The BEST episodes of Megastructures season 4

#1 - Beijing Water Cube

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/13/2008

Just in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, workers are feverishly putting the finishing touches on the National Aquatics Centre – the Beijing Water Cube. A stroke of design genius, this Olympic Megastructure is a steel honeycomb-like frame enclosed entirely by a unique skin, modelled after soap bubbles. Using 90 kilometres worth of steel in 22,000 beams following no conventional straight lines, the Beijing Water Cube must be topped with 100,000 square metres of bubbles. Looking for a truly unique covering, the design team focuses on ETFE – a light-weight plastic invented to protect spaceships from cosmic radiation. Among ETFE’s unique properties, dot patterns on its surface can trap solar energy in the winter and reflect solar energy in the summer, keeping the building cool. The Beijing Water Cube is the largest ETFE construction in the world, and because of its honeycomb-like structure, 3,500 ETFE bubbles must be cut individually, and sized. Factor in that the dimensions have been created in Germany and must be translated into a Chinese database and the Beijing Water Cube becomes a bit of a logistical nightmare. Beijing’s Water Cube represents a true morphing of molecular science, architecture and structural engineering.

#2 - Bridge Breakdown

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/15/2008

Demolition of the (1927) Carquinez Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area

#3 - China's Ultimate Port (Yangshan Deep Ocean Port)

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/27/2008

In 2002, Chinese engineers and workers tackled one of the biggest construction projects on earth, the Yangshan Deep Water Port. Thirty km out to sea, with 20 km of quay and fifty berths, Yangshan is destined to become the biggest deepwater port ever built. Linked to China by the world’s second-longest ocean bridge, Yangshan’s deep water allows the world’s biggest container ships to come calling. Its massive cranes, cutting-edge control system, and focused personnel are already shattering records for loading and unloading gigantic container ships and it’s not even finished being built.

#4 - Sinking an Aircraft Carrier

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/29/2008

A specialist demolition team attempt to create the largest artificial reef in the world by sinking the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. As they battle through thick steel plating and hazardous waste, the workers are aided by marine architects, divers, engineering units and local authorities.

#5 - Queen Mary 2

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/16/2007

Megastructures will take you on a voyage through the largest ocean liner ever built, from the cutting of the first steel panel to the installation of the iconic red and black funnel of this 800 million dollar giant of the seas.

#6 - South Pole Station

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/6/2007

Welcome to the South Pole, one of the most isolated places on the planet. For decades, the South Pole has been a haven for astronomy, climatology, and other science fields. Now, nearly 50 years after the first research station was built, a team of mega-builders is daring to construct a 21st century science research facility: the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

#7 - Shanghai Super Tower

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/20/2008

The design and construction of the Shanghai World Financial Centre which, at 101 floors high, will be China's tallest structure.

#8 - World's Tallest Hotel

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/9/2007

Looks at the design, engineering and construction of the luxury Burj Al-Arab Hotel, built of the coast of Dubai.

#9 - Smart Tunnel

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/14/2007

#10 - 747 Destruction

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/16/2008

For years, when a jumbo jet reached the end of its 30-year lifespan, it'd end up in a scrap yard, or rotting at the end of a runway. But at the Evergreen Air Center in Marana, Arizona, planes past their prime are recycled instead. We'll witness each step.

#11 - The World's Biggest Cruise Liner

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/4/2008

Looks at the technological designs and construction of the huge cruiseliner "Freedom of the Seas".

#12 - Beijing Olympic Stadium

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 8/5/2008

The building of the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

#13 - Impossible Bridges: China

Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/11/2006

Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, Runyang Bridge in Jiangsu Province, and Sutong Bridge near Suzhou