ripped
out of the ground

by these cables?

[Jay] This is the Kauffman
Center for the Performing Arts.

So how did they build it?

In the second half
of the 20th Century,

no one embodied
Kansas City's love

of sports and culture

better than pharmaceutical
magnets and philanthropists

Ewing and Muriel Kauffman.

Ewing's passion for baseball
is enshrined

in the magnificent
Kauffman Stadium

while Muriel champions
the performing arts.

I think she was
passionate about the arts

because she loved music
and she loved dancing

and she loved people.

[Jay] In 1995,

Muriel comes up
with the idea

for a world-class concert
and performance venue

that will house
the city's ballet,

orchestra, and opera company.

[Julia] She said, "Build
a performing arts center"

and left the room.

And that was it.

So that's all
we had to go on.

And she died
six weeks later.

We really didn't know
what we were gonna build

and didn't have
much of a clue.

[Jay] Julia Kauffman, though,

is determined to honor
her mother's legacy.

She understood what the arts
meant to a community

and a region, basically,

and what a world-class
performance space

would mean for
[indistinct] organizations

and, really, all organizations.

[Jay] In 1999,
an 18-and-a-half acre site

is acquired downtown.

To transform it

into a world-class
performing arts center,

they turned to Architect
Moshe Safdie.

To me, music is so essential
to my life,

as an architect,
as a human being,

it fills my life.

[Jay] He sketches out his vision
on a napkin over dinner.

[Moshe] It's just a series
of radiating arches.

So you can think
of a fan

or you can think
of an accordion form.

And it has a rhythm to it.

[Jay] To make it a reality,

the team will have to build
two separate performance spaces,

a theater
and a concert hall,

united behind
a massive glass lobby

suspended on
high-tension cables.

First, they'll need
to figure out

how to build foundations
stable enough

to support the building
and hold the cables in place.

They'll need to grapple
with the mind-bending geometry

of the two auditoriums
each with unique requirements.

Then they'll have to
figure out

how to soundproof them
from the noise

of the nearby
interstate highways.

Finally, the tensioning cables

will create forces
so great,

the entire building
will move

which, somehow,
they will have to deal with.

Then they'll have to cover
its tent-like lobby

with more than 600 panes
of glass.

How could we effectively even
get the engineering to work,

let alone
the schedule and the budget?

[Jay] In January, 2007,

work starts on the foundations

which are going to be
anything but straightforward.

The underlying rock strata
in Kansas City

is mostly limestone
and shale.

[Nehemiah] Shale isn't very
strong under pressure

and limestone can dissolve
from acidic rain,

leading to sinkholes.

[Greg] They stack
layer upon layer.

The idea is to find
the right layer.

[Jay] As well as overcoming
the unstable ground,

the foundations
must do two jobs:

carry the weight
of the building

and anchor 27
high-tension cables

to support
the huge glass entrance.

[Greg] The solution was
a very large foundation wall.

Even though this wall was up
to four-feet thick in places,

we still had to grab ahold
of the underlying rock.

[Jay] To secure the foundations
into the bedrock,

they'll need to use
high-tensile steel rock anchor.

[Nehemiah] These anchors
are like giant screws

that drill through walls
into the earth

to hold them in place.

[Jay] It takes six months
to sink a foundation wall

that's 4 feet thick
and goes down 50 feet,

where it's screwed
into the bedrock.

Next, they'll have to build

not one but two
concert halls.

Each comes with
a uniquely complicated shape.

Both need to be soundproofed
from each other

and the outside.

[Dan] The biggest strategy
in terms of acoustics

was to develop the solution
as a box in a box.

[Jay] To make their idea work,
they need to be sure

the inner box
never touches the outer one.

The seating
and the whole construction

of the theater

is structurally
completely independent

of the large roof
that goes over the top.

And that means
that vibrations and noise

can't be transmitted
from the outside structure

to the inside structure.

[Jay] But building
a soundproofed box

within a box
is a lot easier

when the boxes
are box-shaped.

[Greg] The curves
and the geometry

of this structure
created a lot more work.

One of the challenges
we faced

when we were building
this structure

over the top
of another structure

was just maintaining
clearances.

There were some areas
that were very complicated

and they got
very close to each other.

[Jay] As the outer shell
is carefully installed

around each
of the concert halls,

the soundproofing gap
is just a little more

than the length
of a smartphone.

