All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S03E10.Boxes.and.Birds.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-WhiteHat_track3_[eng]

[music]

[Jay] How do you
create a manmade cave

inside of one of America's
national treasures?

[Michelle] We looked at I think
every way you could imagine

trying to build this.

[Jay] How do you construct a
sleek, space age arts center

topped by an 880-foot-long
swooping roof?

Fluid and curved buildings
always mean one thing--trouble.

[Jay] And how do you build

a fossil fuel-free
university building

from a teetering
tower of blocks?

[Nathan] You'd hear
the bolts slip, the steel move.

So that was a little unnerving.

[music]

[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?

In a city short on space
like New York,

most buildings
reach for the sky.

But one mold-breaking exception

is an addition to
a historic landmark

that was designed
from the inside out

and is not so much a building
as a column-less cave fantasy

cast in granite
and shot concrete--

which, trust me,

is way more
beautiful to look at

than it sounds.
Check this out.

[music]

[Jay] This is
the Richard Gilder Center

for Science, Education,
and Innovation.

Containing galleries,
public spaces,

and even a butterfly house,

the brand-new addition

to the American Museum
of Natural History

looks like it's been
carved out of solid rock.

There's not a single
straight line in this building.

[Jay] But despite
looking stone age,

it's on the cutting edge.

This project had
the highest level of complexity

out of any job I've ever done.

[Jay] And used
construction methods

never seen before on
a project like this.

So...how did they build it?

It's 2014,
and the Natural History Museum

is one of the most popular
attractions in Manhattan.

[Sean] This is
a place that, you know,

has about 4.5 million
visitors a year.

It's been a backdrop
in, uh, you know,

in film and television.

Uh, certainly many people
will remember the museum from

the Night at the Museum movies.

[Jay] The sprawling
museum complex

has been growing
over the last 150 years.

Now it's time for
a revolutionary addition.

[Sean]
We're looking for something

that could provide
classroom space,

as well as research space
and exhibition space,

all within the same building.

[Jay] They launch a competition
to design the new wing.

It's won by architects
Studio Gang.

I totally love natural history,
and it inspires my work.

How can we design something
that will encourage

that kind of curiosity?

[Jay] The team turns to
nature for inspiration,

taking field trips
to visit natural wonders.

Caves, and canyons, and
all those kinds of landscapes

really make you excited
about exploring,

and they're also formed
and shaped by flow.

So that's kind of where
the design headed.

[Jay] The daring
idea is to create

a six-story sculpted cavern

that will connect
with the existing buildings.

It wins over the museum.

Now they have to build it.

First, they'll need
to prepare the site

and figure out
how to fit the foundations

around its existing utilities.

Then, they will have to
come up with a way

to support the complex structure
while it's being built

and devise a way to sculpt
the building's organic form,

including creating
an 80-foot-tall

manmade canyon at its heart.

Finally, they will need
a finishing material

that's both beautiful enough

to reflect the natural
rock formations

that inspired the building

and strong enough to
support the hundreds of tons

of solid granite cladding
without collapsing.

In June 2019, they're
ready to break ground

on the edge of Central Park.

The park is at street level.

And we have to dig down
about 40 feet, give or take,

uh, to start putting in footings
in the foundation wall.

[Jay]
Usually footings, or piles,

are sunk at regular intervals

so they spread
the building's weight evenly.

Here, that won't be possible,

because the museum's vital gas,
electricity, and water supplies

run straight through the site.

[Michelle] That created
this kind of area

where we could not
put down structure.

Normally it would
just be a simple affair

of, like, bringing down
a grid structure to the ground.

But we couldn't do that.

We only had one column here,
and one column there,

and one column there.

It didn't make any sense.

[Jay] But if they want this
extraordinary new building

to stay standing up,

making sense of it is exactly
what they need to do.

There were very specific
locations on the site

where we could
actually touch down

and put our structure.

