All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.2021.S02E09.Mirrors.and.Marble.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_[eng]

[Male narrator] How do you build
a 34-story tower block

that won't cast a shadow over
its neighbours?

My first reaction to
seeing this was, "Wow".

[Narrator] What happens when a
national opera house is built

into the sea alongside a major
shipping lane?

Cruise ships, cargo vessels,
and ferries passing right by.

The last thing you want is one
traveling up

and interrupting a performance
of Madame Butterfly.

[Narrator] And what do you call
a building that incorporates

an aquarium, a planetarium, and
a four-story tropical rainforest

under one roof?

If you think of a museum as a
place full of old dead things,

then this place will blow your
mind.

[music]

[Narrator] This is the age of
the extraordinary.

[Hayley] It's like one of
those insect-eating plants,

only enormous and white.

[Narrator] Where ingenious
engineers have unleashed

unchecked creativity.

Now their secrets are revealed
as we discover

the inside stories
of their construction.

This is an incredible feat
of planning and engineering.

[Narrator] To try and
understand,

"How did they build that?"

For our first architectural
marvel, we head down under

to a world-beating tower that
raises many questions.

For example, how do you make
a vast living garden grow

on the side of a huge building?

And what exactly is a heliostat
that uses over

300 intelligent mirrors to
banish shadows?

This Sydney landmark may
raise a lot of questions,

but as you'll see,
it has all the answers.

[music]

[Narrator]
The state of New South Wales

in southeastern Australia is
famed

for its endless golden beaches,

2,500 hours of sunshine every
year,

and one very iconic opera house.

When it comes to architecture,
the residents of the capital,

Sydney, are used to bold design.

But in the city centre,
planners faced a problem:

how to build a colossal new
tower block without blocking out

the sun from the surrounding
historic neighbourhood.

[Corina] Living in a city
apartment,

high up, means lots of light,

great views for you.

But those down below
are living in your shadow.

[Narrator] This is what happened
when architects pushed engineers

to their limits...

Wanting to bring the sun
back into the inner city

by hanging it from
the top of a tower block.

My first reaction to seeing it
was, "Wow."

I mean, out of this world and
something that's never been seen

before in Sydney.

Pretty much at every turn
of the design development,

there was somebody saying,
"Are we really gonna do this?"

[Narrator] Comprising of an
intelligent 110-ton mirror,

flanked by the
world's then-tallest

120,000-square-foot living wall,
and in the part of the city

near impossible to build on,
this is One Central Park,

Sydney, Australia.

So, how did they build it?

Tucked away just two miles from
Sydney's iconic harbour

is the gentrified suburb of
Chippendale,

a mix of 19th-century terraced
housing, and for 170 years,

one of Australia's biggest and
oldest breweries.

When the brewery closes in 2005,
it releases to market

a large plot of inner-city land
ripe for development.

[Mick]
The site was an old brewery.

It was the old
Carlton United Brewery,

and it was two kilometres from
the central business district

of Sydney and a six-hectare
site.

There was a lot of community
concern about the challenges

of creating increased urban
density and still maintaining

liveable environments for
people.

[Narrator] The plan is to
develop the six-hectare site

as a mixed residential, office,
and retail precinct

with two parks.

To make it financially viable,
developers need to build

two apartment towers.

But planning regulations here
restrict them to a maximum

of 10 stories, to limit the
shade it creates.

The designers propose building
taller towers,

but away from the neighbours to
the north of the site.

That creates another problem.

Normally, you would open up your
development

to the northern sunlight, in a
temperate climate like Sydney.

So we tried to come up with a
creative way

to celebrate the sunlight that

really counteracted the fact

that we put all the massing of
these buildings to the north.

[Narrator] Their proposed
solution is a radical

reimagining of an ancient
technology called a heliostat

on a scale never tried before.

A heliostat is actually a really
old piece of technology

that uses carefully positioned
mirrors to bounce light

into shaded areas.