[Greg] We utilized
a seven-inch gap.

This entire isolated area

occurs completely over the top
of the structure as well.

[Jay] With both
performance spaces in place,

the biggest
engineering challenge remains.

Safdie's vision
is to unite them

with a large,
curving glass lobby.

Creating
a life-filled space

with incredible views
that evoke the excitement

of being in a circus
big top.

[Moshe] We started thinking
of a glass stand.

Except, instead of canvas,
you had glass there.

[Jay] Simple in theory,

but making this massive
glass and steel tent

will be anything
but easy.

It will be held in place

by 27 high-tension rods
and cables.

We wanted to use cables because
of their inherent strength.

That would mean that member
sizes could be smaller

and the lobby
could be more transparent

and the solution
could be more elegant.

[Jay] The rods and cables
will be anchored

into the foundation wall

and tied
to a supporting arm

that acts
like a tentpole.

From here,
they are hung

to the outer edges
of the roof.

[Greg] cables aren't very common
in the United States,

especially in a glass roof.

So that was
a little daunting at first.

[Jay] Step one
is installing the cables.

So far, so straightforward.

[Dan] If you ever put up

a canopy or a tent
in your backyard,

you just wanna get
the posts right

and the tie-downs about right,

but everything
is loose and floppy.

That's the first phase
of construction.

Then we need
to tighten things up.

And so the big pull
was meant to be that tightening.

[Jay] Before they can
do the job

of holding 487 tons
of glass securely in place,

the cables
must be individually tensioned

with hydraulic jacks.

There's a tremendous amount
of force in those cables.

[Kyle] The loads
on the cables

that pulled against the steel

started with 500,000 pounds
of force on the center cable

and then changed
as it went away from the center.

[Jay] As they start
the tensioning process,

the stakes are high.

[Greg] DEFCON level went up.

One of these cables
were to break,

that could've caused
a lot of damage.

[Jay] One-by-one,
the cables are tensioned.

There was more and more pressure
being applied

as we worked our way across
the front of the building.

[Jay] But it's not long
before disaster strikes.

[Kyle] Those forces build up
to a point

where we had a failure
on one of the connections.

The column
that supported the cable

came up out of its socket
at the bottom.

I was in the building,
and the building shook.

[Jay] In Kansas City,

the team building
a performing arts venue

with a huge glass tent
for a lobby

has hit a big problem.

While tensioning
the steel support cables,

an important connection
has failed.

[Kyle] This was a failure
on a detail

that stopped the project.

[Jay] Before they can continue,

the team needs
to bolster the connections

on all the building's columns.

We came back, we more heavily
reinforced the welds.

We worked for about 2 months,
24 hours a day,

with iron workers.

Every piece of metal
on that joint

was welded together
with the other piece of metal.

[Jay] With the extra welding
complete,

they can recommence tensioning.

But now there's another reason
to worry.

As the cables
are pulled taught,

the whole concert hall structure
is going to move.

We had to basically build
the building

leaning backwards
to the north

so that, when we pulled
to the south,

the whole building leaned
forward into position.

The prediction was it would
move two to six inches.

[Jay] Until the structure hits
its final position,

important elements of the build
are on hold.

For example, you can't
put the elevators in

if the building's gonna move.

[Jay] The big pull

is a tense moment
for the team.

It's always nervous to see
your building

being put under
that much load.

[Kyle] When we began to pull,

we started to see the building
do exactly what was predicted.

[Jay] After a month
of careful calibration,

all 27 cables
are brought up to tension.

[Kyle] When the tensioning
was completed,

we were all relieved.

[Jay] The final challenge
is to fit

the 686 glass panels
across each row of cables,

creating a 48,000-square-foot
glass ceiling and facade.

[Kyle] We searched worldwide
to have experts

in cable-supported glass.

They understood
the delicacies

of pulling
millions of pounds

across cables
to support the glass.

[Jay] First, they design
a system

that will minimize
the complexity

of this 686-piece
jigsaw puzzle.

[Greg] We worked a lot
with the geometry

to make sure that we didn't have
unique pieces

so that most of the pieces
were not custom.

They were all the same size.

[Jay] Then,
using suction clamps,

they maneuver the panes
into place.

The slightest mistake
in positioning

will throw off
the whole sequence.

