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.

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 man made 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.

Host David Macaulay leads you on a tour of a 13th century Welsh castle, explaining its cultural significance and unique architectural features (including a "murder hole" used to repel intruders). Colorful, detailed animation shows how the castle was built and portrays the lifestyle of its early inhabitants. This program was a Red Ribbon-winner at the American Film and Video Festival and received a Cine Golden Eagle Award.

Combining spectacular location sequences and cinema-quality animation, this program takes you to France's most famous and awe-inspiring cathedrals. You'll travel in time back to 1214 to explore the design of Notre Dame de Beaulieu, a magnificent Gothic cathedral shaped by cultural and religious forces. Take a close look at the vaulted arches, shimmering stained-glass windows and dizzying vaulted ceilings. This award-winning program also tells compelling stories of life and death, faith and despair, prosperity and intrigue. Narrated by David Macaulay.

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Some of mankind's greatest achievements are explored and celebrated in Engineering an Empire, a sprawling, ambitious series produced by the History Channel and consisting of 12 episodes spread out over four discs. The scope is wide, both geographically (from China to Central America, from the cities of Western Europe to the plains of Siberia) and temporally (from thousands of years ago to the relatively recent past), but the focus is on specific engineering and architectural projects undertaken by the various civilizations under discussion--not just the what and the why, but more importantly, how some of these ingenious endeavors were accomplished.

A number of the structures and monuments examined here will certainly be familiar to viewers. The Great Wall of China, described as "the most ambitious engineering project ever undertaken," was centuries in the making yet only partially successful as a means of defense. Paris' Notre Dame cathedral, that glorious celebration of the Gothic notions of height, light, and space, was made possible only by the innovative system of flying buttresses used to support its walls, while the Eiffel Tower, defying both the conventions of construction and the tastes of most Parisians, was built in less than two years. In Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi overcame many obstacles in order to complete a magnificent brick dome for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, now better known simply as the Duomo; in Athens, 30,000 tons of marble was hauled for ten miles to make the Parthenon. Yet as fascinating as these tales are, just as absorbing are some of the more mundane and lesser-known feats, like the canals, tunnels, and aqueducts used for delivering water, the techniques created for rooting and stabilizing enormous structures, or the hoists and cranes devised to lift tons of building materials hundreds of feet into the air.

The execution is typical of the History Channel, including interviews with experts, decent reenactment footage, and computer-generated diagrams and drawings. The series strives for a balance of scholarship (actor Peter Weller, the on-screen host, is identified only as a lecturer at Syracuse University--apparently "star of RoboCop" was deemed undignified) and entertainment (the dramatic and portentous voice over narration over relies on words like "amazing," "incredible," and "unparalleled"). A good deal of genuinely informative historical context is also provided, recounting the rises and falls of kings and emperors, battle tactics used in various conflicts, and the effect of catastrophes like the Black Plague. A brief behind-the-scenes featurette is the sole bonus item. --Sam Graham

Wright and Olgivanna began the Taliesin Fellowship, taking on apprentices. Fallingwater brought him new acclaim for its modern principles and materials integrated with the landscape. Usonian houses were high-quality, affordable housing for mass production. In 1937, the Fellowship began annual pilgrimage to Arizaona's Taliesin West. His provocative postwar gas stations, synagogues, and a spiral-ramped Guggenheim Museum, closed out his career.

From ancient pyramids to the modern American skyscraper, MODERN MARVELS®: ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS circles the globe to profile the world’s most phenomenal architectural gems. Vivid location footage and striking digital reenactments bring these mind-boggling engineering feats to life, while historians and architectural experts illuminate the construction, form, and function of each. Visit dozens of celebrated masterpieces—including the Great Wall of China and Mount Rushmore—and discover the thrilling histories that lurk behind the majestic facades.

How were the ancient Egyptians able to build the Great Pyramid at Giza, fitting together two million blocks of heavy stone with such amazing precision? Who were the leaders that decided to build these enormous structures, and what did these tombs signify? Host David Macaulay explores the history, mythology and religions of these people, through a combination of live footage and animation. Take a rare look at the mummy of Ramses II, and the buried treasure in the sacred Valley of the Kings.

The ancient Romans built cities in the lands they conquered, linking Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa into a vast, thriving Empire. By combining documentary footage and animated story sequences, this program examines how these cities helped maintain the Empire and how they shaped people's lives. Host David Macaulay takes you to many ancient sites to explain how various structures were built and how they were used. Through animation, watch the construction of a fictional city in Gaul.

One of the most powerful civilizations in history, the Roman Empire ruled the world for more than five centuries. Although renowned for its military prowess, Rome's real power stemmed from its unprecedented mastery of urban planning and engineering. ROME: ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE chronicles Rome's spectacular structural history from the rise of Julius Caesar in 55 BC to the Empire's eventual collapse in c. 537 AD.

Detailing the remarkable engineering feats that set Rome apart from the rest of the ancient world, the program features extensive state-of-the-art CGI animation that gives viewers the chance to see Rome's greatest structures the way the ancient Romans saw them. The insights of engineers, archaeologists and historians from around the globe add rare depth to segments on Hadrian's Wall, Caesar's Bridge, the aqueducts, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Baths of Caracalla, Nero's lavish Golden Palace and more.

Erected by the ancient Greeks as a temple to Athena, the Parthenon has served as a church, a fortress, an ammunition dump, and the model for countless banks, courthouses, and museums across the world. It has been shot at, exploded, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, looted for its magnificent sculptures, and subjected to restorations that have been termed catastrophic. Surprisingly, despite much abuse and renown as an icon of Western civilization, the question of how the Parthenon was built has been largely ignored until recently. Thanks to the Greek government s $10 billion restoration program, scholars are finally probing the enigmas of its planning and construction. With unprecedented access, NOVA presents the inside story of the official restoration, which reaches far beyond the challenges and controversies of conserving one of the world s best-known buildings. The researchers are confronting some truly monumental riddles: How did the ancient Athenians build their great temple with incredible precision in a mere eight years? How did they manage to incorporate subtle, eye-pleasing distortions into the Parthenon s layout, such that there are few straight lines or right angles to be seen? And, most baffling of all, how did they accomplish all of this without an overall building plan or blueprint, which would be indispensable to a modern architect?