Now, in ancient Egypt,
they used to use slaves

to hold these mirrors,
but luckily nowadays we have

computer programs linked to
motors that can control them.

[Narrator] They're also
determined to make sure

this development has some
seriously green credentials.

[Corina]
The problem with building

high-density residential blocks
in inner cities

is how to avoid
taking up valuable green space.

One answer is to make that
green space vertical.

[Narrator] They come up with a
pioneering design

that they hope will overcome the
problem

of shading their neighbours
while still making the scheme

financially viable.

At its heart will be two towers.

The west tower will be
17 floors, while the east

will be 34-stories high, casting
a large shadow over the park.

But on its 29th floor,
this tower will have a huge

cantilevered sky garden onto
which a giant array of mirrors

will be attached to bounce
sunlight down to the ground,

bringing sunshine into the
shade.

Finally, nearly 100,000 plants
will be added to the side

of the buildings, creating
over a million square feet

of vertical hanging gardens
to help integrate the towers

effortlessly into the
surroundings.

In 2010, work begins on the
towers,

and it's straightforward enough.

But then, engineers need to find
a way to attach a 110-ton

bank of mirrors 148 feet
from the building, 300 feet up,

in mid air.

They planned to do so using a
tried-and-tested engineering

method known as a cantilever.

The giant cantilever on this
building not only defies gravity

but it hovers over prime
residential real estate below.

[Narrator] This allows the
overhanging heliostat

to only be supported at one end,
giving the appearance

that it is floating on air.

It relies on a series of huge
steel trusses.

[Mike] There's a lot of
engineering solutions

in designing the trusses
to support the cantilever.

And we're talking truss panels
that are 75-ton to 90-ton

in weight, lifting those up.

[Narrator] With the huge steel
trusses craned up

to the 29th floor, then fixed to
four rods on the opposite side

of the building, the team turns
its attention to the heliostat.

Helios is the Greek god
of the sun and status means

a particular position
at a give moment in time.

So a heliostat is a mirror
device that can compensate

for the sun's movement across
the sky and make it static.

[Narrator] Modern large-scale
heliostats are used

the world over to generate
renewable energy.

Hundreds of static mirrors are
arranged in a circle

so that at least one of them
will catch the sun

throughout the day and bounce it
to a central point.

In Sydney, they don't have the
space for all those mirrors.

And they need to work out how to
bounce sunlight

around the building and light up
the park on the other side.

It took a while to understand
how we're gonna deliver this.

When you saw the sketches of the
design, I thought,

"Who does this work?

"There's not someone you can go
around the corner and say

"can you do this?"
It's a very difficult task.

[Narrator] Designers come up
with a groundbreaking solution.

By using mirrors on the roof of
the west tower to bounce the sun

up to more mirrors on
the overhang of the east tower,

they can reflect light
into the shaded areas

around the buildings.

But there isn't space on
the west tower for enough

static mirrors to catch the sun
as it moves through the day.

Their simple but ingenious
solution is to motorize the ones

they've got, and link them to
a computer-controlled program

to track the sun.

The computer on this heliostat
is ingenious.

Not only does it calculate
the position of the mirrors

relative to the sun at any time
on any day,

it then moves and angles them
to continually track the sun,

bouncing its power up into
the static mirror array,

which then reflects the light
down to the shaded areas below.

[Narrator] The result solves
the problem of creating light

where there is shade.

But it creates another one in
its wake...

How do you lift and suspend
a 110-ton structure

with 320 mirrors?

We had to think about
how could we build the most

of this structure on the ground,
and then lift it

into its final position
in pre-assembled elements.

The main challenge
in being able to do that

is when you preassemble
the building elements,

they become really heavy.

[Narrator] The solution is
one of the world's largest

tower cranes called Tinkerbell,
which they transport

thousands of miles from a mine
in western Australia.

It costs six times more
than a normal crane

and can cope with
the enormous weight

of the pre-assembled framework.