The glass is installed,

and then the flashing
and the waterproofing

are put in.

[Jay] Slowly,
the tent canopy takes shape.

Stretching across
the roof of the lobby

before swooping down across
the front of the building.

[Kyle] The facade was
more difficult

because of gravity.

And there had to be work
to pull the glass

into the structure,

at the same time,
connecting it to the structure.

[Jay] It takes five months
of painstaking positioning

before the center's
extraordinary facade

is complete.

We made it
and it was a great party.

[Jay] In September, 2011,

almost five years
after construction began,

the Kauffman Center
for the Performing Arts

is officially open
to the public.

It's an event attended
by 55,000 guests.

[Moshe] The lines
to get into the building,

which is going
all the way around,

it was like a pilgrimage.

It was super exciting.

[Jay] Since then,
the center has garnered awards

for its architectural innovation
and acoustic performance.

[Devon]
It speaks of dance.

It speaks of art.

It speaks
of performance.

And it speaks of quality.

Performing in this beauty
elevates you.

It's a very comfortable hall
for audiences.

And it really has elevated
the art scene in Kansas City

in ways
that are almost indescribable.

[Jay] Giving the people
of Kansas City access

to a rich array
of cultural experiences.

The Kauffman Center has brought
a different level

of performing arts
to Kansas City.

We've had acts here
that we wouldn't have had,

so it's actually a wonderful
gift to our community.

[Jay] Sixteen years
after her dying wish,

Muriel Kauffman's vision
has been realized.

I think she'd be
absolutely thrilled.

I really do.

I really feel
we've gone beyond her mission.

[music]

Ontario, Canada,
was never a place

lacking incredible landmarks,

but that didn't stop the city
of Mississauga

from getting itself
a stunning new skyline.

With its fluid lines
and enviable curves,

this new skyscraper project
has been fondly dubbed

the Marilyn Monroe Towers.

The thing is there was
only one Marilyn Monroe.

There are two
of these absolute beauties.

Introducing Absolute Towers.

These look like two giant
twisting Slinkies

that could almost move.

[Jay] Creating them
was a huge gamble.

[Sam] There's a great deal
of risk.

This has never been done before.

[Jay] Their twisting shape

caused huge headaches
for the engineers.

There was a lot of worrying
and anxiety

throughout the project.

There were sleepless nights,
of course.

[Jay] Built as part

of a half-billion-dollar
development,

it took five years

to construct two of the most
beautifully curved

apartment towers
in the world

and completely redefined
the skyline of Mississauga.

So how did they build them?

It's the early 2000s,

and 15 miles
from Toronto, Canada,

the city of Mississauga
is rapidly expanding.

Its population grows
by almost 10% in five years.

But growth
has been haphazard.

And there isn't
a city center to be proud of.

In 2005,
that's all about to change.

[Mark]
Mississauga had a vision

which, at the time,
was quite revolutionary

to create a downtown
around their city hall.

There were these
huge plot of lands

that were undeveloped.

[Jay] A local developer
shares the vision.

[Sam] It's an important
intersection in the city.

And it's a prominent location.

And I always thought
this was a great location

for a residential development.

[Jay] Together,
they launch a competition

to find a design which will
transform Mississauga.

The hope was always that we
would see ideas

that we've never seen before,

new and creative approaches,

and, effectively, that's exactly
how it turned out.

[Jay] The competition attracts

more than 90 entrants
from across the world.

[Dang] We want
something different

where everybody passing through
sees something

which stand out
as a landmark building.

[Jay] There's one design

that stops people
in their tracks.

From the very beginning,
MAD's design

was something that everyone
gravitated to.

[Jay] Winners MAD Architects

will go on to become
a global organization.

But at the time,

they're a brand-new
architecture firm,

working out of Beijing, China.

They have a fantastic design,

but they are also untested.

We were like
new graduate student

without any experience to build
a high-rise building.

So that was a big challenge.

[Jay] In Mississauga, Ontario,

a contest to design
a pair of apartment buildings

has been won

by up-and-coming firm
MAD Architects,

despite the fact that they have
never built a high-rise.

I cannot imagine
the mix of emotions

that he must've felt.

"I've won. I've got it!

Oh, no, now I've gotta
build the thing."

[Jay] What's more,

the winning design
is for two towers

that would look like nothing
that has been built before.

