Mike Slee
Director
Megastructures (2004)
Season 5
MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.
Released Jan. 1, 2004
Episode 60 min
2+
Genres: Documentary
Keywords: imdb.real-life, imdb.reenactment
Watch Providers: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV + 4 more, Magellan TV, Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Xive TV Documentaries Amazon Channel
Production Companies: National Geographic
Network: National Geographic
Country: United States
Languages:
English,
Hungarian,
French
S5E1 - Grand Canyon Skywalk
Dec. 30, 2008, midnight
S5E2 - Ultimate Skyscraper
Jan. 9, 2008, midnight
S5E3 - Shanghai Super Tower
The design and construction of the Shanghai World Financial Centre which, at 101 floors high, will be China's tallest structure.
May 14, 2008, midnight
S5E4 - Beijing Water Cube
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 cr
May 21, 2008, midnight
S5E5 - Sinking an Aircraft Carrier
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.
May 29, 2008, midnight
S5E6 - Sinking an Aircraft Carrier
Looks at the technological designs and construction of the huge cruiseliner "Freedom of the Seas".
May 29, 2008, midnight
S5E8 - Icelandic Super Dam
This episode looks at the Karahnjukar Hydroelectric Project in Iceland - an audacious engineering feat that includes the building of Europe's highest dam, the drilling of 30-mile-long tunnels and the construction of a gigantic underground power plant.
June 18, 2008, midnight
S5E9 - Beijing Water Cube
2010 environmental improvement plan in Beijing, China
May 21, 2008, midnight
S5E10 - Shanghai Super Tower
The renovated California Academy of Sciences - the world's largest green public building - emerges from the landscape of Golden Gate Park. Viewed from the air, the undulating living roof resembles a piece of the park flying as if by magic.
May 14, 2008, midnight
S5E11 - Bridge Breakdown
A historic bridge is being taken down and recycled, but the demolition team faces challenges while doing it.
Sept. 10, 2008, midnight
S5E12 - Deep Earth Drillers
Mega Green Tech is in search of geothermal power.
Dec. 20, 2008, midnight
S5E13 - Icelandic Super Dam
A team of experts mobilises to demolish, excavate and recycle a 25,000 ton dam built of concrete and steel. The pressure is on: they have just half the time needed to complete the job. Worse yet, their biggest challenge stands behind the old dam – one million cubic yards of boulders, gravel and sand that the river has stacked against it for nearly a century. To remove this blockade, the team gambles on a radical, dangerous plan that's never been tried before: turning the energy of a perfect storm against the debris. If they are not successful, a generation of endangered salmon returning to spawn may be wiped out.
June 18, 2008, midnight
S5E14 - World Trade Center Bahrain
S5E15 - Atom Smasher
The Large Hadron Collider is a titan of science. Built on an unsurpassed scale, scientists aim to capture the smallest particles in the universe.
Jan. 8, 2008, midnight
S5E21 - South Pole Station
Jan. 9, 2008, midnight
S5E22 - The World's Biggest Cruiseliner
Looks at the technological designs and construction of the huge cruiseliner "Freedom of the Seas".
June 4, 2008, midnight
S5E23 - Beijing Olympic Stadium (Building Green Beijing)
2010 environmental improvement plan in Beijing, China
Aug. 5, 2008, midnight
S5E24 - Impossible Build
The renovated California Academy of Sciences - the world's largest green public building - emerges from the landscape of Golden Gate Park. Viewed from the air, the undulating living roof resembles a piece of the park flying as if by magic.
Sept. 3, 2008, midnight
S5E25 - World Trade Center Bahrain
Jan. 3, 2009, midnight
Network: National Geographic
Episode Runtime: 60 min.
Season Runtime: 1380 min.
Released: Jan. 1, 2004
Last Air Date: May 24, 2012, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: TV-G / 2+
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