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Hosted by award-winning author-illustrator David Macaulay.
Shop Index | Videos | Companion Book | Especially for Educators
 
Captivating storyteller David Macaulay (The Way Things Work) goes to extremes with five really big adventures that explore the greatest manmade wonders of the world. The series introduces the courageous creators and builders and reveals the deadly disasters and personal triumphs behind these breathtaking structures. Spectacular film footage, dramatic re-creations, and David's unique illustrations excite, explain, and entertain in a big way.
- Tower above the clouds on the Golden Gate, build the Brooklyn Bridge, and explore Europe's groundbreaking spans in Bridges.
- Discover 2,000 years of architectural wonders as Domes explores the Houston Astrodome, St. Peter's Cathedral, the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller, and more.
- Go to the top of the skyline for tall tales about Skyscrapers, including Chicago's Sears Tower, New York's Empire State Building, and Malaysia's record-setting Petronas Towers.
- See how dams change not only the course of rivers, but the course of history as well, in an adventure that reaches from the top of the Hoover Dam to the banks of the Nile in Dams.
- Be a mole in Boston's "Big Dig," explore the Chunnel, and go deep under New York's Hudson River for a wild look at Tunnels.
- Bonus activities! Join Kenny and Caroline from the PBS kids' show ZOOM and other kids and their parents as they build five scaled-down structures using only common household items like straws, masking tape, and newspaper.
5 hours on 5 cassettes
WG965
$69.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
Meet the brilliant designers who dared to extend roads and railways with ingenious but sometimes flawed designs. From the Golden Gate Bridge to some of the world's groundbreaking spans, you'll explore dozens of monumental engineering feats through historic film footage, fascinating photographs, illustrations, and dramatic re-creations.
- Discover why the Brooklyn Bridge's hard-working and humorless chief engineer never lived to see the completion of his masterpiece.
- Tower above the clouds on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, discover its controversial history, and see how its formidable suspension design handles brutal winds, tides, traffic, and earthquakes.
- Visit Scotland's Firth of Forth Railway Bridge, and learn how a deadly tragedy inspired the creation of this incredibly strong (and expensive) cantilevered steel design.
- Bonus activity! Build your own mini-bridge with Kenny and Caroline from the PBS Kids' show ZOOM using only straws, straight pins, masking tape, scissors, and a baseball.
1 hour
WG997
$19.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
From Houston's Astrodome to Rome's St. Peter's Cathedral to the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller, Domes introduces ingenious designers, recounts rarely told heroic stories, and reveals amazing triumphs through spectacular film footage, fascinating facts, and dramatic re-creations.
- Discover the innovative technique that ancient builders used in Constantinople to build the dome of the great church Hagia Sophia on a square base.
- View amazing archival photos that detail the painstaking, groundbreaking evolution of the United States Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C.
- See why the former owner of the Barnum & Bailey Circus created the revolutionary Houston Astrodome.
- Meet engineering cult figure Buckminster Fuller, and see how his interlocking triangle design became the controversial geodesic dome.
- Bonus activity! Build your own mini-dome with Kenny and Caroline from the PBS kids' show ZOOM using only newspaper and masking tape.
1 hour
WG996
$19.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
From France's Gothic cathedrals to Malaysia's record-breaking Petronas Towers, Skyscrapers introduces courageous creators, recounts little-known history, and reveals super-sized triumphs through spectacular film footage and dramatic recreations.
- Discover how a medieval feud between rival Italian families helped create some of the world's earliest skyscrapers.
- Meet Gustave Eiffel, whose experience as a bridge builder produced one of the world's most famous towers.
- View rare footage of the Empire State Building's construction, and learn what drove one of the building's contractors to a nervous breakdown.
- Learn how design flaws in New York's Citicorp Center could have led to the greatest skyscraper catastrophe in history.
- Bonus activity! Build a mini-skyscraper with Kenny and Caroline from the PBS Kids' show ZOOM using only newspaper, a few books, and an electric fan.
1 hour
WG995
$19.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
From the banks of the Nile to the top of the Hoover Dam, you'll meet the courageous and ambitious builders, relive the deadly disasters, and discover the little-known personal triumphs and tragedies behind the greatest dams ever built.
- Meet Frank "Hurry Up" Crowe, the Hoover Dam's chief engineer, who pushed his workers to unprecedented heights in the infernal desert heat.
- See how Egypt's Nubian society was radically transformed by the Aswan Dam.
- Find out what structural and physical forces led to 2,200 deaths in the Johnstown Flood of 1889.
- Bonus activity! Build your own mini-dam with Kenny and Caroline from the PBS kids' show ZOOM using only some popsicle sticks, sand, and gravel.
1 hour
WG993
$19.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
From ancient Rome to the remarkable Channel Tunnel that connects France and England, Tunnels introduces courageous engineers, relives deadly disasters, and reveals little-known personal triumphs and tragedies.
- Be a mole in Boston's "Big Dig," and see how the biggest tunneling project in history is reshaping one of America's oldest cities.
- Travel back to 1920, and discover how Clifford Holland constructed -- and ventilated -- the first underwater automobile tunnel.
- Meet the engineer whose revolutionary design for London's famous subway system greatly altered British lifestyles.
- See how massive boring machines joined England and France beneath the English Channel.
- Tour the tunnels that helped make ancient Rome livable.
- Bonus activity! Build your own mini-tunnel with Kenny and Caroline from the PBS Kids' show ZOOM using only sand, masking tape, a spoon, and other common household items.
1 hour
WG994
$19.95
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.
For sale to individuals, educators, educational institutions, and libraries in the United States. These videos can also be used by teachers if shown in face-to-face teaching situations, or by libraries.
All the BUILDING BIG videos are closed captioned.
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