And then we just designed
everything above

to make the forces
transfer through this canyon

in a way that
made sense structurally.

[Jay] Now they're ready
to start building upwards.

They start by pouring

conventional
concrete floor slabs,

which are supported by columns

around the outside
of the building.

Then, to create the walls,

they use a type of steel called
reinforcing bar, or rebar.

It's an ordinary
building material.

But the way they use it
will be extraordinary.

Rebar is usually just
a simple grid of steel,

and then you pour
the concrete around it.

Here, though,
they have to sculpt with it.

We had this
three-dimensional form,

where the rebar
needed to follow that shape

in order to create
the geometry of the canyon.

That really was one of the
big challenges of the project.

[Jay] To create
the cave-like interior walls,

they first model
the design in 3D

before bending each
individual piece of rebar

precisely into shape.

Luckily for the exterior façade,

they can prefabricate
big sections of rebar.

But when it arrives on site,

the team has
the challenge of putting

the three-dimensional
puzzle together.

The rebar cages were
brought in from--in panels.

And they each had
a piece number.

And they will be put into place

and married with
the superstructure of concrete.

[Jay] To make life
more complicated,

this manmade cavern
can't support its own weight

until the building is complete.

The solution is
a specially designed

temporary support system

built from
steel beams and pillars.

It was a very
unique-showing design

that I had never come across,

both in my professional
and academic career.

[Jay] Pulling it off
requires a lot of muscle.

[Noori] They just had
an army of guys going in,

putting in the rebar,

and then pouring the
cast-in-place concrete slabs,

and then moving on
to the next floor.

[Jay] After nine months,

the super structure
and the rebar are in position,

and it's time for
the biggest challenge yet.

[Jay] Working out how to give
the walls a cave-like finish.

[Michelle] We looked at precast,
at block, at glass block,

at traditional
cast-in-place concrete.

We looked at...I think
every way you could imagine,

trying to build--
trying to build this.

[music]

[music]

[Jay] In New York,

the extraordinary
cave-like design

for the new extension
of the American Museum

of Natural History

is proving difficult
to pull off.

To create its walls,

the team considers
using concrete

poured into molds
called formwork.

But there's a problem.

[Michelle] Every
surface that you see

would have required a
bunch of custom forms

for the entire
interior of the canyon,

which would have created
a lot of waste in the formwork

and a lot of cost,

and didn't really give that more

kind of natural hand finish.

[Jay] The answer lies
in an industrial product

called Shotcrete.

Shotcrete is one of the greatest
inventions known to man,

at least for people
who work in this industry.

It's a method of
applying concrete

projected at high velocity,

usually onto vertical
or overhead surfaces.

[Jay] Widely used on
the New York City subway system,

Jeanne takes
her team to investigate.

[Jeanne] And once I
saw them applying it,

the way that the teams worked
and how skilled they were

at making beautiful vaults

that no one will ever
see under the ground,

I thought that this is
really a potential solution

for our project.

[Jay] COST of Wisconsin,

one of the world's few experts
in decorative Shotcrete,

arrive on site.

They have unique
and highly trained artisans

that mostly do
architectural concrete

for theme parks and zoos.

[Jay] Here, though, it not
only has to look the part,

but be strong enough to
hold up the entire building.

So if you have
an eight-inch-thick wall,

you might shoot that
two or three times

to get that full thickness.

So you're spraying
concrete overhead.

You do that in multiple
passes to make sure

that you can actually
apply that concrete

without it, um,
falling back down.

[Noori] We had to
tackle each day

one day at a time,
one zone at a time,

one level at a time,

to reach to the point where

the building
was self-supporting.

[Jay] Each layer of Shotcrete
takes 28 days to set.

But at last, they're
ready for the final coat--

one and a half inches
of white concrete.

We decided to go
with this rough pass,

which was--it's very
beautiful with the light,

but it's also good for
the acoustic qualities inside.