But this creates yet another
problem...

Colossal cranes and dense
downtowns don't mix well.

One of the other major
challenges was the fact

that there's a major
arterial road called Broadway

immediately below the site,

which is taking thousands
of cars in each direction

while we're undertaking
this task.

We definitely couldn't
close off the road

to undertake this activity.

We had to develop a lifting plan
that would consider

the conditions that would be
most appropriate to undertake

such a high-risk lift.

[music]

[Narrator] Next, can the team
pull it off?

[Narrator] In Sydney, Australia,
in the early hours

of the morning, work starts
on getting the steel frame

for the mirrors into the air.

To do it, they brought in
Tinkerbell, one of the world's

tallest tower cranes.

Now all they can do is hope
things go to plan.

One of our key enemies
when we're working at height

is wind, so you know, we had to
make sure that we were,

you know, carrying out the task
in the appropriate conditions.

[Narrator] Any sudden gusts
while lifting the frame

into the air will be disastrous.

But after months of meticulous
planning and organization,

the structure is finally
attached to the building.

Incredibly, it's done in under
two hours.

And there was a sense of relief
when the load was lifted

in position and eventually
bolted onto the building

and released from the hook of
the tower crane.

I think a few of the boys
definitely went

and had a beer after that one.

[Narrator] With the framework
in place,

the 320 mirrors are hung, and
the team turns its attention

to maximizing the building's
green credentials.

The plan is to build the world's
then-largest living wall.

[Jock] Nothing like this project
had ever been done anywhere

in the world.

The green wall's on here by
a French guy, Patrick Blanc.

He's very well known for his
green walls.

He was the pioneer of
green walls in the world.

He has green hair,
he has green fingernails.

And he doesn't drink water,
he only drinks champagne

'cause water's for the plants,
is what we were told.

[Narrator] Creating the largest
vertical garden the world

has ever seen is a serious
challenge.

[Ellie] A living wall might seem
like a really simple idea,

but if you think about what it
takes to just plant up

a simple garden or yard, and now
you do that on a vertical plane

hundreds of feet up in the air,
it gets a lot more complicated.

[Narrator] The engineers
need a framework big enough

to house the plants, and strong
enough to remain upright.

The weight of the planter boxes
was a key consideration

because they had soil
for the plants to grow in.

When it was wet,
that added weight.

So we had to engineer these
boxes to attach to the building

and cope with the loads.

[Narrator] To pull it off,
the team has to create

a unique system.

[Adam] We undertook a number of
prototypes to try and develop

our solution, and we finally
arrived at a rotomold...

A polyethylene tub, if you like.

This tub had to be overclad
with the building fabric

so that these planter boxes
looked integral as part

of the building.

[Narrator] The planting takes
2,000 man hours and injects

over a million square feet
of greenery

into the urban landscape.

[Jock] There is 1,120
square metres of green walls,

and it's 5.5 kilometres of
planter boxes

if you put them end to end.

So overall, I think there's
about 98,000 plants

on the project.

[Narrator] Even the watering
system that feeds over 3 miles

of planter boxes is sustainable.

All of the water is actually
from treated sewage.

They actually have blackwater
treatment plant on site

that manages the sewage, turns
it into A-grade drinking water,

which we then get to use on the
project.

So a very water-efficient
project at the same time.

[music]

[Narrator] Finally, in 2013,

after 6 years of planning
and building,

One Central Park is finished

and opens to residents, workers
and members of the public.

So it gained two World Awards
for this site

that we started off just wanting
to do a good job.

Well, it was recognised as being
a good job.

[Mike] A couple of the people

in the department's
planning department

nicknamed it the diving board,
but there's absolutely no doubt

that people will recognise the
green building

with the reflectors
on the giant cantilever,

and everybody knows the building
you're talking about.

[Narrator] Combined with
sustainable architecture,

it showcases how living walls
can bring greenery and life

to the urban jungle,
both inside and out.

