All language subtitles for Building Giants Series 3 Part 5 The Building That Floats 1080p

Narrator: In amsterdam,
this elite team of engineers

Is embarking
on an epic endeavor.

All right. That's good.
Hey!

They're attempting to build

A remarkable new hotel
that floats in thin air.

This is the type of building
that can go horribly wrong.

Whoa!

Narrator: When complete,

The hotel will be
the largest in the netherlands.

People who saw the design

Simply didn't believe
that it was possible.

Narrator:
To build this colossus,

The team must battle
unstable ground...

...Terrifying heights...

And limited space.

-Whoa, whoa!
-Oh.

Narrator: They are pushing to
complete this ambitious design

In just 38 months.

-Stop!
-Stop!

This incredible hotel
ranks in a league

Of ambitious
new engineering wonders

That are bigger,
faster, taller,

And more advanced than anything
ever constructed before.

This is the inside story
of the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

Amsterdam in the netherlands,

Famous for
its historic architecture

And network of canals.

By 2030, more than
31 million tourists

Are expected to visit
this iconic city every year,

But the city simply
doesn't have enough hotels

To accommodate so many people.

To keep up with demand,

Developers have
an ambitious plan

To build the largest hotel
in the country

Right in the heart
of the city.

They've chosen a plot
in the up-and-coming

Zuidas business district,

But it will be a tight squeeze

With only 50,000
square feet to spare.

It will be sandwiched
in between two main roads

With an underground subway line
running right alongside.

The difficult site poses
a huge challenge

For the hotel's lead architect,
reinier de graaf.

De graaf: It is a very small,
triangular piece of land,

And we couldn't do
a normal hotel

Because a normal hotel
is a big foot

And the tower with rooms
on top of it.

In order to be able
to make a project here,

We literally had to turn
the traditional idea

Of a hotel on its head.

Narrator: The tiny site
forces reinier and his team

To come up with a groundbreaking
and unconventional design.

Three enormous
triangular sections

Stacked on top of each other
make up the body of the hotel,

Maximizing floor space
above the crammed plot.

An offset central section
draws the eye

To massive 80-foot overhangs

Where the building
seem to float in midair.

2,600 sheets of specially
insulated glass

Coat the exterior.

The hotel's bold design
continues inside

Where designers furnish
each of its 650 rooms

According to
the compass point they face.

Inside and out,

This unique hotel is
a masterpiece of modern design.

Constructing this giant on such
a tiny plot won't be easy.

The project pushes boundaries
to the point that,

Upon first glance,

Many of the people
who saw the design

Simply didn't believe
that it was possible.

It is quite a tour de force.

Building this iconic hotel

Involves a series of unique
engineering challenges.

First, they dig out a huge
260-foot-diameter hole

Just 1 1/2 feet away
from the city's subway line.

They must reinforce
the foundations

With steel and concrete,

Then build a superstrong
reinforced concrete pillar

To form the building's core.

Around this, they construct the
three huge triangular prisms,

Each one offset from the last
by 60 degrees.

They reinforce
the vast overhangs

With massive concrete columns

That support the core
and attach to the main pillar.

To seal the building,

They bolt 2,600 glass sheets
onto an external aluminum frame.

They have just 38 months
to build what will become

One of amsterdam's
most iconic buildings.

Construction begins
in autumn of 2016.

Chief foreman niek timmer
is responsible

For bring reinier's
gravity-defying design to life.

Before niek can tackle
the main building,

He must first construct
the vast foundations

That will support
the massive weight of the hotel.

The sandy ground below amsterdam

Makes this a challenge
in its own right.

To create foundations
strong enough for the hotel,

Workers remove 2,500 truckloads
of this soft, sandy ground.

This is a risky operation.

If the sides of the construction
site collapse,

They could damage the
nearby highway and subway line.

To prevent this,

Niek and his team
devise an ingenious solution.

First, the team excavates
the whole site

Two stories below ground level.

They line the sides
with corrugated steel sheeting.

To compensate
for the soft ground,

The team drives in 575 thick
steel pillars, called piles,

Packing them most densely
around the building's core.

Each pile must penetrate
an astonishing 75 feet deep

Through sandy upper layers

To the more solid ground
underneath.

Finally, they install
giant steel beams

To reinforce the walls
and keep them from collapsing.

These massive steel
reinforcements

Will prop up
the sides of the foundations

Closest to the subway
and highways,

Preventing any
dangerous cavings.

But now that
the foundations are secure,

Niek's team runs
into another problem.

As they build the hotel on top
and the foundations settle,

The sheer weight of the hotel

Could damage
the nearby subway line.

The subway is in constant use.

If the tunnel fails,
it could be disastrous

And bring transportation around
the city to a screeching halt.

