Look at Life: Top People

Today it's a symbol of strength and vitality. 135 years ago, it was a source of controversy. This documentary examines the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. From conception to construction, it traces the bridge's transformation from a spectacular feat of heroic engineering to an honored symbol in American culture.

La Grande Aventure du France

Ed Kimble, a structural ironworker, is followed during his workday building a skyscraper.

An expedition looks into whether Titanic's hull had a construction design flaw that caused her to break apart. Featuring advanced CGI technology, archive documents and photographs, as well as footage from the modern-day History(R) expeditions, "Titanic's Achilles Heel" is a remarkable journey into the ongoing legacy of a ship that continues to capture the world's attention.

This late 1940s/early 1950s rather graphic color film about carelessness and safety operating heavy machinery is presented by Caterpillar.

The Hilton Hotel rises from the ashes, surrounded by derelict houses and bomb damaged streets.

Focuses on an open-pit mining operation. Shows huge haulage trucks, pointing out existing and potential hazards involved in their operation. Re-enacts common accidents, explains their causes and outlines the steps necessary to prevent their re-occurrence.

Secrets of the Empire State Building

Documentary portrait of a day in the life of a welder, created by Netflix to test high dynamic range high frame rate streaming.

Every city has its secrets, but it is probably inside houses, behind their silent walls, where they are most intense and human. The Alabado House was built in 1671 as part of Quito’s colonial Old City, surviving centuries of earthquakes, poverty and decay. Over the past five years, dozens of manual laborers have been working to restore it. But its miraculous beauty conceals a long and tragic history. For it was the oppressed indigenous masses who built the Old City, the largest in Latin America.

Oravská priehrada

Follow the story of how a skatepark was built in the Maldives and the volunteers who worked day and night for a month to make it happen. See how the project unfolded from initial idea to completion.

Tour Eiffel : les 10 secrets de l'icône de Paris

Chronicling the reconstruction of the World Trade Center and restoration of the New York City skyline, with a focus on the construction workers who made it happen. Thirteen cameras placed throughout the site document eight years of progress with stunning time-lapse imagery, and shadow workers every step of the way as they turn a pile of ashes into a towering testament to imagination and resilience.

Leaky home experts John Gray and Roger Levie uncover the shocking truth about the dreadful and dangerous state of many apartment buildings in New Zealand. Buildings that look sound turn out to be seriously defective, costing millions to fix, and in the worst cases, only fit to be pulled down. The owners who thought they were making a good step on the property ladder, now find themselves faced with an emotional and financial cost that will affect the rest of their lives. How did this building disaster come about and can it be fixed?

Les templiers, la démesure des Batisseurs

2005-2008. Video. In 2005 San Francisco real estate magnate Angelo Sangiacomo commissioned Strickland to make a movie that would chronicle final stages in the construction of his new house in Pebble Beach, CA. Amidst the spectacle of the building site, the videographer sought to portray a design project of operatic proportions that involved a sometimes dissonant cast of characters and took more than 6 years to unfold. The owners hoped that this video record might lend future visibility to a structure’s bones and soul that otherwise vanish from sight by the time building is completed.

Filmmaker Geertjan Lassche follows a construction project in the heart of Rotterdam, from the first foundation pile up until completion.

A man named Walt who has recently completed building a fallout shelter in his home, a project initiated due to the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War era. Walt demonstrates to his friends the multi-functionality of the shelter, which can also serve as a darkroom, an extra bedroom, or a safe space during tornadoes. He explains the construction process in detail, emphasizing the need for precise measurements, proper leveling, and the use of concrete blocks for radiation protection. The shelter includes a stock of essentials like a radio, batteries, and a fire extinguisher. Walt’s narrative is interspersed with advice on obtaining official bulletins for guidance and the importance of building shelters correctly. The film concludes with a message from the Director of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, advocating for the construction of family fallout shelters across America as a means of personal safety and national security in the nuclear age.

Eiffel, les derniers secrets