[Man]
I've got the hanging gardens

just right outside my balcony.

It makes me feel as though
I have a garden apartment.

Every now and then,
I do drive past this building

or drive on a road where I can

see the building in the
distance.

And you know, I always look at
it with great pride

and satisfaction, knowing
that I was able to play a part

in, you know, creating this
great building.

[Narrator] One Central Park not
only changes the Sydney skyline,

it alters the perception
of what urban living can be...

Exceeding the expectations of
the people of the city

and flying the flag for

world class engineering
and design.

[music]

From Down Under
to the top of the world

and the Norwegian capital of
Oslo.

Now, when you're asked to
design a monumental new home

for your nation's opera and
ballet productions,

there are a few things you must
obviously include.

An excellent stage for
performers,

a comfortable auditorium
for visitors, and of course,

an enormous under-the-sea
barrier due to

the unacceptably high risk
of a ship colliding

with the building.
I made that last one up, right?

Nope.

Titanic the opera anyone?

[Narrator] The Scandinavian
country of Norway is renowned

for its stunning 35,000 miles
of coastline

and the 1,700 fjords, or flooded
sea valleys,

carved along it.

These breathtaking natural
wonders attract tourists

by the millions.

Then in 1999, one fjord became
the setting and inspiration

for an attraction of its own...
One of the country's

most ambitious cultural
buildings.

It's this giant marble wedge
that looks like it's slipping

into the fjord.

[Narrator] Built both on land
and under water,

this extraordinary feat of
design and engineering

is supported by 17 miles of
steel piling, driven deep

into the icy North Sea.

It looks like they've carved up
a glacier or an iceberg.

[Narrator] Featuring a
32,000-square-foot

wave-shaped wall, crafted from
white American oak,

and finished off with a rooftop
piazza made from 35,000

hand-cut slabs of soft white
Italian Carrera marble,

this is Oslo Opera House,
a worthy home

for Norway's
National Opera and Ballet.

So, how did they build it?

[Narrator] The 60-mile-long
Oslo fjord on Norway's

southeastern coast is
breathtakingly beautiful.

And it's clearly a massive
challenge

to create anything as stunning

as Mother Nature has done
herself.

But at the end of the 20th
century,

the Norwegian government sets
itself that challenge.

It had a bold new vision for
Oslo's industrial harbour front.

This includes their first
national opera house.

The opera house was announced as
a big international architecture

competition, there were about
320 different projects

being delivered.

It was a jury working
for a year, and finally,

at the end of this,
they chose our project.

[Narrator] The winning design is
by Norwegian firm Snohetta,

renowned for their futuristic
Le Monde Group HQ in Paris,

and another underwater building,
the radical Under Restaurant,

built in the North Sea.

They approach the design of the
opera house

with a bold vision.

[Kjetil] The building became
this negotiator between the sky

and the water.

So it wasn't a building per se.
It was a public plaza

on top of the opera functions.

[Narrator] The idea translates
into a vision

that looks great in blueprints,
but gives the engineers

some sleepless nights.

One half of the building will
sit on an area of unstable

contaminated land at the
harbour's edge.

The other half will dive in and
under the sea.

Covering an area equivalent to
four football fields,

the plan is for the opera house
to be divided

into three main zones
over four floors.

Outside, the plaza,
which includes the roof,

will be laid with 215,000
square feet

of Italian white marble,
all accessible to the public.

The rear of the building will
sink 53 feet below sea level

and house the stages and
an incredible 1,100 rooms,

including workshops and
rehearsal spaces.

Finally, a huge wall of white
American oak, called the wave,

will divide the land from
the sea, and the public spaces

from the 1,400-seat auditorium.

But before the first foundation
stone can be laid,

the team has to deal with an
ancient problem.

Norway dominated
Europe's timber trade.

Sawmills lined the country's
rivers and waterways,

including the Akerselva,
which runs into the harbour.

