MegaStructures - Season 4 (2007)

Megastructures heads to the tiny desert kingdom of Dubai to explore the remarkable engineering behind the seven-star Burj Al-Arab Hotel. Five years in the making, this striking building stands like a gigantic white sail off the shore of Dubai. As this programme reveals, a refusal to compromise on the part of the hotel’s young designers ensured that the project pushed the boundaries of design. The Burj Al-Arab was envisaged by Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as a means of diversifying the country’s economy away from oil into tourism. The Sheikh dreamt of a luxury hotel that would put Dubai on the world map, and surprised many by choosing a relatively inexperienced British firm to supply the design.

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.

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.

In 2002 Chinese engineers and workers tackled one of the biggest construction projects on earth. Thirty kilometers out to sea in the middle of the ocean is the location for Yangshan Deep Water Port. With twenty kilometers of quay and fifty berths Yangshan is destined to become the biggest deepwater port ever built. Linked to China by the worlds second-longest ocean bridge Yangshans deep water allows the worlds 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 its not even finished being built.

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

The engineering, design and construction of a man-made archipelago, built in the shape of a world map, just off the coast off Dubai, the project of ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Embarking on a quest to design and build a meeting place for athletes and their families at the Games, the designers of the Olympic Rendezvous must come up with a design that genuinely reflects green ideas and complements the green themed games.

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

Building Extreme Alaska is about how nature engineered and built America's most rugged state, rock by rock. The State of Alaska is a vast and powerful natural structure forged over millions of years and boasts some of the world's most extreme environments. Alaska is raw and radical - natural engineering - taken to its limit. The construction zone of mountains, volcanoes, glaciers and earthquakes still keep Alaska humming. Building Extreme Alaska leads you through the working parts of this natural mechanical engineering machine.

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