Supersize Structures

One inescapable aspect of ‘progress’ is that things just keep getting bigger. This riveting new series looks at some of the biggest enterprises in construction, civil engineering and manufacturing, showcasing man’s continued ingenuity. This is the story of dams, highways, bridges and buildings that have transformed cities and even whole countries. Of ever larger ships, planes and trucks that have transformed daily life.

This series surveys a hundred years of striving to make the biggest, heaviest, tallest — and looks at what is supersized today and what was 10, 50 and 100 years ago. The first skyscraper for example — the Home Insurance Building in Chicago — was only 10 storeys tall. Fast-forward to today and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is building a tower in Jeddah that will be over a kilometre high. Or how about the Titanic — its very name told you it was big — however, the modern cruise ship Oasis of the Seas is five times its size.

Supersize Structures looks at the challenges and unusual reactions from society that we face from building big. Can skyscraper-living really give you nosebleeds and can travelling too fast cause suffocation? These are some of the questions that Supersize structures answers. We’ll also hear from experts about the challenges our supersizers faced and graphics will further contribute to understanding the unique problems and solutions of each supersized success. This is the story of the timeless quest to have the biggest, the heaviest, the tallest, and the longest — proving that size really does matter.