How Did They Build That?
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Coming Soon

    Cables Cars & Rooftop Parks
  • Cables Cars & Rooftop Parks

    Witness amazing buildings, bridges, lifts, and other structures that pushed structural concrete engineering to the edge.
    Upcoming
  • Exploring the engineering and architectural masterpieces like The Copper in Manhattan to Gardens By the Bay in Singapore.
    Upcoming
  • Exploring the engineering and architectural masterpieces like The Copper in Manhattan to Gardens By the Bay in Singapore.
    Upcoming

Watch Now

Season 34 of 10 Episodes
  • Exploring the engineering and architectural masterpieces like The Copper in Manhattan to Gardens By the Bay in Singapore.
  • A sculptural high-rise with rippling balconies breaks the mold in Chicago; Mammoth machines bore 26 miles of tunnels for an underground railroad beneath London's city streets.
  • A new performance center with a tent-like glass-and-steel lobby tests engineers in Kansas City; two twisting apartment towers make heads spin in Ontario.
  • The American Museum of Natural History in NYC gets a cave-like extension; an arts center inspired by migrating birds is built on a lake in China; Boston University gains a fossil-free, Jenga-like tower.

Record to Watch Later

37 episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks

    Tricks & Trains
    Steep & Stunning
    Cantilevers & Lifts
    Upside Down & Under Sea
    Riverparks & Artworks
    Towers & Roofs
    Biomes & Rebuilds
    High Waters & Harsh Winds
    Speedcore & Steambend
    Ecobuilds & Earthquakes
  • Tricks & Trains

    A new Olympic and Paralympic museum tests engineers with its trailblazing accessible design. A dazzling curved glass skyscraper battles gravity in Milan. And a student center built under a noisy railroad.
    Upcoming
  • Steep & Stunning

    The engineering secrets behind the world's steepest mountain railway, a remodeled 145-year-old museum and a futuristic condo.
    Upcoming
  • Cantilevers & Lifts

    An unstable high rise, an otherworldly museum, and a towering cliffside elevator.
    Upcoming
  • Upside Down & Under Sea

    Visiting the Vancouver House, Norway's Under restaurant and the Seattle Central Library to discover how these visionary buildings were created.
    Upcoming
  • Riverparks & Artworks

    Traveling to New York, Denver and Nice, France to visit Little Island, the Denver Museum of Art and La Tête Carrée; the secrets to how they were built are revealed.
    Upcoming
  • Towers & Roofs

    A Manhattan high-rise; an Athens cultural center; a Singapore university.
    Upcoming
How Did They Build That?

More about How Did They Build That?

Exploring the engineering and architectural masterpieces like The Copper in Manhattan to Gardens By the Bay in Singapore.

Starring

Scott Rummel

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