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Explore the world’s most famous structures and the surprising secrets they hold. Discover how these iconic landmarks almost had a completely different appearance.
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00:00To energize this amazing venue, which comes with a hefty price tag of around $2.3 billion, hmm.
00:07You'll need 28 megawatts of power, enough to supply electricity to about 21,000 homes.
00:14It was originally projected to cost just $1.2 billion, but challenges arose and the budget ballooned.
00:22I'm talking about the sphere in Las Vegas.
00:25This place is so massive, it could fit the entire Statue of Liberty from its base to its torch.
00:31Standing at 366 feet tall and stretching 516 feet wide at its largest point,
00:37it can accommodate up to 20,000 people, if they're all standing.
00:41If you want to sit down, the capacity drops to 18,600.
00:46Still, that's enough room for the entire population of some small nations, like Palau.
00:52Now, let's dive into its construction.
00:55To kick things off, you need land, and the sands provided the site.
00:59They dug out 110,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock to get things rolling.
01:04Just to put that into perspective, a cubic yard of loose, dry topsoil weighs around 2,100 pounds.
01:12If it's wet, that weight can shoot up to about 3,000 pounds.
01:16In total, they excavated the weight equivalent of 3,500 adult male megalodons.
01:23If we're talking dry soil, of course.
01:26The external sphere is 30% taller than the inner dome.
01:30Building the dome's roof took 3,000 tons of steel, which included 32 hefty trusses, each weighing 100 tons.
01:38Altogether, the dome weighs around 13,000 tons and covers a surface area of 220,000 square feet.
01:46When the construction team reached the halfway mark with the dome trusses, they had to shift the crane to the
01:53southern end of the site to finish the remaining trusses.
01:56That move alone took two days.
01:58It's no surprise considering the crane used is the fourth-largest crawler crane in the world.
02:04Transporting it from Belgium was hard.
02:07First, it was shipped to California.
02:09Then, 120 tractor-trailers took it to Las Vegas.
02:13Another 18 days were needed to set it up using a secondary crane.
02:18The Gateway Arch is an impressive 630-foot monument situated in St. Louis, Missouri, with a base that matches its
02:26height.
02:26It's just as wide as it is tall.
02:29Made of stainless steel, this cool, curved arch is not only the tallest of its kind, but also the tallest
02:36building in Missouri.
02:38Some say it's even the tallest human-made structure in the Western Hemisphere.
02:42It was built to celebrate the westward expansion of the U.S. and is officially dedicated to the American people.
02:49You'll find it in Gateway Arch National Park, which, fun fact, is actually the smallest national park in the U
02:56.S.
02:56It doesn't even feature a natural area.
03:00The arch was designed by a Finnish-American architect, who won the design competition for design concept in the 40s.
03:07However, it took some time for construction to begin.
03:10The whole building process started in 1963, and it was wrapped up in 1965.
03:17It cost the U.S. Treasury around $13 million.
03:21You may say, hey, it's nothing compared to the sphere you mentioned previously.
03:26Yeah, but back in the 60s, 13 million bucks could buy you what 96 million can buy you today.
03:32But still, the arch is way cheaper than the sphere.
03:37The construction bidding was pushed from the 20th of December, 1961, to the 22nd of January, 1962,
03:46with around 50 companies interested, and the winning bid signed on the 14th of March, 1962,
03:53backed by a $2.5 million city subsidy.
03:58McDonald's, not McDonald's, construction, the company in charge of the project,
04:02built a cool 30-foot viewing tower for crowds to check out their epic project.
04:07In 1963, about a million people showed up to take a look at the project in progress.
04:14Initially scheduled for completion in 1964, the arch was only revealed to the public in 1967.
04:22Stan Wolf, the project manager at McDonald's Construction Company,
04:26mentioned that constructing a 62-story building is simpler than building an arch.
04:32He explained that with a building, it's all about stacking things straight up.
04:36With an arch, you're dealing with a lot of curves.
