Product Details

• Actors: David Macaulay
• Directors: Tom Levenson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: October 26, 2004
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002XVSEC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,343 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Where gods meet and players play–discover the domed wonders of the world. What holds up the Astrodome? Why did the Romans leave a hole in the roof of the Pantheon? Tour the world and trace the 2000-year history of domes with award-winning author-illustrator—and captivating storyteller—David Macaulay (The Way Things Work). 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 recreations.

– 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 Washington, DC’s Capitol Dome

– 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

David Macaulay hosts Building Big, the five-part series that brings you the amazing truth behind the greatest manmade wonders of the world. From the top of the Golden Gate Bridge to inside the Hoover Dam, Building Big travels the world exploring Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, Skyscrapers and Domes in unforgettable, really big adventures.

Includes bonus hands-on building activity designed for kids.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Dome It To Me, August 25, 2010

By 

K. A. Larson (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Building Big: Domes (DVD)

You probably don't have a dome on top of your home, but some of the grandest and oldest buildings do. It was not until the Romans that large domes on large classical buildings because common and successful. Many of the Roman domes still survive today, a testimony to the technology of the day. For the Romans, a dome was just a rotated arch, a building component they understood well. As domes grew larger, limitations were discovered but with modern techniques, domes large enough to cover sports stadium are now common.

David Macaulay seems to explain everything in a way that ordinary people can understand, illustrated with his quick on-camera sketches. Domes is one of a series of five how-it-was-done episodes in the David Macaulay series Building Big. Other large objects covered are Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, and Sky Scrapers.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Information, July 5, 2010

By 

kle1013 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Building Big: Domes (DVD)

The information regarding the architectural structure of domes is presented in a simple way which helps understanding. The addition of art works helps to place the architecture in a historical timeframe making the dvd very beautiful to watch.

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What About VW Bugs!?!, November 17, 2007

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building Big: Domes (DVD)

If this were made for children, it's for the older ones. I can see tweens watching it and learning why they need to take math and science classes seriously. For younger children, there is no way this could compete with that Blue Dog or Power Rangers.
This work starts off with the Houston Astrodome before it speaks of the Ancient Romans and move chronologically. This is clearly meant to grab the interest of modern, and probably male, viewers.
Because so many will reject anything that purely discusses science, myself included, this work can be commended for bringing history into the discussion. The work speaks of Hadrian and George Washington wanting domes for all kinds of reasons that had little to do with architecture for architecture's sake. The work is pan-historical and looks at domes in three continents.
As much as I applaud the documentary makers, this is still a boring work. Unless you just love you some geometry, then you might yawn through this. I'm glad this work exists, but I pushed stop on my DVD player because I can't let this interfere with missing an episode of "Cops."