Narrator: In amsterdam,

Engineers are building
the biggest

And most unconventional hotel
in the netherlands.

Today, niek and his team must
construct a concrete barrier

Between the hotel's foundations
and the nearby metro tunnel.

This will protect
the underground train line

From the vast weight
of the hotel above.

They must expose a concrete
ledge

That sits a few feet from
the top of the metro tunnel.

This will form
the base of their barrier,

Which is called a buffer plate.

It takes them an hour
to unearth the ledge.

The team now excavates around
the rest of the subway tunnel,

Ready to pour
the concrete barrier.

Supervising the pour is marcel.

Marcel: It's an important day

Because this is the last part
of the foundation,

And the concrete plate
we are making is to ensure

That the grounds
won't push the metro line.

It takes a crew of four workers
to pour the concrete.

They get rid of any air bubbles
with a vibrating nozzle

And smooth it over
for a perfect finish.

It will take almost a month
for the concrete barrier

To dry to full strength,

But it should prevent
any movement

Between the hotel
and the subway.

Now that the barrier
is in place,

Niek and his team
can start building up,

Knowing the subway and hotel

Are safely separated
from each other.

The main features of the hotel

Are the triangular sections
that float in midair.

These were inspired by an
historic 1960s billboard nearby,

But supersizing them for
the hotel isn't straightforward.

De graaf: In essence,
it's three triangular volumes

Seemingly hovering
on top of each other

Only suspended by the core,

But once you look
at them in detail,

How they have precisely
been constructed,

You see that there is a number
of very, very clever tricks.

Narrator: These clever tricks
are called cantilevers.

They are anchored to
the building at one end

Firmly enough
to support the entire overhang.

The hotel will feature
an ambitious nine overhangs,

Each an astonishing
82 feet long.

So reinier will have to push
the innovation of his design

To its limit.

This is how he plans to do it.

The tip of each triangular
section reaches out

A massive 82 feet
without any obvious support.

To hold up the colossal weight
of the building above,

On each floor, engineers
built supporting concrete walls

Outwards from the central core

That connect to giant
concrete columns.

They also secure 17-inch-thick
steel beams to each wall

That support
a superstrong steel frame

Hidden in the walls and floor.

This transfers the weight
of the overhangs to the columns

And the building's core,

Keeping the huge
triangular sections

Floating effortlessly in midair.

De graff: The cantilevers,
which seem enormous,

It's quite a spectacular
experience.

Narrator: To build these
unconventional cantilevers,

Niek and his team must work
with millimeter precision.

Incredibly, they position
the triangular corner points

Of each floor 1 1/2 feet higher
than they should be

So the floors slope down
towards the central core.

Then as they install
the windows and walls on top,

The extra weight should push
the corners of the structure

Down to the correct position,

Making them level
with the rest of the floor.

Over the next 44 weeks,

Niek's team painstakingly
constructs

The three cantilevers,

Making sure the triangular
corner points

Sit 1 1/2 feet higher
than the rest of the floor.

It's only once the glass team

Starts installing
the heavy windows

That they can confirm whether
or not the triangular sections

Will settle
to the correct position.

Man: Heads up!

Narrator: Architect
reinier de graaf is onsite

To inspect progress.

Initially,
the floors went up,

And then the weight
sort of settled.

Yeah, we must made this one,
like, 50 centimeters higher

In the beginning
than it is now,

And the end of it,
it's a good result.

The whole thing looks amazing,

And there's a lot of work
still to be done,

But from the outside,

You now have the idea
what the building is.

Narrator: Niek may have
impressed reinier,

But the hardest part
of the build is yet to come.

♪

It's springtime in amsterdam.

The construction of this
extraordinary hotel is on track,

But with doors opening to guests
in just ten months,

Niek's team has to keep
a strict schedule,

And it's not just
the cantilevers

That he has to worry about.

The ground floor of the hotel

Will be made up of a spectacular
two-story lobby.

A huge expanse of curved glass
will surround this area.

Today, workers are installing
four crucial steel beams

That will help support
the 50 tons of glass.

Niek and his team
have chiseled out holes

Where the four steel beams
will sit.

Each beam is custom-built
to exact measurements,

So it's crucial
they all slot in perfectly.

Workers use a crane to move
the first beam into place,

Then secure it at the top.

But at the bottom,
something isn't right.

♪

Narrator: In the dutch capital
of amsterdam,

Engineers are building
the country's biggest hotel.

They're installing
the huge steel beams

That will support the featured
glass wall at the hotel's base,

But a key beam doesn't fit
in the hole the team has made.

They try to make
the hole bigger,

But it's still
going to be tight.

They widen the hole
as much as they can,

But there's
still not enough room.

They take the radical decision

To cut the steel support
as well.

Finally, they manage
to swing the beam into place.

