Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Since ancient times man has always desired to reach for the sky. Skyscraper architecture has always received plaudits but the real genius behind our tallest buildings lie in the efforts of the unheralded structural engineers. Designing a 100 storey building is one thing, ensuring it can carry its own massive weight, resist earthquakes or hurricane force winds quite another. Tests show how skyscraper building materials have to withstand extreme forces. And post 9/11 how can these buildings resists a fire on the 87th floor? A revealing insight into the turning points of skyscraper evolution, from the tallest apartment in the world in New York City to revolutionary new buildings like Mexico City’s Torre Mayor, arguable the world’s most earthquake proof structure.
Subscribe to Blueprint: bit.ly/blueprintitvs
Building the Ultimate is a fast-paced and fascinating series, combining CGI, archive and actuality footage to show how modern technology has shaped the objects we use, fight with, live and travel in. Find out how and why our 21st century weapons, buildings, superstructures and vehicles have evolved in the face of often impossible odds, looking in detail at their different components to demonstrate human ingenuity and our endless quest to build the indestructible.
This film was first broadcast: 2003
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Discover the best science, technology, and engineering shows. Explore amazing experiments, groundbreaking inventions, and the secrets behind incredible builds. Ignite your curiosity!
Content distributed by ITV Studios.
#science #technology #engineering
Since ancient times man has always desired to reach for the sky. Skyscraper architecture has always received plaudits but the real genius behind our tallest buildings lie in the efforts of the unheralded structural engineers. Designing a 100 storey building is one thing, ensuring it can carry its own massive weight, resist earthquakes or hurricane force winds quite another. Tests show how skyscraper building materials have to withstand extreme forces. And post 9/11 how can these buildings resists a fire on the 87th floor? A revealing insight into the turning points of skyscraper evolution, from the tallest apartment in the world in New York City to revolutionary new buildings like Mexico City’s Torre Mayor, arguable the world’s most earthquake proof structure.
Subscribe to Blueprint: bit.ly/blueprintitvs
Building the Ultimate is a fast-paced and fascinating series, combining CGI, archive and actuality footage to show how modern technology has shaped the objects we use, fight with, live and travel in. Find out how and why our 21st century weapons, buildings, superstructures and vehicles have evolved in the face of often impossible odds, looking in detail at their different components to demonstrate human ingenuity and our endless quest to build the indestructible.
This film was first broadcast: 2003
Watch More Documentaries
True Lives - bit.ly/3A8xRMJ
Our History - bit.ly/3rUpdhL
Our World - bit.ly/3ftuckM
Our Stories - bit.ly/3ynfFyk
Taste - bit.ly/3OZoDcV
Up Close - bit.ly/3zMSJ1H
Crime Up Close - bit.ly/CrimeUpClose
Discover the best science, technology, and engineering shows. Explore amazing experiments, groundbreaking inventions, and the secrets behind incredible builds. Ignite your curiosity!
Content distributed by ITV Studios.
#science #technology #engineering
