April 13, 2003 (2003-04-13) – July 9, 2011 (2011-07-09)
Related
Engineering the Impossible (2002)
Extreme Engineering is a documentary television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program featured future and ongoing engineering projects. After ending of season 3 it airs under the Build It Bigger name. The series last season aired in July 2011. Danny Forster first hosted the series in season 4 and has been the host since season 6.[1]
Origins of the show
Engineering the Impossible was a 2-hour special, created and written by Alan Lindgren and produced by Powderhouse Productions for the Discovery Channel. It focused on three incredible, yet physically possible, engineering projects: the nine-mile-long (14 km) Gibraltar Bridge, the 170-story Millennium Tower and the over 4,000-foot-long (1,200 m) Freedom Ship. This program won the Beijing International Science Film Festival Silver Award, and earned Discovery's second-highest weeknight rating for 2002. After the success of this program, Discovery commissioned Powderhouse to produce the first season of the 10-part series, Extreme Engineering, whose episodes were written by Alan Lindgren, Ed Fields and several other Powderhouse writer-producers. Like Engineering the Impossible, the first season of Extreme Engineering focused on extreme projects of the future. Season 2 (and all seasons since) featured projects already in construction around the world.
Gotthard Base Tunnel ( Season 1, Episode 6) – The TBM from Bodio arrived at MFS Faido in September 2006
Powderhouse Productions produced six episodes for season 4 with host Danny Forster. After ending of season 3 it airs under the Build It Bigger name on HD Theater, The Science Channel, and Discovery Channel.
In an attempt to save the city from another disaster, New Orleans is building the world's strongest hurricane protection system, including the largest storm surge barrier ever built and radical hurricane-resistant homes.
Melbourne, Australia is building one of the most innovative stadiums ever built. With its unprecedented geodesic roof and advanced cladding, it will be the ultimate fan experience, and an icon for a city known as the sporting capital of the world.
The Swiss government is spending 18 billion dollars to create the Gotthard Base Tunnel – the longest tunnel in the world, getting people and goods through the Alps up to three times faster and ultimately changing European transit forever.
Abu Dhabi's $15 billion Central Market will be a new cultural hub for an emerging world destination, complete with offices, parks, luxurious shops, and hotels – and all centered around the world's tallest residential tower, over 1250 feet high.
Danny Forster goes behind the scenes at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where crews are in the middle of the largest earth-moving project in history – all to triple the port's capacity, and help it serve the biggest ships on the planet.
After 13 years of record-breaking droughts Melbourne looks to secure its future with a $3.5 billion Wonthaggi desalination plant that will turn saltwater into freshwater. Danny joins crews as they build two undersea tunnels, 29 buildings and 52 miles of pipeline.
After decades of neglect under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan is reinventing itself. With a $6 billion a year renovation and over 500 new developments, Danny Forster goes behind the scenes of Baku's construction projects: the Flame Towers and Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre.
The London Aquatics Centre will host 44 swimming and diving events during the 2012 Summer Olympics and live on as a new addition to the London landscape. Danny Forster goes with crews as they construct one of the most advanced swimming facilities ever built.
Danny Forster joins crews as they construct Serbia's newest national icon. The Sava River Bridge in Belgrade is the world's largest single pylon cable stayed bridge, upgrading a critical freight corridor connecting Central Europe to the East.
Activity since original air date: Completed
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6
"Amsterdam's Futuristic Floating City"
Netherlands
Netherlands land expansion
Under construction
June 25, 2011 (2011-06-25)
The Netherlands is running out of land. Nearly 70% of its land, which comprises half its population lies beneath sea level. Rather than fight back the sea, engineers are radically making it an ally, The new city of IJburg is to create real estate where none exists.
Activity since original air date: Partially completed
The $2 billion Mumbai Airport expansion project is one of India's most ambitious undertakings aiming to improve Mumbai's Infrastructure for economic growth. If they succeed to build this breathtaking piece of engineering, it could completely change the way airports are designed.
Crews are now carving out Turkey's largest construction site in the country's most challenging terrain by building one of the tallest and strongest dams ever made, the Deriner Dam.
