Summary: In 1991, One Canada Square, the UK's tallest skyscraper, changed the London skyline. But the Cesar Pelli-designed icon did not rise up in the heart of the British capital. As this program describes, the developers undertook a billion-dollar gamble by creating an international financial center, symbolized by this obelisk-shaped tower, in the city's East End docklands. Viewers will learn about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Any serious study of the modern skyscraper must acknowledge its precursor-the Gothic cathedral. This program examines the design, construction, and history of Cologne Cathedral-which, for a grand total of four years, was the tallest building in the world. Dr. Barbara Schock-Werner, the cathedral's resident chief architect, describes political and cultural conditions during Cologne's initial...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: The traditional skyscraper is an environmentally unsound, energy-guzzling monster. But in 1997, celebrated British architect Norman Foster created a contradiction in terms: the world's first ecologically sensitive skyscraper. As a result, the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt changed the construction of giant corporate buildings forever. This episode features a walking tour of the building and an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: What happens when a city loses its trademark industry and the trademark architectural icon that goes with it? That was the problem facing the Swedish shipbuilding city of Malmo when the Kockums Crane was dismantled in 2002. This program illustrates the city's radical solution-a dramatic reinvention of its skyline and its socioeconomic image with the Turning Torso apartment building. Viewers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008