The key challenge was to think
about possible future

of a high-rise building.

[Jay] It's going to be very
difficult to bring to life.

I want to create something
that looks not fixed.

When you look at the tower
from different angle,

it looks
like the building can move.

[Jay] The team's challenge
will be to create

the impression
that the two sculptural towers

are spinning

while making sure they are
actually solid as a rock.

As well as building
super strong foundations,

they've also gotta find
a way

of digging deep enough to create
six stories of parking.

Once they get out of the ground,

the floors will rotate
as they go up the towers.

This means the team
will have to find a way

of dealing with
the uneven forces

that this will create.

While the extended floor plates
that will become balconies

are in danger of transferring
the bitter Canadian winter

directly into each
of the 884 apartments.

If they can pull it off,
they will create

two incredible
curving majestic towers

that will completely transform
the city skyline.

In winter 2007,

work begins excavating
to create solid foundations.

And the huge six-story
underground parking garage.

I think it was
the deepest dig

in North America
at the time.

[Jay] It's no easy job
in the Mississauga ground.

It's actually weathered shale,
which is a pretty hard soil,

so difficult to excavate.

Digging through shale can
really slow a build down.

It requires
very special equipment.

For about a year, all we heard
was rock breaking,

just making our way down
to the bottom of the hall.

[Jay] It takes 8 months

to dig through more than 90 feet
of tough shale

and another 11 to construct
the underground parking garage.

The next challenge
is working out how to build

the twisting towers.

[Mark] It's an oval floor plate
that's repeated,

but it rotates
as it travels up the tower.

[Yuri] From ground floor
to 10th floor, approximately,

it almost didn't turn,
almost.

Maybe one degree.

Then it started
to turn three degrees,

then five degrees,
then seven degrees.

Then, again, the turning speed
was reduced.

That creates
a huge structural issue.

[Jay] There will be
209 degrees

of twists
in the first tower

and 200 degrees in the second.

This will create
uneven forces.

And dealing with them
won't be easy.

In a standard tower,
you can simply line up

the supporting columns
through the building

to take the load.

But the offset floor plates
make this impossible.

[Yuri] I remember
I was thinking

about structural system
which supports the building

to such extent

that I was just crossing
a red light on the intersection.

So then I realized that it's
better to think

not in driving the car.

[Jay] Thankfully,
inspiration strikes.

They realize a solution

is to make the apartment walls
load-bearing.

We decided, then,
that the best way

would be to keep
the walls in line.

I would call it
a rectangular structural system

where walls
are located

along gridlines.

[Jay] It's genius
in its simplicity.

The walls will line up
from the top

to the bottom
of the entire building,

becoming short or longer

to allow
for the oval floors' rotation.

This allows them to channel
the weight of the building

down to the foundations.

[Yuri] According to
this rectangular system,

all points
of each individual floor

of all 56 floors
were supported properly.

[Jay] They may have
overcome one problem

caused by
the spiraling shape,

but there are more to come.

In a typical
apartment building,

each story
is identical to build.

[Yuri] Workers
like repetition.

When they build 50 floors,

every day, they come to work,
and they do the same thing.

[Jay] But as each floor twists
around the supporting walls,

it means creating
a fresh floor plate

for every level.

And this will be
a massive headache.

[Jay] In Mississauga,

the team behind a pair
of spinning skyscrapers

needs to find a way
to build

a total of 106 stories,

each with a slightly different
floor plate,

while also saving time, money,

and the construction
workers' sanity.

[Mark] We impose a system

that made
a regular pattern apparent

so that we only had to have

five typical floor plates
that changed.

So each one
could be manipulated,

mirrored, rotated,

depending on where
in the tower it was.

[Jay] Even then,
this is still

an incredibly complicated
design to pull off.

In a standard skyscraper,

you'd expect to complete a floor
in four days.

[Dang] It took months
to build the first floors.

After that, it took
less than two weeks

for one floor.

Then the building goes
very fast

and quicker
towards the sky.

[Jay] The other big problem
with the floor plates

is that they include
a curving balcony

for each apartment.

[Mark] Continuous balconies
contribute a lot

to heat loss
in towers.

And it is a big issue.
That needs to be dealt with.

[Jay] Because the balcony
is part of the floor plate,

it joins
the inside of the apartment

to the outside.

