Product Details

• Actors: David Macaulay
• Directors: Joseph McMaster
• 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: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0002XVSF6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,822 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Tour the towers that made history and altered the future. Why was New York’s most famous skyscraper dubbed the "Empty State Building?" How big is Japan’s planned "supertower?" Tour the world’s most incredible skylines with award-winning author-illustrator—and captivating storyteller—David Macaulay (The Way Things Work) and trace the amazing stories of skyscrapers. From France’s Gothic cathedrals to Malaysia’s record-breaking Petronas Towers, Skyscrapers introduces courageous creators, recounts little known history, and reveals supersized 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 using only newspaper, a few books, and an electric fan

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reach for the Sky, 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: Skyscrapers (DVD)

Skyscrapers is the fifth and final episode in the Building Big series by David Macaulay. The first four episodes cover Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, and Domes, all structures that people have known for centuries. Skyscrapers may have their roots in the towers of Italy, but they have reached their height of popularity in the last 150 years. Early skyscrapers were of stone, but steel and elevators made the hundred story and taller glass and steel boxes possible. Skyscrapers got their big boost in Chicago in the last 19th Century but it was the small island of Manhattan that needed them most. Today some of the most impressive towers are built in Asia but the quest for the tallest structure drives the skyline ever higher. Macaulay always throws in a little drama and in this episode discusses collapses and fires. With new technology in the future, the sky is the limit.