If the other three beams
don't fit either,

It will mean a costly delay.

It takes another two hours

For the team to position
the next two beams.

The final beam will be
the hardest to fit.

Workers slowly maneuver
the one-ton beam into position.

Thankfully, the base lines
up with the hole.

The team struggles to haul
this hefty one-ton beam

Into place by hand.

They must position it perfectly,

Or the glass won't form a
watertight seal with the frame.

After some brute force,

A thumbs-up from the top

Means they can
secure the bottom.

With the beams in place
at the base of the building,

Niek turns his attention
to the next big challenge.

He needs to install
the 140,000 square feet of glass

That will cover
the triangular sections above.

Today is a critical day.

The team is gearing up
to install the windows

On the third and highest

Triangular section
of the building.

Window specialist jack
supervises today's installation

On the 21st floor.

His first job is to lift
the windows

To a temporary storage space
high inside the building.

Once inside the building,
the fitters stack the windows

As close to where they will
install them as possible.

They have to move fast.

Installing a whole floor's
worth of windows

In just eight days

And staying on schedule
is a massive challenge.

This is how they'll do it.

The team must fit 2,600 panes
of glass in just 44 weeks.

To speed up the process,

A crane and specialized robot
work in tandem.

First, the crane delivers
the huge panes of glass

To each floor.

From here, workers use a robot
equipped with a suction arm

To move each 660-pound pane into
position outside the building.

Here, workers reattach the crane

And use it to guide the window
into its aluminum frame.

Using the crane and robot
in tandem,

The team should be able to fit
an entire floor of 110 windows

In just 8 days.

On the 21st floor,

Jack and his team
begin their 8-day countdown.

They work quickly, using the
robot to move each window

Out beyond the building

And turning it 90 degrees
so it's upright.

♪

♪

The team secures each frame
to the crane,

Which then swings it
into position.

[ indistinct radio chatter ]

♪

♪

Workers above and below
guide the window in

And secure it into place.

I'm on!

It will take seven more days
of breakneck work

To install the 110 windows
around each floor.

The last window is
the hardest to install.

They grease the rubber seals
so the panel slides

Into position more easily.

The factory that manufactures
these windows

Cuts each pane
with millimeter precision,

But this panel just
won't squeeze into place.

If jack and his team
can't get this last panel in,

They'll have to adjust
all 109 windows on this floor

To make room for it --

A huge task.

Narrator: Today in amsterdam,

Engineers
are building the tallest

And most unconventional hotel
in the netherlands.

The window-installation team

Is fitting the last piece
of glass on the 21st floor.

But it's a very tight squeeze.

The window finally slots
into place.

Stop!

Workers use bolts
to attach it from above.

While the window teams
race up the building,

21 floors below,

Foreman niek is getting ready
for a special delivery.

Over a year ago,
he built the main structure

Of what will become
the hotel's extravagant lobby.

Today, niek needs to install
two escalators

Into specific gaps left for them
between the floor and the roof.

Each escalator is 42 feet long,

Weighs 6 1/2 tons
and is worth $80,000.

Moving them into position
will be no simple task.

Two forklift trucks,
one at each end,

Must work in tandem to haul
the escalators into position.

It's a difficult
and highly skilled job.

To add to the pressure,

The team must thread
the massive escalators

In between the steel beams

That will support
the ground-floor windows.

If workers damage either the
escalator or the window frames,

It could push construction
back by months.

Whoa, whoa!

Oh.

Inch by inch,
the team hauls the escalator

Into position
inside the building.

Next, the fitters
must carefully hoist it up.

The big question --

Will the base of the escalator
slot into the space?

Only now will niek find out

If the measurements he made
a year ago are correct.

Alright, it's good.

Whoa, hey!

Narrator: One down,
but the second escalator

Will be even more difficult.

The team carefully squeezes
the second escalator into place.

After an hour
of painstaking work,

It's in position.

Perfect.

It fits flawlessly.

The escalators will remain
in their wrapping

To keep them pristine
for opening day.

30 months after building began,

Main construction work
is nearly complete.

Niek's team must now
race to complete

One of the hotel's
most striking features --

The two-story
curved-glass lobby windows.

Today, the last 12 panes

That will finish off the lobby's
exterior arrive from germany.

A specialized glass-fitting team
run the installation.

They have just one day
to install all 12 panes.

Each pane of glass weighs
a colossal 1,300 pounds

And costs around $2,700.

The team uses
a special suction crane

To carefully maneuver
each pane into place.

A mistake would be disastrous.

Man: Hold on.

Narrator: Today, in the dutch
capital of amsterdam,

Workers are building
the country's biggest hotel.

Foreman niek is installing
the massive curved-glass panels

That make up the base
of the unconventional building.

Man: Hold on.

-Not it?
-Nah, hold on.

