Extreme Engineering

*Extreme Engineering*
Extreme Engineering
Also known as	Build It Bigger; Kings of Construction
Genre	Documentary / Engineering / Architecture / Science
Directed by	Peter Frumkin; Olympia Stone
Presented by	Danny Forster
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	77 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	42 minutes
Original release
Network	HD Theater; Science Channel; Discovery Channel
Release	April 13, 2003 –; July 9, 2011
Related
	Engineering the Impossible (2002);

Extreme Engineering is a documentary television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program featured futuristic and ongoing engineering projects. After ending of season 3 it airs under the Build It Bigger name. The series last season aired in July 2011. Danny Forster first hosted the series in season 4 and has been the host since season 6.^[1]

Origins of the show

Engineering the Impossible was a 2-hour special, created and written by Alan Lindgren and produced by Powderhouse Productions for the Discovery Channel. It focused on three incredible, yet physically possible, engineering projects: the nine-mile-long (14 km) Gibraltar Bridge, the 170-story Millennium Tower and the over 4,000-foot-long (1,200 m) Freedom Ship. This program won the Beijing International Science Film Festival Silver Award, and earned Discovery's second-highest weeknight rating for 2002. After the success of this program, Discovery commissioned Powderhouse to produce the first season of the 10-part series, Extreme Engineering, whose episodes were written by Alan Lindgren, Ed Fields and several other Powderhouse writer-producers. Like Engineering the Impossible, the first season of Extreme Engineering focused on extreme projects of the future. Season 2 (and all seasons since) featured projects already in construction around the world.

Gotthard Base Tunnel ( Season 1, Episode 6) – The TBM from Bodio arrived at MFS Faido in September 2006

Episodes

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
Season		Episodes	Season premiere	Season finale
	Pilot	1	TBA
	1	10	April 13, 2003 (2003-04-13)	June 4, 2003 (2003-06-04)
	2	9	July 7, 2004 (2004-07-07)	November 22, 2004 (2004-11-22)
	3	6	October 19, 2005 (2005-10-19)	January 21, 2006 (2006-01-21)
	4	6	February 19, 2006 (2006-02-19)	July 12, 2006 (2006-07-12)
	5	6	October 11, 2006 (2006-10-11)	November 15, 2006 (2006-11-15)
	6	14	July 10, 2007 (2007-07-10)	October 17, 2007 (2007-10-17)
	7	8	April 20, 2009 (2009-04-20)	June 26, 2009 (2009-06-26)
	8	10	April 8, 2010 (2010-04-08)	July 1, 2010 (2010-07-01)
	9	8	April 8, 2011 (2011-04-08)	July 9, 2011 (2011-07-09)

Pilot


No. in season	No. in series	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
				Cities in the Sea
0	1	"Engineering the Impossible"	Europe/Africa United States China	Gibraltar Bridge Freedom Ship Millennium Tower (originally planned for Tokyo, but shown in Hong Kong)	Proposed	TBA
Activity since original air date: Millennium Tower on-hold/cancelled due to Central Reclamation Phase III lawsuit

Season one^[2] episode 4, Icarus' Dream. Master's of Engineering. Amazon Prime Television.

Season 1: 2003

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
1	1	"Tokyo's Sky City"	Japan	Tokyo's Sky City	Proposed	April 13, 2003 (2003-04-13)
Activity since original air date: Proposed
2	2	"Subways In America"	United States	East Side Access	Proposed	April 15, 2003 (2003-04-15)
Activity since original air date: Completed in 2023
3	3	"Transatlantic Tunnel"	United States United Kingdom	The Transatlantic tunnel	Proposed	April 16, 2003 (2003-04-16)
Activity since original air date: Proposed
4	4	"City in a Pyramid"	Japan	The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid over Tokyo Bay	Proposed	April 23, 2003 (2003-04-23)
Activity since original air date: Proposed
5	5	"Bridging the Bering Strait"	United States Russia	The Bering Strait crossing	Proposed	April 30, 2003 (2003-04-30)
Activity since original air date: Proposed
6	6	"Tunneling Under the Alps"	Switzerland	Gotthard Base Tunnel	Under construction	May 7, 2003 (2003-05-07)
Activity since original air date: Completed
7	7	"Building Hong Kong's Airport"	Hong Kong	Hong Kong International Airport	Completed	May 14, 2003 (2003-05-14)
Activity since original air date: Completed
8	8	"Holland's Barriers to the Sea"	Netherlands	Maeslantkering and Oosterscheldekering storm surge barriers	Completed	May 21, 2003 (2003-05-21)
Activity since original air date: Completed
9	9	"Boston's Big Dig"	United States	Boston's Big Dig underground highway and bridge project	Under construction	May 28, 2003 (2003-05-28)
Activity since original air date: Completed
10	10	"Widening the Panama Canal"	Panama	Panama Canal expansion project	Completed	June 4, 2003 (2003-06-04)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 2: 2004