04:40Now, this building has set up a bunch of world records.
04:43The tallest existing structure, the tallest building ever, the building with the most floors.
04:49This iconic tower is the centerpiece of a massive mixed-use development,
04:54featuring 30,000 homes, 9 hotels, 7.4 acres of park, 19 residential skyscrapers,
05:03the vast Dubai Mall, and an artificial lake, essentially a mini-city.
05:08Designed to attract global attention and investment, the Shake aimed for the extraordinary.
05:15Ever felt a chill in the air while flying?
05:17At the top of the Burj Khalifa, it might feel a bit like you're on a plane,
05:22with temperatures about 11 degrees cooler than at ground level.
05:27The building's spire, made of over 4,000 tons of steel, stands at 660 feet tall,
05:34although it's mainly for looks, as the building would still be an impressive 1,919 feet without it.
05:40The exterior consists of reflective glass panels and aluminum,
05:45designed to handle the fierce desert sun and wind, while providing great thermal performance.
05:51Those glass panels are no joke.
05:54Each weighs about 800 pounds.
05:56The building is equipped with 57 elevators, including the world's fastest double-deck variety,
06:02zipping passengers up and down at speeds of up to 33 feet per second.
06:07But if you're up to some cardio, there are 2,909 stairs, leading to the 160th floor.
06:15Eh, no thanks, after you.
06:18Given how tall the Burj Khalifa is, you may mistakenly think water might be an issue.
06:24I mean, it's obviously hard to pump it up there, but it's not.
06:28Burj Khalifa's system delivers around 250,000 gallons of water daily through many miles of pipes.
06:35The temperature regulation isn't a problem either, as the air conditioning system is so powerful
06:41that its effect is comparable to melting 13,000 tons of ice in a day.
06:46Right. And what about cleaning those windows?
06:50There's a 36-worker crew to take care of all 24,348 windows.
06:57Want to guess how much time it takes?
06:59Not a week, not a fortnight, not even a month.
07:02It takes around 3 months, and this task is performed 4 times a year.
07:083x4 gives us 12, so yeah, it's pretty much a non-stop process.
07:14Elizabeth Tower is one of the greatest and most iconic constructions of all time.
07:19Don't tell me it's the first time you've heard about it.
07:22It's just another name for Big Ben.
07:25One of the main secrets of this tower is its foundation, which is crucial to its stability.
07:30The tower's base is square, and it measures 40 feet on each side.
07:35For such a tremendous construction, a stable foundation is crucial.
07:40So Big Ben's construction foundation is 12 feet thick.
07:44Still, it's not the foundation it's famous for, but the clock.
07:48How do we care for something this high up?
07:50For the past 150 years, reaching the top of the clock tower has meant tackling a spiral staircase with precisely
07:59334 steps.
08:01There is a spiral staircase with 290 stone steps up to the clock room, followed by 44 to reach the
08:09belfry,
08:09which gives us those 334 steps I mentioned before, and an additional 59 to the top of the spire.
08:16They're currently adding elevator shafts, but don't get too excited.
08:21They're mainly for maintenance and security, and won't be for regular use.
08:25So, once you reach the top, there's a door that opens to a narrow walkway behind each of the four
08:31clock faces.
08:32It's a tight fit, just spacious enough for an average person.
08:36If you venture a bit further on the stairs, you'll find another door leading to the clock room,
08:41which holds the impressive clock mechanism.
08:44Now, the clock mechanism is an engineering wonder all on its own,
08:48featuring a clever system of weights, gears, and a pendulum that keeps time.
08:53The pendulum, measuring 14 feet, plays a vital role in ensuring the clock's precision.
08:59As they say, England swings like the pendulum do.
09:05Architecture shapes the world around us.
09:08If I say Paris, the first thing that normally comes to mind is the image of the Eiffel Tower, right?
09:14But imagine if, instead of a tower, Paris' landscape was dominated by a huge guillotine.
09:21I bet our selfies would look quite different, huh?