So Ontario's 20-degree
Fahrenheit winter temperatures

could lead
to serious chill inside.

[Sergio] Essentially,
what you have to do

is you have to separate
the balconies from the building.

So what's introduced is what's
called the thermal break.

[Jay] Where the balcony floor
passes inside the building,

the team creates
a series of cavities

which are insulated
to minimize heat loss.

Then the connections
in between

are reinforced
with steel bars

to make sure the floors
stay firmly attached.

[Mark] There's always
a resolution.

There's always a way
to solve a problem.

You just have to think harder.

[Jay] Finally, the 364 feet
of balconies

are ready to be wrapped
in beautiful shimmering glass.

[Sergio] Even during
the finishing stages,

there was the challenges,

but we knew that, every day,

by putting our heads together

and effectively moving forward
one step at a time,

that we would get through it.

[Jay] In December 2012,

the Absolute Towers
are ready

for people to start moving
into the 884 apartments.

Two shining sculptures

that stand tall
on the skyline,

redefining the city center
of Mississauga.

[Abe] When I first saw
the building, I thought,

"Wow, it'll really stand out
on the horizon

and be this anchor
for the city.

And this is what
is going to be my home."

[Ketlin] You would think you get
less impressed by it every day,

but I get impressed
by the view or the feeling

every day more and more.

[Gino] Everything about it said,

"This is the right place
to be."

And I'll be honest with you.

We feel like
we're in a piece of art.

[Jay] It took five years
to complete

these imposing twisting forms,

made from 82,000 cubic yards
of concrete

and 10,000 tons of steel.

It was definitely a highlight
of my career.

I learned a lot
in a very short period of time.

[Yuri] Physically,
this is landmark

for people who live there.

But for me, it is milestone
of my life.

[Jay] Two beautiful
statuesque curving towers

that put Mississauga
well and truly on the map.

Looking at these buildings
is so awe-inspiring.

You just feel it
in your soul.

They are truly a symbol now
of Mississauga.

[music]

When the magic city of Miami
wanted to build

one of the most awesome
science attractions

anywhere in the world,

they weren't gonna use
any sleight-of-hand tricks

to cheat their millions
of annual visitors.

So in went
an amazing science museum,

a stupendous planetarium,

and a three-story, half-million
gallon cone-shaped aquarium

with a 31-foot diameter
oculus lens.

How did they manage
to get all that

into just one building?

Architectural magic.

Miami, Florida,

famous for its sun-drenched
sandy beaches,

its crystal-clear waters,

and it's palm trees
blowing in the wind.

For the last 70 years,

it's also been home
to a science museum

known today

as the Phillip & Patricia Frost
Museum of Science.

The museum has been
a staple of Miami

since the early 1950s.

It was actually run out
of a house, originally.

Most of the exhibits
were donated items

that were historic
to Miami

or from the natural environment
of Miami.

[Jay] In 1960,
it got a new home

with more space
and more exhibits.

But almost 50 years later,
it's time for an upgrade.

Twelve million people
are visiting Miami every year.

And the museum
is determined to lure them in.

[Trevor] All these people
from all over the world

are coming to Miami,

but they're coming to Miami
to be outdoors.

So how do we get people
that want to be outdoors

inside of a museum?

[Jay] In 2007,

the firm responsible
for the Eden Project in England,

Grimshaw Architects,

wins the pitch
to design the museum.

Grimshaw Architects
really came up

with a great approach
on how that might happen.

The intention was that visitors
could freely move

between the different exhibits,

creating their own journeys
into science

with a real level of intimacy.

And with hands-on experience,

the actual museum itself
could showcase and tell stories.

[Jay] Their vision is for a
new 250,000-square-foot museum

on the waterfront.

It will eventually house
a huge aquarium

and planetarium.

But, first, they need
to overcome the problems

caused by a location
that's vulnerable

both to the immediate threat
of hurricanes

and the long-term rise
in the sea level.

Then they've got two major
engineering challenges.

First, they will
have to work out

how to support
an enormous aquarium

that's raised
off the ground,

construct its sloping sides
from liquid concrete,

and put a huge oculus lens
at the bottom

that will survive the pressure

of 4.5 million pounds
of water.

Then there's the planetarium.