For centuries it carried sawdust
and industrial pollution

with it.

[Corina] First, they're building
below the waterline,

in water that will freeze in
winter.

Then they're dealing with
heavily polluted

centuries-old dock waste.

And then they're drilling down
to the bedrock.

It's not an ideal location.

[Kjell] So that was a big
challenge, to build something

out in this area, with the
sawdust conditions

and the very soft clay
conditions

and the large depth,
the bedrock.

[Narrator] Rather than trying to
build under water

on the soft sea bed, the team
decides to create a cofferdam,

a circular perimeter fence using
129,000 square feet

of steel sheet pile, before
pumping the water out.

Build a structure in water is
always challenging.

But when that water freezes
every single winter,

the structure needs to be not
only watertight,

but incredible strong.

[Kjell] The cylindrical shape is
essential here.

The cylinder is, in its shape,

able to take up much larger
pressures from the outside

than a box, because the forces
go in very nicely

into the cylinder walls.

And this is why we make lots of
structures with cylinders.

Why are the big platforms he put
in the North Sea cylinders

and not the not square boxes?

It's because the cylinder has
this great capacity

to take external forces.

[Narrator] With the cofferdam in
place and the water pumped out,

the excavation begins to create
a basement big enough

to house 16 elevators, a
rotating stage,

two side stages, and a
background stage,

53 feet below sea level.

As they dig down, the circle of
sheet pile needs a series

of concrete ring beams to hold
it all in place.

[Kjell] When we cast a concrete
ring beam, you create a support

of the sheet pile that allows it
to perform as it should.

Then we excavated down to a
certain level,

cast the concrete ring beam.

Excavated further down,
cast a new concrete ring beam,

until the final depth 16 meters
below sea level

[Narrator] Although they've
overcome the physics of water

and created a dry space to work
on the foundations,

completing those isn't going to
be easy either.

The bedrock is up to 180 feet
down.

We have, if I recall correctly,
700 piles.

And the total pilings of 28
kilometres.

So it's quite a bit of steel
piles under this building, yes.

[Narrator] Creating firm
foundations takes

an extraordinary
17 miles of piling.

But the opera house's location
still has another headache

to overcome.

What is the probability that
some of the large ferries

that use this part of
the harbour area

could have loss of control?

[Narrator] A large part of
the opera house will be hidden

underwater with two ferry
terminals nearby.

Experts decide the risk of a
collision is unacceptably high.

[music]

[Narrator] Next, can engineers
make it safe?

[Narrator] Every year,
cruise ships make around

35,000 in-port manoeuvres,
almost all without incident.

But when they do go wrong, the
consequences can be disastrous.

A collision with the Oslo Opera
House could be catastrophic.

You've got cruise ships, cargo
vessels, and ferries passing

right by.

The last thing you want is one
traveling up that slope

and interrupting a performance
of Madame Butterfly.

[Narrator] Planners decide the
solution is to build something

called a berm.

[Hayley] A berm is a manmade
bank of earth and rocks.

On land, it could be used
structurally to hold back

a slope or to create a barrier.

Here though, it's got to hold
back an entire ship.

[Kjell] The only solution was
to build an artificial barrier

into the sea in front of the
opera.

And this, this barrier is made
of rockfill.

[Narrator] Creating an
underwater berm 230 feet wide

and 27 feet high is an enormous
job.

This is a ship
and here is a barrier.

And the ship comes in here,
and it hits the barrier,

and it will start to lift
out of the sea, the front.

It's like a collision
with a rock, right?

Where it starts raising up.

When you start to lift the ship
out of the sea, you use energy.

So this lifting energy takes out
the energy, moving energy,

of the ship.

[Narrator] 110,000 tons of rock
are blasted and dropped

overboard to create the berm
seven feet below the surface

of the sea.

Now, having finished dropping
rocks outside,

they have to follow the plan for
the inside to the millimetre.