Narrator: The glass panels must
align with the steel beams...

Go.

...And also
sit perfectly upright.

[ speaking dutch ]

Workers use metal connectors

To lock each pane of glass
into place.

Over the next four hours,

Niek and his team install
another ten panes of glass.

They lay each one with
the same millimeter precision.

The last piece of glass
is the most massive.

They need to squeeze it
through a tiny gap

Between the hotel
and the scaffolding

To fit it into place.

To add to the pressure,

The weather takes a turn
for the worst.

If the wind gets too strong,

The pane of glass
could act like a sail

And crash into the scaffolding
or the hotel itself.

[ speaking dutch ]

With a final push,

The elite team
battles the elements

To wrestle the huge piece
of glass into place.

With the exterior complete,

Niek's team can focus
on the elaborate interiors.

19-year-old veerle
is the youngest worker on-site.

Hi, it's veerle.

Narrator: It's veerle's job
to inspect the interiors

In every single one
of the hotel's 650 rooms.

Workers are already racing
to complete the rooms

In the hotel's lower floors.

Carpenters, plumbers,
tilers, and electricians

Have just eight days
to finish each floor,

Turning a concrete shell
into 36 lavish hotel rooms.

Before workers can
move up to the next level,

Veerle needs to sign off
on the floor.

Each time she spots
something not to spec,

She relays instructions
to the relevant teams

To make a fix.

As the team races
to finish the interior,

Spring turns to summer.

The hotel has a glass skin
coating the 650 bedrooms.

This amount of glass creates
another challenge for the team.

They must heat the building
through the brutal dutch winters

And keep it cool during summer.

To overcome this,

Engineers devise
an ingenious solution

That harnesses the area's
unique underground geology.

It rests on the shoulders
of ardjan to install

The hotel's innovative
temperature-control system.

It's called
thermal energy storage.

This is how it works.

First, engineers drill
two boreholes

Deep into the groundwater below.

They can now pump water up
out of these wells and back in.

In the summer,
they pump cold water

Up from one of the wells
and use it to cool the hotel.

In the process,
this water warms up,

And they pump it back down
into the other well.

This creates a reservoir of hot
water which is so well-insulated

That it stays warm until winter.

Now engineers reverse the flow,

Pumping the warm water
back up to the surface

To heat the hotel.

Today, ardjan
and his teammate, henry,

Are drilling the
580-foot-deep borehole

That will contain
the warm water.

Even with their big drill,
betta, this is no easy job.

As betta drills,
she sucks up the earth

And spits it back out
into large containers.

The drill then pumps water
back into the hole.

It's vital they get the speed
and pressure just right.

If the sides of this massive
borehole cave in,

The results would be disastrous.

♪

Narrator: Today, in the dutch
capital of amsterdam,

Workers building
the country's biggest hotel

Have reached a crucial stage.

They're drilling the boreholes

That will house an ingenious
thermal-energy system

To regulate temperatures
in the hotel.

To prevent the hole
from caving in,

They must line the first
100 feet with iron casings.

[ chain rattles ]

Showtime.

This is a precarious operation.

If the team inserts the casings
at the wrong angle,

They could puncture
the side of the hole.

In the end,
it's a success for the team.

After just 48 hours,
ardjan and his teammate, henry,

Reach their target nearly
580 feet below the surface

And complete
the temperature-control system.

♪

There are now just six months

Until the floating hotel
is due to open to guests.

Inside, the interiors team
races up the building.

♪

Designer fernando ispizua

Is in charge of making sure
the hotel's extravagant bedrooms

Look as striking
as the design outside.

Ispizua: As the building itself
is really beautiful,

So that's the reason
why the whole interior design

Is quite crazy.

Narrator: The hotel's
cantilevers

Are a unique layout
for fernando to work with.

Each of the triangular
corner points

Face a different point
on the compass,

And the rooms
are themed to match.

The bold design continues
in the communal areas.

Fernando commissions
local artist barre verkerke

To cover the walls
of the main reception and bar.

The design is, like,
thinking out of the box.

Hotels, they go for safety.

Then here what you see

Is this colorful explosion
of art everywhere.

Narrator: It's late summer.

In just 20 weeks, the hotel
doors will open to guests.

Work on the bedrooms
and communal areas

Is almost complete.

For niek and his team,

Completing this 650-room hotel
has been a monumental challenge.

Over the last 38 months,

They have removed
2,500 trucks of soil,

Poured 70,000 tons of concrete,

Installed 11.5 million
pounds of steel,

Hung 2,600 windows,

And positioned 650 beds.

The end result is a masterpiece
of modern design,

A bold new icon

In the heart
of historic amsterdam.

Timmer:
Everybody talks about it.

You can see it from miles away.

I'm more than proud of it.