Here, they will need
to construct

an 87-foot diameter
self-supporting sphere

from enormous
concrete panels.

It's a big ask.

[Christian] There were a range
of huge challenges,

challenges that were set
by the client.

It was a very ambitious
client group

that wanted to have a really
special, unique facility.

[Jay] In February 2012,

work begins
as the team breaks ground

to create the foundations.

[Seth]
It was excitement for sure

doing something
that was never done before.

[Jay] And that includes
making sure the museum

can cope with the twin threats

of rising sea levels

and flood risk
from hurricanes.

[Vincent]
We had to really consider,

how could the building
be protected

from moments
of coastal flooding?

[Jay] Florida has
the highest risk

of any state
in the US

of being hit
by a hurricane.

In 1992,
Hurricane Andrew caused

$26.5 billion
worth of destruction.

The storm surge
during Hurricane Andrew

in 1992, I think,
was around plus 18 feet.

[Jay] The solution
the team comes up with

lifts the project
to new heights, literally.

The building
is actually elevated

well above the floodplain
designated requirements.

[Jay] To do this,
the first thing

they construct
is a parking garage,

which lifts the museum's
ground floor and its exhibits

safely 21 feet
above sea level

where they are further protected
by deployable flood barriers.

Having managed
to keep seawater out,

now they have to work out

how to keep
half-a-million gallons of it in

because a centerpiece
of the new museum

will be the huge aquarium.

[Vincent] It had to be scaled
at a certain proportion

such that hammerhead sharks

could move around it
as they grow

and develop
their musculature evenly.

And so the tank
had to be wide enough

for them to have a glide path
in a figure of eight

without them just going in one
direction around the tank.

[Jay] Not only will it need
to be 117 feet wide

at its widest point,

but this aquarium also needs
to be built

so that visitors
can walk underneath

and look up at the fish
through a huge lens.

[Vincent] It's an unusual tank.

It's elevated above ground,

which brings tremendous
structural challenges,

as you can imagine.

[Corina] The water will weigh
4.5 million pounds

that will put an incredible
amount of pressure on the tank.

If it's not spread out,

it can be so great

the that piers holding up
the aquarium

can pierce the bottom
and cause a disaster.

[Seth] We eventually came
to the conclusion

of the six columns.

Those six columns
are profiles.

They start off small
at the base

and then they expand
their dimension

as they hit the bottom surface
of the tank.

So this provides
a larger surface area,

reduces the stress.

[Jay] With the support system
in place,

by winter 2014,

the team is ready
to start building

the aquarium
that will sit on top of it.

Preparations have to be perfect
if they're gonna pull this off.

[Vincent] The tank has to be
watertight.

And so that demanded it be
one continuous concrete pour

so there were
no cold junctions

between different moments

where the concrete
is actually beginning to set.

[Jay] Any cold junctions,

where one section
of the concrete sets

before the next one
is poured,

could create
structural weaknesses.

They must be avoided
at all costs.

The impact
of a leak

down the road
could be catastrophic.

[Jay] This means pouring
five million pounds of concrete

in one go.

[Vincent] There was
just tremendous excitement.

But if I'm honest,
there was also trepidation.

[Jay] On December 12, 2014,
the day arrives.

[Vincent] This concrete pour
involved the delivery

of 120 concrete trucks.

The concrete had to arrive
in a particular schedule

to ensure that the right
viscosity of concrete

was available
to then be pumped

over 100 foot
into hoses

and then down
into the tank itself.

[Jay] A team of 300 people
is needed to manage the pour

and to create the shape
of the aquarium.

Everything about the geometry
was unusual.

[Vincent] One of
the biggest challenges

was the actual slope
of the sides

and making sure the concrete
stayed in place.

[Jay] If it doesn't, it will
all pool at the bottom.

As well as using
an extra thick mix of concrete,

the team comes up
with an ingenious way

of working it
on the aquarium's sloping side.

The contractors
had designed platforms

that they could kneel on
that were angled

to enable work crews

to then work the concrete
into position.

It was an extraordinary effort,
and this went of for hours.

It was over 24 hours
of continuous pour.

[Jay] At 5:25 pm,
on December 13th,

the team finishes
the huge pour.

[Christian] It was great
to see the relieved faces

and jubilant atmosphere
of the people onsite.

[Jay] But the challenge
of creating the aquarium

isn't quite over yet.