Season 2 was the first season produced in HDTV for HD Theater.

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
11	1	"Turning Torso"	Sweden	Turning Torso skyscraper	Completed	July 7, 2004 (2004-07-07)
Activity since original air date: Completed
12	2	"Venice Flood Gates"	Italy	Venice Tide Barrier Project (MOSE Project)	Under construction	July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14)
Activity since original air date: Under construction (estimated completion 2022)
13	3	"Container Ships"	Norway	Adrian Mærsk (Maersk Line)	Completed	July 28, 2004 (2004-07-28)
Activity since original air date: Completed
14	4	"Oakland Bay Bridge"	United States	Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge	Under construction	August 4, 2004 (2004-08-04)
Activity since original air date: Completed
15	5	"Iceland Tunnels"	Iceland	Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant	Under construction	September 1, 2004 (2004-09-01)
Activity since original air date: Completed
16	6	"Off-shore Oil Platforms"	N/A	Tarzan Class oil rigs	Under construction	September 25, 2004 (2004-09-25)
Activity since original air date: Completed
17	7	"Cooper River Bridge"	United States	Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina	Under construction	October 5, 2004 (2004-10-05)
Activity since original air date: Completed
18	8	"Millau Viaduct"	France	Millau Viaduct in Southern France	Completed	November 15, 2004 (2004-11-15)
Activity since original air date: Completed
19	9	"Excavators"	United States	Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota	Completed	November 22, 2004 (2004-11-22)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 3: 2005–06

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
20	1	"The Snøhvit Arctic Gas Processing Platform"	Norway	Snøhvit platform / MV Blue Marlin in the Norwegian Sea	Completed	October 19, 2005 (2005-10-19)
Activity since original air date: Completed
21	2	"The El Cajon Dam"	Mexico	El Cajon Dam in Mexico	Completed	November 10, 2005 (2005-11-10)
Activity since original air date: Completed
22	3	"Hong Kong's Cable Car"	Hong Kong	Ngong Ping 360	Completed	December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) (?)
Activity since original air date: Completed
23	4	"Woodrow Wilson Bridge"	United States	Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, D.C.	Under construction	December 9, 2005 (2005-12-09) (?)
Activity since original air date: Completed
24	5	"Gotthard Tunnel"	Switzerland	Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland	Under construction	January 1, 2006 (2006-01-01)
Activity since original air date: Completed
25	6	"Dubai's Ski Resort"	United Arab Emirates	Ski Dubai	Under construction	January 21, 2006 (2006-01-21)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 4: 2006

Powderhouse Productions produced six episodes for season 4 with host Danny Forster. After ending of season 3 it airs under the Build It Bigger name on HD Theater, The Science Channel, and Discovery Channel.