[Jay] Not only does it
need to look beautiful

and support
the building's floors,

on the outside,
it also has to hold up

huge stone panels.

It's the same material
that's used

on the opposite side
of the museum.

We even used the same stone
out of the same quarry.

[Jay] Created off site,

they now need to be
craned into position

and secured onto
steel fixing pegs

embedded in the Shotcrete.

The Shotcrete wall on
the façade had embeds

that received the stone façade.

[Jay] To achieve the seamless
look the architects want,

each of the embeds must be
in exactly the right spot.

I think there was
some anticipation,

um, some anxiety obviously.

[Jay] As the panels are
fixed into position...

they line up perfectly.

Inside and out,
the Shotcreting is complete.

[Noori] That was a huge
milestone for everybody.

We ended up using 3000
cubic yards, approximately,

of both structural
and architectural Shotcrete,

which is a massive scale.

[Jay] The engineers can finally
remove all the shoring,

and the exhibits
can move into their new home.

[music]

[Jay] May 4, 2023,
and the Richard Gilder Center

for Science, Education,
and Innovation

is revealed to the world.

The overall response to
the building has been amazing.

[Man] When I first walked
in there and saw it,

I was like,
"It's, it's really cool."

[Jay] The curved stone exterior

draws you into the
80-feet-tall concrete canyon

running right
through the middle.

[Jeanne]
It's the central atrium.

I think it's like
giving a public space

back to the museum,

where people can just hang out

and they can
talk about what they saw.

[music]

[Jay] Holes in tunnels
lead you into exhibition spaces

that connect to
the rest of the museum.

[music]

You should totally
come to this museum.

It's like a dream come true.

[Jay] It's a
breathtaking building

made with groundbreaking methods

that reimagines
what a museum can be.

Visitors not only
come for the exhibits,

but they come for
the structure itself.

This was the highlight
of my career for sure.

[music]

This next fantastic
and futuristic-looking building

was one of
the final projects overseen

by the internationally
celebrated architect

Zaha Hadid.

The canopies of the vast roof
are totally self-supporting

and were inspired by
the wings of migrating birds.

You know, looking at it,
it really wouldn't surprise me

if this building
could actually fly.

Either way, in design terms,

it definitely reaches
spectacular new heights.

Zhuhai City in Jinwan,
southern China, is booming.

In just 35 years,

the population
has gone from 180,000

to around two million people.

But despite Zhuhai's size,

it was missing
a cultural center.

So, they decided to
do something about it.

It's like a visitor
from another planet.

[Jay] Built in the
middle of a reservoir,

under a giant, wing-like canopy,

are four buildings, including
a theater and an opera house.

But creating this most wonderful
and unexpected of buildings

was far from easy.

Fluid and curved buildings
always mean one thing--trouble.

[Jay] This is
Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Center.

So, how did they build it?

[Jay] It's 2016,

and in Zhuhai, southern China,

legendary architect
Zaha Hadid's practice

is signed up to design
a new cultural hub for the city.

Hadid previously designed the
nearby Guangzhou Opera House.

But this project
is on another level.

It will have four
interconnected buildings

and be completely
surrounded by water.

It's an artificial lake,

and they wanted to have
a signature building

in the middle.

[Jay] The boggy,
waterlogged site

will be transformed into
a beautiful manmade lake.

But, this will be more
than a pretty backdrop.

It's part of a solution
to a modern city problem.

China's rapid
urbanization has meant

too many hard surfaces
with not enough drainage.

That means flooding.

[Jay] In 2012, a
flood in Beijing

caused huge damage
and killed 79 people.

It resulted in
the Sponge City Initiative.

Sponge City's a general approach

to how to mitigate flood water.

This whole district
is a Sponge City

in the way that
they create areas

where water can be stored.

So the lake
is part of storing water.

These lakes and green spaces
also make the cities

better places to live.

This is a really holistic
approach to urban planning.

