Frontiers of Construction

Using Tent roof structures.

Using computers for Virtual Engineering.

Often, before something can be constructed, something else must be destroyed. Enter Jim Redyke of Dykon Blasting in Oklahoma. He travels the world to dramatically "shoot" buildings, bridges, towers and even roller coasters. The results of his work often makes the evening news. Few understand the preparation and science behind the dramatic pictures. At the other end of the blasting spectrum, engineers are using explosives to move mountains. The biggest bangs are in Labrador, where the Iron Ore Company of Canada blasts up to a four-million tonnes of rock at a time.. Meanwhile, scientists at Queen's University are experimenting with ways of making explosions safer, cleaner and more efficient. This episode will take us inside the world of crashes, bangs, flashes and fire -- we'll see explosives detonated in test fields, buildings topple and sides of mountains disappear.

Using Robots for doing dangerous work.

How they built Tokyo's city of the future.

A strange structure is taking shape in the rolling green hills of southern England: Engineers are building "Eden" - an enclosed garden the size of thirty football pitches. A sixty metre deep crater is being capped with space-age plastic domes that will be home to thousands of rare plants. The lightweight galvanized steel tubular frames are going up to form enormous self-supporting shells. A computerized production line calculates the length of each of the shell sections and automatically cuts them to exactly the right size. Eden will act as giant laboratory where scientists can study the complex relationships that make this planet work. The Japanese have recreated the ocean with the world's largest dome covered beach. Measuring an incredible three hundred metres in length, this man made ecosystem was designed to reproduce everything from rolling surf to a jungle with live giraffes. The dream of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem has been studied for thirty years by NASA. We'll check in with NASA engineers for the latest glimpse of sustainability on distant planets and space stations.

With predictions that the United Arab Emirates would run out of oil in ten years, the cash-rich Kingdom of Dubai decided to create a vacation city for businessmen and European tourists. The multi-billion dollar project has been carved out of the desert on a 24 square kilometre site on the shores of the Arabian Gulf in Dubai. Digging out the desert and bringing the sea inland was a monumental feat of engineering. This oasis in the desert will take 12 years to complete in one of the harshest desert environments. The world's third largest construction site includes the tallest hotel in the world, housing for 100,000 people and striking architecture that has become a symbol for Dubai. (Also known as Dubai: City of Dreams)

In July 1981, two suspended walkways within the atrium of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed, resulting in the death of 114 people. It was the single largest structural disaster in terms of loss of life in U.S. history. To determine the cause of the disaster, officials turned to forensic engineering. Armed with electron microscopes, pachometres, metallurgy laboratories, sophisticated portable field testing equipment and some basic detective skills, forensic engineers are able to determine why a structure collapsed and ascertain the exact state of a structure's health before disaster can occur.