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
26	1	"SuperStadium"	United States	Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, Arizona	Under construction	February 19, 2006 (2006-02-19)
Activity since original air date: Completed
27	2	"MegaTunnel"	Malaysia	Storm Management And Road Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur	Under construction	March 8, 2006 (2006-03-08)
Activity since original air date: Completed
28	3	"Biggest Warship"	United States	USS George H.W. Bush	Completed	May 31, 2006 (2006-05-31)
Activity since original air date: Completed
29	4	"Sakhalin Oil & Ice"	Russia	Sakhalin-II on Sakhalin Island	Under construction	June 28, 2006 (2006-06-28)
Activity since original air date: Completed
30	5	"Big Easy Rebuild"	United States	Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina	Under construction	July 5, 2006 (2006-07-05)
Activity since original air date: Under construction (estimated completion N/A)
31	6	"Space Tower"	Spain	Madrid's Torre Espacio	Under construction	July 12, 2006 (2006-07-12)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 5: 2006

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
32	1	"South Ferry Subway Station"	United States	The New York City Subway's new South Ferry station	Under construction	October 11, 2006 (2006-10-11)
Activity since original air date: Completed
33	2	"World's Biggest Arch Bridge"	United States	Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (the Hoover Dam Bypass) over the Colorado River	Under construction	October 18, 2006 (2006-10-18)
Activity since original air date: Completed
34	3	"JFK: JetBlue Terminal"	United States	Reconstruction of John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 5 in New York City	Under construction	October 25, 2006 (2006-10-25)
Activity since original air date: Completed
35	4	"Stonecutters Bridge: Hong Kong"	Hong Kong	Hong Kong's Stonecutters Bridge	Under construction	November 1, 2006 (2006-11-01)
Activity since original air date: Completed
36	5	"California Academy of Sciences"	United States	The rebuilding of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California	Under construction	November 8, 2006 (2006-11-08)
Activity since original air date: Completed
37	6	"Hallandsås Ridge Tunnel: Sweden"	Sweden	Hallandsas railway tunnel	Under construction	November 15, 2006 (2006-11-15)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 6: 2007

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
38	1	"Coaster Build Off"	United States	Griffon steel rollercoaster in Busch Gardens Williamsburg and the Renegade in Valleyfair	Under construction	July 10, 2007 (2007-07-10)
Activity since original air date: Completed
39	2	"Battle Machines"	United States	An M1 Abrams tank undergoing maintenance at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama	Completed	July 17, 2007 (2007-07-17)
Activity since original air date: Completed
40	3	"World's Tallest Skyscraper"	China	Shanghai World Financial Centre in Shanghai, China	Under construction	July 24, 2007 (2007-07-24)
Activity since original air date: Completed
41	4	"Super Fast Warship"	United States	Building an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer for the U.S. Navy	Under construction	August 7, 2007 (2007-08-07)
Activity since original air date: Completed
42	5	"Boot Camp"	United States	Training to use construction equipment in Boston, Massachusetts.	Completed	August 14, 2007 (2007-08-14)
Activity since original air date: Completed
43	6	"Fault Zone Tunnel"	United States	Inland Feeder pipeline project to supply freshwater to Southern California	Under construction	August 21, 2007 (2007-08-21)
Activity since original air date: Completed
44	7	"Hurricane-Proof Homes"	United States	Building heavy duty modular homes	Completed	August 28, 2007 (2007-08-28)
Activity since original air date: Completed
45	8	"Floating City"	Bahamas	MS Independence of the Seas for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines	Under construction	September 4, 2007 (2007-09-04)
Activity since original air date: Completed
46	9	"Biggest Casino"	United States	Construction of The Palazzo hotel casino in Las Vegas	Under construction	September 11, 2007 (2007-09-11)
Activity since original air date: Completed
47	10	"High Risk Tower"	United States	Construction of Trump's Tower in Chicago	Under construction	September 18, 2007 (2007-09-18)
Activity since original air date: Completed
48	11	"Turbo-Charged Boats"	United States	Rebuilding and practice test of an offshore racing boat	Completed	September 25, 2007 (2007-09-25)
Activity since original air date: Completed
49	12	"Mountain of Steel"	Spain	City of Culture of Galicia in Galicia	Under construction	October 3, 2007 (2007-10-03)
Activity since original air date: Completed (Final two buildings cancelled.)
50	13	"Deepest Tunnel"	Turkey	Construction of Marmaray underwater tunnel in Istanbul	Under construction	October 10, 2007 (2007-10-10)
Activity since original air date: Completed
51	14	"Major League Stadium"	United States	Construction of Nationals Park baseball stadium in Washington, D.C.	Under construction	October 17, 2007 (2007-10-17)
Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 7: 2009