[Jay] In the middle of this lake

will be one of Zaha Hadid's
most ambitious projects--

four cultural buildings

united under
a giant flying roof.

To make the bold
design a reality,

they will need to find a way
to support the structure

on unpromising,
damp, and silty soil.

Creating foundations strong
enough to handle its weight.

Around the complex, they'll need
to figure out how to contain

hundreds of thousands
of gallons of water.

Then orchestrate
the simultaneous construction

of a theater, opera house,
museum, and science center.

Finally, they'll have
to find a way to engineer

the enormous roof,

which needs to look
lightweight and birdlike,

yet be strong enough
to withstand typhoons.

Tragically,
at age 65, Hadid dies

before the project gets started.

But the team is
determined to honor her.

[speaking Mandarin]

[Jay] Two years later,

Hadid's initial designs
have been fleshed out,

and work is ready to begin.

But the waterlogged site
is a big problem.

[speaking Mandarin]

[Jay] The boggy ground
isn't strong enough

to support the weight of

the one million-square-foot
building,

so it'll need to sit on
hundreds of steel piles

sunk deep into the ground.

[speaking Mandarin]

A hundred and fifty feet
is right at the limit

of how deep these piles can go.

This is about
the same depth as the piles

used to support
the One World Trade Center

and the Burj Khalifa,

which gives you an idea
of how bad the ground is.

[Jay] Digging that deep
would be challenging anywhere.

But the ground is so soft here

that sinking the piles
is fraught with danger.

[speaking Mandarin]

[Jay] The risk is that
the heavy machinery

could sink into the soggy soil,
damaging the piles.

It's a tense few months,

but thankfully,
the piles survive.

And in 2019, the team is ready
to start pouring concrete.

First, they have to create
an enormous concrete slab

that contains foundations
for all four buildings

and the basement levels.

But that's not the end
of the concrete work.

[Mei-Ling] Then, after basement,
they will start

pouring the concrete for
the floor of the reservoir.

[Jay] The huge base
of the reservoir

is leveled with concrete,

and its borders are marked out.

When filled, it will
help Zhuhai store and reuse

70% of its rainwater.

Before that,
the team needs to build

the center's superstructure.

[Lydia]
So we have four buildings.

One is the museum.
One is the arts center.

Then the black box theater
and the opera building.

[Jay] The four
buildings are all made

out of reinforced concrete.

And all four
are built simultaneously

by huge teams on the ground.

Chinese construction
starts before

you actually have dropped a pen.

You have so much manpower.

So it's incredible
what they can do,

actually, in a short time.

[Jay] As the buildings go up,

they're linked by a series
of bridges and walkways.

Each of the lobbies are facing
the inside plaza space.

And that connects the four
buildings actually together.

[Jay] The construction crews
make sure work of the structure.

But the next stage
threatens to slow the pace.

Zaha Hadid designs are famous
for how complex they are.

They create curves
that flow out of

the most unlikely materials.

[Jay] Here, they've
chosen concrete panels,

but there's a problem.

If they make them out
of standard concrete,

each piece will be very heavy,
limiting the panel's size.

The biggest size maybe
is 1.5 by 2 meter.

[Jay] Covering the building in
small panels will take too long.

So the team turns to
a wonder material--

UHPC, or Ultra High
Performance Concrete,

which is 10 times stronger
than the regular stuff.

Ultra high performance
concrete is so strong

because at the molecular level,

there's minimal gaps
between the particles.

It's got an incredibly
dense microstructure.

[Jay] It's so strong,
that they can prefabricate

large 13-square-foot
lightweight panels.

And that means they can
cover the building quickly.

The installation
of 4 by 4 meters panel

is much faster.

The speed of construction,
it's, uh, double.

[Jay] Over the next year,

the distinctive Zaha Hadid style
begins to emerge

as the buildings grow
and are covered.

But now the team faces an
even more daunting challenge--

bringing to life Zaha Hadid's
880-foot-long canopy roof,

which will sit
over the entire center.