The devil is in the detail.

It's a fairly complex building
when it comes

to functionalities.

[Narrator] At its heart is the
main stage,

which will serve both the
national opera and ballet.

We have about 300 different
computerized electro models

which are running all of the
operations inside the stage.

So you can shift with turning
things and sinking things.

You can push it in from the top,
you can push it in

from the sides.

[Narrator] The main auditorium
is designed to hold

almost 1,400 people.

The traditional horseshoe-shape
guarantees clear views

of the stage.

But it also needs to be
engineered

to provide perfect sound.

[Kjetil] We have to deep dive
into the elements of acoustics

and understand what type of
acoustics.

You know, it depends on the
education of opera singers.

Do you have a pressure voice
or do you have a soft voice?

What is your preferred kind of
style?

Or do you have language
understandability,

or do you have more on the music
side of filling the room?

[Narrator] The key measurement
is called

the room's reverberation time,
the time it takes for sound

from the stage to reach the rest
of the hall and then diminish.

Usually, a reverberation time
of between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds

hits the sweet spot,
quick enough for vocal clarity,

long enough for musical tones to
develop.

[Kjetil] The singers
should hear themselves.

You should hear the orchestra
without any pre delay.

When the singer
opens his or her mouth,

you should hear the sound
immediately.

[Narrator] The team's solution
partly comes down

to the materials they pick.

They line the auditorium with
American oak,

which looks beautiful
and has great acoustic

and reflective properties.

When they test it, the
auditorium's reverberation time

is measured at 1.8 seconds,
perfect for a room

of its size and shape.

[Randi] The sound is amazing.

Actually, the acoustics
is brilliant in this house.

It's one of the best
I've ever had in an opera house.

[music]

[Narrator] Since its opening
in 2008, ahead of schedule

and 52 million dollars
under budget,

this incredible opera and ballet
house has become much more

than a performance space.

With its fully accessible
public roof,

handcrafted from beautiful
white Italian marble,

it attracted 5 million visitors
within its first three years.

[Woman] It's really nice that
it's open access to the public,

it's great.

Not a lot of places you can
climb on top of a building.

It's actually really nice,
I like that.

[Kjetil] While you're sitting
on that spot on the roof,

it's your roof.

It's giving us this possibility
of relating it back

to human experiences and
intimacies,

and hopefully by that,
creating public ownership

to the building.

[Narrator] And in the world of
opera and ballet houses,

that's what's known
as a box office smash.

[music]

Our next building is
a museum that's almost

entirely recycled stuff.

Now, I'm not saying most of the
objects on display are recycled.

Oh no, those things are all
originals.

What I mean is the
museum itself is built

using recycled stuff.

15,000 cubic metres
of recycled concrete.

5,000 tons of recycled steel.

With its living roof
and built-in rainforest,

here's a museum that's
actually making history.

[Narrator] In Golden Gate Park,

on the west side of
San Francisco,

a truly amazing
new building has arrived.

A unique museum that combines
breathtaking architecture

with thousands of exhibits.

If you think of a museum as a
place full of old dead things,

then this place will blow your
mind.

[Narrator] When one of America's
leading scientific institutions

needed a new home, they decided
to make it like nothing else

on the planet.

This building is really
groundbreaking

because it really
arrives in a time

where we were just
really getting serious

about sustainable design.

[Narrator] It had to be tough
enough to survive

in an earthquake zone,

green enough to set an example
to the world,

and kind enough to
support a whole host

of different plants and animals.

[Hayley] Entirely different
ecosystems

at different temperatures,
humidity,

even different types of
seawater.

[Narrator] It's the only place
on the planet

with an aquarium, a planetarium,
a natural history museum,

and a four-story rainforest all
under one extraordinary roof.

The architect had this vision of
lifting up a section

of the park and putting
a building underneath.

[Narrator] A visionary design
that would create a building

so radical, it barely looks like
a building.