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
52	1	"Dallas Cowboys Stadium"	United States	Building the new Cowboys Stadium for American Football in Arlington, Texas, USA	Under construction	April 20, 2009 (2009-04-20)
Activity since original air date: Completed
53	2	"CityCenter, Las Vegas"	United States	The CityCenter development in Las Vegas aspires to change the desert vacationland into a continental metropolis	Under construction	April 21, 2009 (2009-04-21)
Activity since original air date: Completed
54	3	"Hong Kong Bridge"	Hong Kong	Building the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong.	Under construction	April 27, 2009 (2009-04-27)
Activity since original air date: Completed
55	4	"Navy Amphibious Warship"	United States	The LPD-17 class of warship for the U.S. Navy.	Completed	May 4, 2009 (2009-05-04)
Activity since original air date: Completed
56	5	"Panama Canal"	Panama	New $5.25 billion expansion projects.	Under construction	May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11)
Activity since original air date: Completed
57	6	"Peru Dam & Tunnel"	Peru	Construction of the Limon Dam in Peru and one of the deepest tunnels ever attempted.	Completed and operational	May 18, 2009 (2009-05-18)
Activity since original air date: Completed
58	7	"Abu Dhabi"	United Arab Emirates	Al Raha Beach Development in Abu Dhabi	Under construction	June 1, 2009 (2009-06-01)
Activity since original air date: Completed
59	8	"NASA"	United States	Transition from the Space Shuttle program to the Constellation program.	Under construction	June 26, 2009 (2009-06-26)
Activity since original air date: Partially canceled

Season 8: 2010

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
60	1	"Singapore Sky Park"	Singapore	Singapore Sky Park	Under construction	April 8, 2010 (2010-04-08)
Singapore Sky Park (now Marina Bay Sands) will hang 650 ft (198 m) in the air on top of three skyscrapers. Activity since original air date: Completed
61	2	"Rio de Janeiro's Power Island Project"	Brazil	Simplício Hydroelectric Complex	Completed	April 15, 2010 (2010-04-15)
Rio de Janeiro has frequent widespread blackouts. So Brazil is building one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world, the Simplício Hydroelectric Complex. Activity since original air date: Completed
62	3	"Kuwait Tower"	Kuwait	Al Hamra Tower	Under Construction	April 29, 2010 (2010-04-29)
Kuwait's Al Hamra Tower is the world's tallest twisting structure. Activity since original air date: Completed
63	4	"New Orleans Surge Barrier"	United States	New Orleans storm surge barrier	Under construction	May 9, 2010 (2010-05-09)
In an attempt to save the city from another disaster, New Orleans is building the world's strongest hurricane protection system, including the largest storm surge barrier ever built and radical hurricane-resistant homes. Activity since original air date: Completed
64	5	"South Africa's Mponeng Gold Mine"	South Africa	Mponeng Gold Mine	Under construction	May 13, 2010 (2010-05-13)
Johannesburg, South Africa's Mponeng Gold Mine is the deepest place on Earth. Activity since original air date: Under construction (estimated completion N/A)
65	6	"Overhauling the Bay Bridge"	United States	Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge	Under construction	May 20, 2010 (2010-05-20)
Overhauling the San Francisco Bay Bridge is one of the biggest construction projects in the US. Activity since original air date: Completed
66	7	"Melbourne Stadium"	Australia	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	Under construction	May 27, 2010 (2010-05-27)
Melbourne, Australia is building one of the most innovative stadiums ever built. With its unprecedented geodesic roof and advanced cladding, it will be the ultimate fan experience, and an icon for a city known as the sporting capital of the world. Activity since original air date: Completed
67	8	"Gotthard Base Tunnel"	Switzerland	Gotthard Base Tunnel	Under construction	May 30, 2010 (2010-05-30)
The Swiss government is spending 18 billion dollars to create the Gotthard Base Tunnel – the longest tunnel in the world, getting people and goods through the Alps up to three times faster and ultimately changing European transit forever. Activity since original air date: Completed
68	9	"Abu Dhabi Central Market"	United Arab Emirates	Central Market Project	Under construction	June 17, 2010 (2010-06-17)
Abu Dhabi's $15 billion Central Market will be a new cultural hub for an emerging world destination, complete with offices, parks, luxurious shops, and hotels – and all centered around the world's tallest residential tower, over 1250 feet high. Activity since original air date: Completed
69	10	"Port of Rotterdam"	Netherlands	Port of Rotterdam	Under construction	July 1, 2010 (2010-07-01)
Danny Forster goes behind the scenes at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where crews are in the middle of the largest earth-moving project in history – all to triple the port's capacity, and help it serve the biggest ships on the planet. Activity since original air date: Completed

