Watch Understanding the World's Greatest Structures

Name: Understanding the World's Greatest Structures
Genre: Documentary & Biography
Released: 2011

2024
1 Season

Understanding the World's Greatest Structures from The Great Courses is an enthralling and informative series that delves deep into the fascinating history, design, engineering, and cultural significance of some of the most iconic and awe-inspiring structures on the planet.

From ancient wonders like the Pyramids of Giza and the Parthenon, to modern marvels like the Burj Khalifa and the Golden Gate Bridge, each episode of this course offers a richly-detailed and engaging exploration of the key aspects and enduring legacy of these magnificent buildings.

Led by renowned architectural historian and educator, Dr. Stephen Ressler, the series takes viewers on a breathtaking journey across the globe, showcasing dozens of incredible structures from a wide range of eras, cultures, and disciplines.

Through a combination of stunning visuals, expert commentary, and in-depth analysis, Dr. Ressler illuminates the complex engineering techniques, design principles, materials, and social contexts that allow these structures to endure the test of time and captivate the human imagination.

One of the standout features of this course is its highly accessible and engaging style. Dr. Ressler is a charismatic and knowledgeable presenter who knows how to communicate complex concepts in a way that is both entertaining and informative. His passion for architecture and history is infectious, and viewers of all backgrounds and interests can find something to enjoy and learn from in this series.

Another key strength of this course is its emphasis on cultural context and significance. Understanding the World's Greatest Structures goes far beyond mere technical details to explore the deep historical, social, and symbolic meanings that these buildings embody. Viewers come away with a richer and more nuanced understanding of how architecture shapes and reflects human culture and values.

Whether you are a student of history or architecture, a traveler who wants to appreciate the world's most famous sights in greater depth, or simply a curious viewer who enjoys learning about the great achievements of human creativity and ingenuity, Understanding the World's Greatest Structures is a must-watch course that will leave you inspired and enlightened.

Understanding the World's Greatest Structures is a series that ran for 1 seasons (24 episodes) between November 4, 2024 and on The Great Courses

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Seasons

24. Strategies for Understanding Any Structure

March 4, 2011

What happens when you encounter a noteworthy structure that hasn't been included in this course and you want to know more about it? Professor Ressler devotes his final lecture to answering this question; sending you out into the world with suggested strategies for understanding any structure: great or otherwise.

23. The Incredible Lightness of Tension Structures

March 4, 2011

Apply old concepts in new ways with this lecture on tension structures, where all the principal load-carrying elements are in tension. Explore noteworthy examples, from the cable-supported roof of North Carolina's J. S. Dorton Arena to the suspended dish roof of Madison Square Garden to the cable dome of South Korea's Olympic Gymnastics Hall.

22. Vast Roof Systems of Iron and Steel

March 4, 2011

The need for roofs spanning large enclosed spaces led to a startling number of new structural systems in the last 200 years. Look closer at long-span structural configurations in places such as the Houston Astrodome, the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and even the Hartford Civic Center (the collapse of which offers a lesson in the risks of innovation).

21. Amazing Thin Shells: Strength from Curvature

March 4, 2011

Thin shells are unique structural elements that use curvature: cylindrical, dome-like, or saddle-like: to attain strength and stiffness. See these three types of thin shells used creatively in buildings ranging from St. Paul's Cathedral in London to the Zeiss planetarium in Germany to the Trans World Flight Center at New York's JFK Airport.

20. The Beauty and Versatility of Modern Concrete

March 4, 2011

Concrete, the world's most commonly used construction material, has been used in buildings that are anything but common. See concrete's versatility at work in an incredible range of structures, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, the Salginatobel Bridge in the Swiss Alps, and Dubai's Burj Khalifa (currently the world's tallest building).

19. The Great Skyscraper Race

March 4, 2011

The human aspiration to build upward reaches its climax with the skyscraper. Learn the story behind America's great skyscraper race and the increasingly sophisticated buildings it produced. Among the structural masterpieces you examine in depth are the Wainwright Building, the Chrysler Building, the Willis Tower, and the World Trade Center towers.

18. The Rise of Iron- and Steel-Framed Buildings

March 4, 2011

How did iron and steel revolutionize building design? Find out in this trip back to late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe and America, where iron-framed structures: such as sheds at England's Chatham Dockyard, New York City's Equitable Life Insurance Building, and Chicago's First Leiter Building: would set the stage for modern skyscrapers.