This is the California Academy
of Sciences in San Francisco.

So, how did they build it?

[music]

[Narrator] In 1853, the first
scientific academy

on the Pacific Coast was founded
in San Francisco.

Thousands flocked to see stuffed
animals, rare artefacts,

and collections from
around the world.

For over 130 years,
the institution withstood

not only the test of time, but
also several major earthquakes.

By the 1980s, the academy
had grown, and on its site

in Golden Gate Park,
the collection extended

over 12 buildings.

But when the Loma Preita
earthquake hit in 1989,

it damaged some of
the buildings beyond repair.

Determined to turn this
catastrophe into an opportunity,

the academy decides to build
one incredible new facility

to replace all 12.

Several well-known architects
are invited to pitch

for the design of the museum.

And one in particular stands
out.

Most of them made big slide
decks with visions and numbers

of how they would make
a difference, et cetera.

And Renzo Piano was totally
different.

He made a sketch where he just
basically said,

what if you could lift up
a section of the park?

You put a living roof on top and
put the building underneath.

[Narrator] Taking inspiration
from the seven rolling hills

of San Francisco, Renzo Piano's
museum will appear

to have risen out of the ground.

The roof will contain
1.3 million plants

to help control rain water on
the building.

Instead of air conditioning,
natural airflow will pull

cool air in at the bottom
and push warm air out

through the roof.

A complex water filtration plant
will supply the aquariums

with the right conditions
for their exhibits to survive.

Slimline design will keep
concrete pillars to a minimum,

while sustainable construction
methods will help

create a building for the future
and set the bar

for museums around the world.

Work starts in 2005,
and the first challenge facing

the engineers is making sure
this extraordinary building

is going to be tough enough to
survive

in a major earthquake zone.

San Francisco is a seismic zone
four,

which is the highest.

So we get some pretty big
earthquakes coming through.

We've developed a lot of ways of
dealing with quakes

when constructing new buildings.

Whatever you do, the key is
not having the building tied

to the ground during a quake,
which would transfer

the movement of the ground
straight into

the building above.

[Narrator] But the engineers
not only have to do this,

they have to do it without
compromising the look

of the building.

[Alisdair] It's really
like a huge shoebox

and reinforced concrete.

And it's big enough that by

allowing that entire
basement level to rock

and flex a little bit,
dissipates quite a bit

of the seismic energy,

so that the stuff inside
the art exhibits don't get

thrown around.

[Narrator] With a plan
in place to ensure

tremors aren't
transferred into the museum,

the next challenge
is making the building

environmentally responsible
in its construction.

This building was designed
to honour the living world.

And so really, it is about
honouring that relationship

between people and
the natural world.

[Narrator] It's a big challenge
at a time when the building

and construction industry
accounts for almost 40%

of the world's carbon emissions.

This project tries to change
that.

First, almost all the demolished
materials are recycled.

In the new building, half the
lumber comes

from renewable forests.

And 95% of the steel is from
recycled sources.

Even the insulation comes from
an unusual place.

The walls of this building
are filled with recycled jeans,

which is kind of an amazing
thing unto itself.

Normal insulation has
formaldehyde

and all these chemicals in it
that you really don't want

in a building.

Recycled jeans have many of
the same or better properties

than traditional fibreglass
insulation in terms of

holding in heat, et cetera...

Soundproofing, all these things.

And of course, you're recycling
and there's nothing toxic

in them, so this is the level
that people went to

to make this building
sustainable.

[Narrator] And as the birthplace
of denim jeans,

some 150 years ago,

San Francisco
could not have chosen

a more suitable material.

Next, they have to minimise
the need for air conditioning.

[Christopher] One of the unique
exhibits is the rainforest.

So that's a challenge in terms
of the mechanical system

that's providing, you know,
the right kind of humidity

and temperature that's
appropriate for the plants

and the people.

[Narrator] Instead of relying on
artificial heating and cooling,

they look to use the location
itself.