Season 9: 2011

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Country	Project	Status at production	Original air date
70	1	"Rebuilding New York City's Subway"	United States	New York City subway expansion	Under construction	April 8, 2011 (2011-04-08)
Examining subway work under New York City, where crews are expanding the transit systems of Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access as part of a large public works project. Activity since original air date: Second Avenue Subway: Completed (Phase 1); East Side Access: Completed 2023
71	2	"Drought-Proofing Australia"	Australia	Wonthaggi desalination plant	Under construction	April 15, 2011 (2011-04-15)
After 13 years of record-breaking droughts Melbourne looks to secure its future with a $3.5 billion Wonthaggi desalination plant that will turn saltwater into freshwater. Danny joins crews as they build two undersea tunnels, 29 buildings and 52 miles of pipeline. Activity since original air date: Completed
72	3	"Azerbaijan's Amazing Transformation"	Azerbaijan	Flame Towers and Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre	Under construction	April 22, 2011 (2011-04-22)
After decades of neglect under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan is reinventing itself. With a $6 billion a year renovation and over 500 new developments, Danny Forster goes behind the scenes of Baku's construction projects: the Flame Towers and Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre. Activity since original air date: Completed
73	4	"London's Olympic Aquatic Stadium"	United Kingdom	London Aquatics Centre	Completed (Not publicly open until 2014)	April 29, 2011 (2011-04-29)
The London Aquatics Centre will host 44 swimming and diving events during the 2012 Summer Olympics and live on as a new addition to the London landscape. Danny Forster goes with crews as they construct one of the most advanced swimming facilities ever built. Activity since original air date: Completed
74	5	"Constructing Serbia's Largest Bridge"	Serbia	Ada Bridge	Under construction	June 18, 2011 (2011-06-18)
Danny Forster joins crews as they construct Serbia's newest national icon. The Sava River Bridge in Belgrade is the world's largest single pylon cable stayed bridge, upgrading a critical freight corridor connecting Central Europe to the East. Activity since original air date: Completed
75	6	"Amsterdam's Futuristic Floating City"	Netherlands	Netherlands land expansion	Under construction	June 25, 2011 (2011-06-25)
The Netherlands is running out of land. Nearly 70% of its land, which comprises half its population lies beneath sea level. Rather than fight back the sea, engineers are radically making it an ally, The new city of IJburg is to create real estate where none exists. Activity since original air date: Partially completed
76	7	"Building Mumbai's Modern Airport"	India	Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport	Under construction	July 2, 2011 (2011-07-02)
The $2 billion Mumbai Airport expansion project is one of India's most ambitious undertakings aiming to improve Mumbai's Infrastructure for economic growth. If they succeed to build this breathtaking piece of engineering, it could completely change the way airports are designed. Activity since original air date: Completed
77	8	"Turkey's Mammoth Hydropower Dam"	Turkey	Deriner Dam	Under construction	July 9, 2011 (2011-07-09)
Crews are now carving out Turkey's largest construction site in the country's most challenging terrain by building one of the tallest and strongest dams ever made, the Deriner Dam. Activity since original air date: Completed

References

^ "Discovery Channel::Meet the Host". Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2007.
^ Amazon Prime Masters of Engineering. 11:58 minutes into the episode 4 Icarus' Dream. October 31, 2020.

External links

[1] "Discovery Channel::Meet the Host". Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2007.

[2] Amazon Prime Masters of Engineering. 11:58 minutes into the episode 4 Icarus' Dream. October 31, 2020.

[1]

[2]