Superstructures: Engineering Marvels

Costing $150 billion, the International Space Station is the most expensive structure humans have ever built. In this episode, using the series’ signature photo-real computer graphics, we take it apart to uncover the extraordinary innovations that enable it to support life in the deadly vacuum of space.

When structures are too big to travel by road or rail, the GPO Amethyst is the ultimate heavyweight ocean transporter — a ship that carries the biggest loads on Earth, anywhere on the planet. It does this by deliberately sinking into the ocean. To reveal the secrets of this supership, this episode uncovers what’s going on inside, taking it apart with photo-real graphics from stem to stern.

This episode uncovers the innovations that enable the world’s largest plane, the unique Antonov AN-255, to carry the world’s heaviest air freight.

This episode reveals the incredible engineering behind the Burj Khalifa. At more than half a mile high, it’s the tallest skyscraper ever built.

The engineering behind the Singapore National Stadium, the stadium that holds the record for the largest free-spanning dome in the world, is revealed.

Germany’s Wolfsburg car factory is the largest in the world. This episode uncovers the engineering and production innovations hidden inside it.