We want really the roof
to feel like it's flying,

because there's a lot
of water areas in Zhuhai.

It's always this migrating--
this flock of birds.

And when we started
looking at how can we make

a very light roof structure,

some of these shapes resembled
this flock of birds.

[Jay] This ambitious idea
ruffles feathers

among the engineers.

[speaking Mandarin]

How do you build a roof
that looks like it's flying,

but is actually firmly
rooted in place?

[music]

[Jay] In the city
of Zhuhai, China,

architects have
designed a beautiful

880-foot-long roof
for a new arts center

that looks like
a bird in flight.

Now the team needs to
find a way to support it

with as few columns as possible.

This was really a collaboration
with the engineers.

What can we actually do there?

And what's gonna hold it up?

And what can we accept
how it looks in the inside?

[Jay] The solution
they come up with

is something called
tree columns.

[Corina] You have
one vertical column

that joins together a number
of supports at the top,

like branches.

It's very strong and doesn't
take up much room on the ground.

[Jay] This ingenious solution

means they can support
the entire roof

on 22 of these tree columns.

But to achieve
the Zaha Hadid look,

they will all need to
be clad in aluminum.

[Mei-Ling] The most difficult
part of the project

is to manage the cladding
of the tree columns

because there are a lot of
doubly curved geometry.

[Jay] To reduce
the risk of problems on site

and avoid slowing
down the build,

they create and test assemble
the aluminum cladding

in a factory.

It goes without a hitch.

The final challenge is to design
and build the roof itself.

The architects want it to
look lightweight and elegant,

but it needs to be strong too,

because this part of China
is prone to typhoons,

which can cause winds of
over 150 miles per hour.

The solution starts
with a clever frame

known as a grid shell.

[Lydia] The grid
shell allows you to

only use the thick members
where you need them

and minimize where
you don't need them.

[Jay] Its latticed shape
makes it super strong,

yet delicate-looking.

Now they need to
fill in the gaps.

Glass could shatter
during typhoons.

The team needs to
think outside the box.

They decide on
specially made aluminum panels

that are perforated
with tiny holes.

These allow the wind
to blow through the roof,

reducing the pressure
on the surface.

But that's not
their only benefit.

[Mei-Ling] The perforation
is across the whole roof

to create a transparent look.

[Jay] As well as
letting in light,

the panels also offer much
needed shade in the summer.

The roof plays a big role
in keeping the sun out,

keeping shading,

keeping natural
ventilation going

in between the buildings.

[Jay] It takes 12,500 of them
to cover the whole structure.

The roof is also designed
to harvest rainwater

through drain pipes
hidden in the columns.

[Mei-Ling] There is
a big ton in the basement.

The water will be then
recycled for irrigation.

[Jay] While work is
happening on the roof,

the team constructs
the inside spaces.

All that is left
is to clear the site

and allow the reservoir to fill.

[music]

[Jay] It's November 2023,

and the Zhuhai Jinwan
Civic Center is complete,

its wings unfurled
like a giant bird.

Zaha Hadid's designs are
always incredible to look at.

This one's a showstopper.

[Lydia] Just think
about the span,

how long this roof is.

I think that's,
that's kind of incredible.

[Jay] It's made
even more impressive

by how quickly
they turned it around.

Normally we would build
10,000-square-meter building

in six years.

In China,
for the performing arts center,

we have 100,000 square meter.

It was built in three years.

[Jay] Four buildings
are joined under this roof,

linked by walkways and open
spaces with minimal columns

to interrupt them.

[Lydia]
Our indoor space is amazing.

It's one the first things I saw
when I went to see the venue.

It's like everyone
sits on the steps.

There was an event
happening in the middle

with music or something.

And it was completely
populated with people.

It was fantastic.

[Jay] The artificial
lake is now joined

to the Sponge City Initiative,

helping to reduce flooding
across the region

and providing
the perfect framing

for the building itself.