[Trevor] Just to make matters
more complicated,

there's a large viewing window
30-feet in diameter

really at the bottom
of that exhibit.

[Jay] In Miami, the team behind
an ambitious new science museum

is trying to construct
an enormous viewing window

that will enable visitors
to look up

into a huge aquarium.

[Nehemiah] The lens itself,

I just think of how
incredibly strong that is

to span that distance
and to support all the weight

from the water and the creatures
that are inside.

[Jay] They turn
to a specialist factory

over 5,000 miles away
in Rome, Italy,

to make a lens
almost 32-feet wide

and 12-and-a-half inches thick.

[Christian] It's made
out of acrylic.

Glass couldn't do
such a job

with such a size,
with such thickness.

[Jay] It takes three weeks

to ship
the enormous window from Rome.

Once it's onsite,

it's a delicate operation
to get it in place.

[Christian] This acrylic lens
was lifted high up

over the roof
of the aquarium building.

[Jay] It's a tense time
for the team

as the window
is lowered.

If anything goes wrong,

it will throw them
months off-schedule.

[Christian] The ropes
could've torn

or a stronger wind breeze
could've moved the lens around,

and it would've been knocked
into the concrete

and chipped of an edge.

[Jay] The closer they get
to the bottom of the aquarium,

the trickier
the maneuver becomes.

But, finally, they can breathe
a sigh of relief

as it safely reaches
its destination.

[Christian] Multiple things
could've gone wrong.

Luckily, nothing did.

[Jay] The tank
is filled with seawater

from the neighboring
Biscayne Bay.

The weight of it
pushes the lens down,

sealing it in place.

It was really almost like
the topping out of the building.

It was a very important
milestone in the project.

[Jay] But the team has another
enormous task to grapple with.

Building the 87-foot-wide
spherical planetarium

from concrete.

How do you actually
build a complete sphere?

[Jay] While concrete
can be poured

for the lower section,

creating the huge
curving top section

from form work
would be very expensive

and very difficult.

[Seth] We felt it would be
much better

to utilize pre-cast concrete
for the panels.

And then you have
the exact geometry

that's required
of the planetarium dome.

[Corina] Casting the panels
off site

means that they can ensure
the perfect quality

and ensure the exact shape
that's needed.

Both of these
will be really difficult

to achieve if they were
to do it onsite.

The only snag is you actually
have to get them

to the site
after you've made them.

[Trevor] Massive pieces
of concrete,

maybe 30 feet tall,

and then arching over
another 15 feet.

[Jay] Each of the 32 panels

weighs the same
as a bulldozer,

a colossal 50,000 pounds.

It demands a 550-ton crane

and a 50-foot tall
scaffold tower.

[Trevor] That was trucked in
and then craned into place

in sections almost like
an orange slice.

So we would get two sections
of that pre-cast concrete

that would arrive
each day.

And then all throughout
the night,

there were welders
welding upside down

the embed plates,

holding those
orange sections together.

[Jay] It takes
two-and-a-half weeks

of 24-hour shifts

to complete the planetarium's
incredible dome.

[Seth] It really does take
the commitment and dedication

of the whole project team
to pull that off.

[Jay] In May 2017,
the jaw-dropping

Phillip & Patricia Frost
Museum of Science

opens its doors
to the public,

delighting over 700,000 people
in its first year alone.

To be able to open
to the public

and then seeing the public

experience that
for the first time,

it was the highlight
of my career, for sure.

This is absolutely awe-inspiring
to look at,

dizzying, honestly.

[Man] It just brings new
imagination to our kids

and they just really enjoyed
the activities

and the hands-on features
that the museum brings.

[Woman 2] The thing that I liked
the most about the museum

is the planetarium,

so, yeah,
that's really cool.

[Jay] The museum is not just
a crowd-pleaser.

It's also an incredibly
piece of architecture

and engineering
that is a testament

to the ingenuity
of the team.

We had, as a project team,
this ambitious vision

for this
one-of-a-kind museum.

And actually see it built today,
it's just amazing.

[Vincent] Just seeing
the life of the institution,

seeing the wonderments
of children

peering through tanks,

playing with hands-on exhibits,
is really joyful.

[Nehemiah] How can someone
visit this place

and not leave inspired?

Both at science
and at engineering.

[music]

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