[Alisdair] We thought, well,
the climate in San Francisco,

particularly close to
the ocean and Golden Gate Park,

is pretty mild.

I think with that shape of
building and the big open space,

and that the hills, we can make
the main exhibit space work

as a naturally ventilated space.

[Narrator] Architects use the
curvature of the roofline

and the height of the halls
within the building

to limit the need for
air conditioning.

It's known as the stack effect.

[Christopher] The cool air comes
in from below and then rises up

through those openings.

And that's really the beauty of
this building,

is it's, it is breathing,
therefore making it

much more efficient and
using a lot less energy...

Up to at least 30% energy
than a building like this

would have otherwise.

[Alisdair]
So what we have is at

a little bit above the
planetarium,

because that gives off
a lot of heat,

and above the tropical
rainforest,

all those round portholes.

Those openings are all
computer controlled.

So as the temperature
inside the space builds up,

they will start to open.

[Narrator] As work continues,
not only does the building

need to blend in with nature,
it has to bring nature inside.

Including the ocean.

[Brenda] The Steinert Aquarium
is one of the oldest

and most biologically diverse
aquariums in the world.

We opened in 1923 and have had
a very long and rich history

of exhibiting rare and unique
species.

[Narrator] The plan is
for a new super aquarium

to be housed in the
Academy of Sciences building.

It will be one of the largest
and deepest coral reef exhibits

in the world.

That's if the team can work out
how to build a tank

to hold over 200,000 gallons of
water.

[Alisdair]
The big coral reef exhibit

I think's about
15 to 20 feet deep,

and that's a lot of pressure
down at the bottom,

trying to push out.

The concrete enclosures
for the tanks was part of

the structural design,
but then the acrylic sections

in those big tanks are curved.

And from a structural
standpoint, a curved structure

is stronger for resisting
pressure than a flat one.

[Christopher]
In the aquarium,

you've probably
seen the massive acrylic wall

that was, you know, no seams.

It was, at the time,
the largest acrylic structure.

It had to be ordered,
manufactures, and installed

prior to most of the building
going up around it.

[Narrator] The next challenge
is creating the perfect water

for each of the different
habitats in the aquarium.

All of the water that
we use for the aquarium

actually starts with one source,

and that's San Francisco
city water.

From there, we run it through
filtration

to remove chloramines,
and then we either send it

to our freshwater basin for our
freshwater habitats

or to saltwater mixing, where
we create our own salt water

from our own special recipe.

[Narrator] The team builds
the system into the basement.

It requires over seven miles of
pipework to supply the aquariums

with the perfect water for their
inhabitants to thrive.

One of the challenges
is the coral, the coral reef.

You know, that was live coral
that was brought in.

But before it was brought in,
you know, the water

had to be right, the lighting
had to be right.

And then you install the coral
and you hope that,

you know, you have to watch it
and maintain it.

[Narrator] By summer 2008,
19 years after

the Loma Prieta earthquake
ripped through San Francisco,

the new academy throws open its
doors to the public.

It's buildings like this,
and programs and exhibits

like the kind that occur
in this building,

that really encourage
large numbers of people

to think differently about their
relationship with nature.

[Narrator] Along with a colony
of penguins,

a 90-foot high rainforest,
a full-size T-Rex skeleton,

and an albino crocodile, over
40,000 live exhibits are put

on display to the public.

[Scott]
We've had 17 million people

walk through this building...

More than since it opened in
2008.

So we can have a significant
impact in the world.

[Narrator] The huge curved
window offering a glimpse

into an undersea world,

the sustainable system
cooling the building,

the enormous living roof on
top...

It truly is a success
with the scientific community

and the general public alike.

It really did set the bar
very high

because it's an incredible
building that's beautiful,

very functional, and also
incredibly sustainable.

[Narrator] The structure is
living proof

of an incredible idea
turned into

an extraordinary reality.

One that continues to inspire
visitors every day.