Now you see it looks
like a flock of birds

floating above the water.

[Lydia] I think it's amazing.

To do a culture building,
you don't get a chance so much.

So to actually
manage to do this

and I get it built?

It's amazing.

[music]

[music]

Boston University is a place

where all kinds of
difficult engineering

and scientific problems are
posed and solved every day.

So it's probably no surprise

that when they wanted to
build a brand-new center

for computing and data sciences,

the design they chose
looked more like

a complex, brain-busting puzzle
than a regular campus building.

If the question is,
what's the wildest-looking

college building in America,

then here is the answer.

Boston University's Center
for Computing and Data Sciences.

This is like someone's
playing a giant game of Jenga.

[Jay] A mind-bending structure
that changed the city's skyline.

[Frank] We knew this was
a one-of-a-kind building

for the city of Boston.

Nothing like it.

[Jay] Its gravity-defying
shape created

huge engineering headaches.

How do we solve that problem?
How do we do it simply?

Getting this building built
was a challenge.

[Jay] It's the city's largest
fossil fuel-free building.

It's great for the university.
It's great for the city.

And it's great
for the environment.

So we were all in.

[Jay] Loved by those
it was created for.

Definitely feels
very special to be here.

[Jay] So, how did they build it?

It's 2012 in Massachusetts.

With the tech sector
booming worldwide,

Boston University's
computer science,

and mathematics,
and statistics departments

are thriving.

But their buildings are
scattered across the campus.

There was no center.

There was no way to
easily collaborate.

[Jay] They decide to create
a single brand-new building

that will both
bring everyone together

and make the university
stand out in a crowd.

We are going to have to figure
out a way to build a building

that will sort of put computer
and data sciences at the center,

as it should be.

It needed to be iconic

because of the
statement it makes.

[Jay] Toronto-based
architects KPMB

are tasked with
fulfilling the brief.

The concept we presented
was a vertical canvas

of stacked neighborhoods.

So each neighborhood could be
identified as one department.

[Jay] To add to the challenge,

the university wants to be
carbon neutral by 2040.

The architects need to make sure
the new computing center

plays its part.

They were asked to do
a fossil fuel-free,

carbon neutral building.

That is a bold, bold request.

[Jay] It's a tough ask.

The way buildings
have traditionally been made

means they account for almost
40% of global carbon emissions.

First you've got to build them.

And then loads of energy
goes into producing

and transporting
the materials you need.

And once built,

they use fossil fuels to cool,
heat, and provide power.

[music]

[Jay] This bold Jenga
tower of a building

will have to tackle
both problems,

starting with finding a way
of heating and cooling it

by using the ground underneath.

But it's going to
be built on clay,

so they have to find
a way of creating

super strong foundations

while using as little
concrete as possible,

because making
and transporting concrete

produces a lot of CO2.

They then have to
work out how to create

the huge overhanging floors

and make sure the 19-story
teetering pile of blocks

won't fall down.

Traditional glass isn't
good at holding in the heat

in the winter
or keeping it out in the summer,

but they need to find a way
of creating a glass façade

that does both of those things.

All of this has to happen before
the start of the spring semester

in four years' time.

A site is found on
a former parking lot.

But before they can
begin construction,

there's an important job to do--

laying the groundwork
for one of the building's

most unusual features.

The earth has
a constant temperature

of around 55 degrees Fahrenheit,

and the big idea is to use this

to heat and cool
the new building.

Underneath, they plan to
lay a network of pipes.

A ground source heat pump
will then circulate water.

In the summer,
the heat pump uses

the earth's constant 55 degrees

to bring temperatures
in the building down,

in the winter, to heat them up.

But there's 350,000 square feet
of building to heat or cool,

which means drilling very deep.

Typically we see
geothermal wells in the...

400 to 800-foot range.

These wells were 1500 feet deep.

Going 1500 feet
is really a big ask.