17. Great Cantilever Bridges: Tragedy and Triumph

March 4, 2011

Professor Ressler shows how structural catastrophes produced two bridges that provide a wonderful opportunity to see and understand structure: Scotland's Firth of Forth Bridge and Canada's second Quebec Bridge. You'll also gain insights into the human element of engineering, and the reasons structures turn out the way they do.

16. Suspension Bridges: The Challenge of Wind

March 4, 2011

In July 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge dramatically collapsed in a steady 42-mph wind. In this concluding lecture on suspension bridges, focus on how the Brooklyn Bridge, the Severn Bridge, and other bridges were designed to combat the second great challenge of these record-breaking bridges: their vulnerability to wind-induced vibrations.

15. Suspension Bridges: The Battle of the Cable

March 4, 2011

After learning the science behind suspension bridges, begin your two-lecture look at these structural marvels. Here, relive the Battle of the Cable, in which 19th-century engineers struggled over whether to build suspension cables from iron chains (as in England's Menai Strait Bridge) or steel wire (as in the Brooklyn Bridge).

14. How Iron and Science Transformed Arch Bridges

March 4, 2011

Examine the development of arched bridges during and after the Industrial Revolution. See how the revolutionary Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale paved the way for the development of science-based engineering. Also, see how science contributed to increasingly sophisticated modern bridges such as Spain's Campo Volantin Bridge.

13. Three Great Domes: Rome to the Renaissance

March 4, 2011

Trace the dome's evolution from the 1st century A.D. to the Renaissance. It's a journey reflected in the increasingly sophisticated domes of three great structures: the ancient Roman Pantheon, the Byzantine-era basilica of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and the Renaissance-era dome over the Florence cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

12. The Rise and Fall of the Gothic Cathedral

March 4, 2011

Gothic cathedrals are lasting testaments to the power of a series of sweeping architectural developments in medieval Europe. After examining the roots of Gothic cathedrals in their Romanesque predecessors, focus on several structural innovations: including flying buttresses and pointed arches: at work in places such as France's Chartres Cathedral.

11. The Glory of Rome in Arches and Vaults

March 4, 2011

Learn why the arch is the principal structural feature of ancient Rome. Your detailed case studies range from simple bridges such as the Pont St. Martin and triumphal arches such as the Arch of Titus to massive aqueducts like the Pont du Gard and majestic public spaces like the Baths of Caracalla.

10. Egypt and Greece: Pyramids to the Parthenon

March 4, 2011

Embark on your tour of different types of structures from around the world and across time. Your first stop: ancient Egypt, and the surprisingly complex engineering of pyramids, including the Great and Red pyramids. Your second stop: ancient Greece, where you visit the domed Treasury of Atreus and break down the structural system of the Parthenon.

9. Loads and Structural Systems

March 4, 2011

Structures are heavily influenced by the loads they're designed to carry. First, take a closer look at the most important loads structures must resist, including traffic loads and earthquake loads. Then, using the historic iron building at Watervliet Arsenal in New York, analyze how loads are actually transmitted through structural systems along load paths.

8. Cables and Arches: The Power of the Parabola

March 4, 2011

In this lecture, Professor Ressler introduces you to two final structural elements: cables and arches. The Saint Louis Gateway Arch and the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge are just two examples of breathtaking structural features that also have extensive, occasionally surprising, parallels.

7. The Power of Triangles

Used in the Eiffel Tower and the Brooklyn Bridge, trusses and triangles rely on the magical ability to network to achieve greatness.

6. Building Up and Building Out

From ancient Mycenae in Greece to Norway's Raftsundet Bridge, explore the brilliant innovations that engineers have devised to link the unlinkable.

5. Epic Heights and Great Spans

From the Tower of Babel to the Pyramids of Giza, uncover the challenges and solutions that have been devised as mankind builds toward the heavens.

4. From the Ashes, to Cement

Follow humankind's endless search for better building materials over thousands of years of increasingly complex structures.

3. Da Vinciâ' Mistake, Galileoâ' Solution

From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Olympic Velodrome in Athens, understand the role of internal forces, stress and strength on any structure.

2. The Science of Structure

Discover two vital forces that dictate the shape of any structure: loads and reactions. Together, they help create equilibrium.

1. Structural Greatness

Learn to see and appreciate the hidden beauty and genius of great structures in the same way as one would look at a masterpiece of art.

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Where to Watch Understanding the World's Greatest Structures

Understanding the World's Greatest Structures is available for streaming on the The Great Courses website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch Understanding the World's Greatest Structures on demand at Amazon Prime and Amazon.