At just 200 feet, you're
already getting resistance

as you're going through bedrock.

So the whole process
is a tough ride.

[Jay] In January
2019, work begins.

There are 31 boreholes to drill,

and they're all
very close together.

[Paulo] Our site is very
constrained as an urban site,

so there's not a lot of room.

[Jay] Having to drill a lot of
very deep holes close together

dramatically increases the
risk of something going wrong.

These wells could theoretically
collide with each other

as they're being
drilled to depth.

[Jay] Each costs around
$250,000 to install.

So a mistake
could be catastrophic.

As digging progresses,

the team carefully
monitors the progress

to make sure
the boreholes stay straight.

The deeper you go,
the more the borehole

wants to deviate
from perfectly vertical.

[Jay] It takes almost
a year of painstaking work.

But at last,
the drilling is complete.

[John] They did a terrific job
controlling the deviation.

It really went remarkably well

considering the amount of
footage we've put in the ground.

[Jay] In summer 2020,

they are ready to start
work on the foundations

for the 19-story building.

The soil here is
going to make that

anything but straightforward.

A sand and clay foundation
is a nightmare to build on.

They're not ideal for
supporting such heavy loads.

Combating this requires
some advanced engineering.

[music]

[Jay] The team
building the bold new

Computer and Data Sciences
Center for Boston University

needs to find
a way to support it

on the unstable
sand-and-clay soil.

One option would be to dig down

and build underground
supporting walls

resting on the bedrock.

But with the nearest
layer of rock

200 feet below the surface,

it would be a huge undertaking,

adding $5 million to the build.

So the team takes
a different approach.

We did it with what we call
floating the building,

so a raft foundation.

That means digging a big hole

across the entire area
of the building

and then filling it in
with reinforced concrete.

[Nathan] We're floating
the building on the clay

that's below grade.

So that clay is really soft

and it also will slowly compress
if you add more weight to it.

So the goal is,

how do we get the
clay to not know

there's a building on top of it?

For a raft foundation,
success or failure

depends on a very clever trick.

[Nathan] And the
way that works is

the amount of soil you take out

should equal
the weight of the building.

[Jay] If the team
gets the calculation wrong,

the soil underneath
could compress,

the building sink,
and even collapse.

[Nathan] If you think
of it as an analogy,

Indiana Jones, uh,
Raiders of the Lost Ark,

where Indy takes that idol,
moves it off,

and replaces it with sand
of the equivalent weight

so that Belloq
doesn't feel the difference.

[Jay] In November 2020,

the hole is dug and ready
for the slab to be poured.

But there's another problem.

Making traditional
concrete is not very green.

And this building is trying to
keep its carbon footprint

as light as possible.

Embodied carbon
are the carbon emissions

associated with
extracting the materials,

manufacturing the products,
delivering the products,

and building the building.

[Jay] Creating the cement
that goes into concrete

produces huge amounts
of greenhouse gasses.

So the team crafts
a concrete recipe

that reduces its carbon
footprint by up to 30%.

We added other materials
like fly ash and slag

to help reduce the embodied
carbon that it takes

to build the building.

[Jay] Now it needs to be
laid in one seamless pour.

We started the placement
at approximately

4 o'clock in the morning.

[Jay] Fifty-five trucks begin
the first of 450 deliveries

to three pumps stationed
around the hole.

[Nathan] One pump truck broke.
They brought in another.

Another pump truck broke.
They brought in another.

[Jay] Thanks to the team's
meticulous preparation,

the concrete all goes in
according to plan.

We finished it
at 10 o'clock at night.

It's 4,500
cubic yards of concrete.

That was a massive undertaking.
At the time,

it was the second-largest
concrete placement

in the history of
the city of Boston.

[Jay] Next, they construct
the building's central core.

On its own, this won't be
enough to hold up the floors

hanging unsupported in space.

They turn to an engineering
trick called the cantilever.

[Corina] A cantilever
is an overhang

that's only supported
on one side.

To stop it tipping over,

the force is cleverly
transferred through the building

and into the foundations.

[Jay] Here, though, the
overhangs will be huge.

We have these
23-foot cantilevers

that come off of that
center portion of the building.

And those cantilever off of
two sides.

[Jay] To support them,
the team designs a series

of two-story steel trusses

based on nature's strongest
shape,

the triangle.

These will channel the
huge forces from the overhangs

back into the building.

[Nathan] By using
two story-deep trusses,

we get a very strong,
stiff structure

that limits deflections
at the ends.

[music]

[Jay] In May 2021,
they start constructing

the cantilevered blocks.

Until they're finished,

the building needs to be
shored up to support them.

On a structure
as complex as this,

it takes some serious shoring.

We require 400 tons
of shoring because

every cantilever in the building
had to be temporarily supported.

[Jay] Slowly, though,
the building

starts to rise
from the ground,

with each level carefully
supported as it goes up.

It takes around
3,320 tons of steel,

but at last,
the trusses and floors

of all 19 stories are complete.

Now they have the job of
taking out all of the shoring.

To do that,
there are hydraulic jacks

placed all over the building.

This is definitely
the most jacking

that I have ever
done on a project.

[Jay] The huge weight
of the building

is resting on the shoring.

Before they can remove it,

they need to gently
lift the building up,

take out the top
piece of shoring,

and then let the
cantilevers take the weight.

We had to jack all at
once, simultaneously,

so that we could slowly
and uniformly

pick the whole building up
ever so slightly

and transfer the load from
the shoring to the building.

[Jay] On November 6, 2021,

it's the moment of
truth for the team.

If they haven't installed
the trusses correctly,

then the cantilevers
will sag and ultimately fail.

As we did the jacking,
you could hear the building

take on the load.

[Jay] With the building lifted,

construction workers
carefully pull out

the top pieces of shoring,
column by column.

You'd hear the bolts slip,

the steel move.

So that was a little unnerving.

[Jay] The building,
though, stays standing.

When you saw actually
the gap between

the shoring and the building...

you knew it was doing its job.

That was an exciting moment.

[Jay] It's a massive
milestone for the team.

[Paulo] Only when
they started to pull away

the shoring elements that
supported the cantilevers

did the building
start to take shape.

[Jay] In December 2021,

the team turns to
the final challenge--

wrapping the whole
building in a curtain wall

of not double,
but triple-glazed glass.

Patterned with solar shades,

it will minimize heat
fluctuations in the building,

maximizing energy efficiency.

But the deadline is
now just a year away.

This was a fairly
complicated system,

especially with the cantilevers.

[Jay] Where they would normally
install 30 panels a day,

here, they can only manage 18.

It takes five months to
install more than 2000 panels

across 19 stories.

Remarkably,
they remain on schedule.

This was a iconic building

with a one-of-a-kind design,

with a lot of firsts
for a lot of people.

But it was constructed
in a very tight timeline,

48 months.

[Jay] The incredible Center
for Computing and Data Sciences

opens its doors to students

on January 19, 2023.

To see all of these students
embracing the building

was the best feeling
in the world.

This building is the embodiment
of what we're tackling

as a society.

It's an embodiment
of excellence.

It's an embodiment of
passion, of learning.

It's, like, so huge, and, like,
very unique and distinct.

And just, like, really puts
the university on the map.

[Jay] This beautiful
stack of blocks

ushers in a new era
of sustainability,

incorporating green roofs
to help cool the building,

capturing rainwater
for irrigation,

and using renewable energy
to power its systems.

There was a real pride that
we were building a building

that was one of its kind--
one of its kind in Boston,

not only in terms of
its iconic design,

but its incredible
sustainability.

This was one of the greatest
projects of my career.

[Azer] I just cannot
think of a bigger success.

This was everything
we dreamt of and a lot more.

[music]

♪ MTV ♪