09:23We'd have to cut some people out of the picture.
09:26Okay, never mind.
09:28A lot of famous landmarks almost look very different than they do today.
09:32So, how about we take a trip down History Lane and take a look at them?
09:37What American city is so loved that it had to be named twice?
09:41Why, it's New York, New York, of course.
09:44New York City's skyline is made out of many iconic structures.
09:49The most symbolic of them all is probably the Statue of Liberty.
09:53Now, there's a lot people don't know about this monument.
09:56Like the fact that it was originally copper-colored, but it turned green due to patina oxidation of the copper.
10:03More surprising curiosity about the statue is that it was almost modeled after an Egyptian woman.
10:10Historians say that Lady Liberty's sculptor was fascinated by Egyptian monuments.
10:15Apparently, this design existed, but it didn't go ahead due to its high cost.
10:20Well, that would have been a different sight, huh?
10:22Now, here's a riddle for you.
10:24What is white, important, and houses presidents?
10:27You guessed it.
10:28It's the White House.
10:31One of the world's most important buildings.
10:33Its neoclassical design, large frontal pillars, and green lawn are something we're all very familiar with.
10:40Now, how about we delve into some historical archives and imagine what this house almost looked like?
10:47President George Washington opened and judged a competition for the design of the presidential residence.
10:53Several designs almost made it through.
10:56For instance, this simple yet classic design was submitted by Thomas Jefferson himself.
11:02Or this James Diamond design that suggested an entrance with two mirrored spiral staircases.
11:07The most famous of the rejected designs was Philip Hart's, which looked as if the executive mansion was double everything.
11:15It featured a three-story building with two front balconies.
11:19It looks a bit too much, wouldn't you say?
11:22Washington ultimately chose James Hoban's design, an Irish architect that modeled the plans after the House of Parliament in Dublin,
11:30his hometown.
11:31And President Theodore Roosevelt gave it its nickname, the White House, in 1907.
11:38It's certainly difficult to imagine London without the iconic Tower Bridge.
11:42Opened in 1894, it took over eight years, 70,000 tons of concrete, and 432 workers to build the monument.
11:51It works as a drawbridge, stopping traffic every time a big ship wants to waltz through the Thames.
11:57Horace Jones proposed the winning design, but many alternatives were rejected.
12:03Tower Bridge could have had an arch that connected both towers.
12:06But it could have also looked like the number 8 if you were looking at it from above.
12:11This figure 8 model proposed by F.J. Palmer was a popular one.
12:15The designer's main idea was not to stop pedestrian vehicle flow in case a ship needed to pass, so he
12:22proposed a loop system.
12:24Each loop would have retractable sections, so if a ship wanted to pass, one section could be retracted and the
12:31ship could enter the center of the loop.
12:33The ship would be stuck at the center of the loop, waiting for the other retractable side to open.
12:38Meanwhile, traffic would continue without interruption.
12:41Now, even if this could be something positive, the city didn't pick this design because of its extremely complex engineering.
12:49I mean, imagine trying to build something like that.
12:52Ah, the city of lights.
12:55Or is it the city of love?
12:57Or croissants?
12:59Paris is by far the world's most visited city by tourists.
13:03People seem to love staring at the Eiffel Tower and eating a delicious croissant while wearing a beret, don't they?
13:10Can you imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower?
13:14More than 700 designs were submitted for consideration, and the winner was Gustav Eiffel's tower design.
13:21You can find a monstrous lighthouse and even a giant guillotine in the pile of rejected designs.
13:27You heard right!
13:28Some proposed designs were eccentric.
13:30A designer proposed that the monument should celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution,
13:37which to him meant building a guillotine.
13:39Hey, let's not lose our heads over this.
13:42French engineer Eugène Frejney proposed the Lighthouse of the World,
13:47a 980-feet lighthouse with lights so bright that the entire city could read newspapers at night.
13:54Now, imagine something as tall as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower stacked on top of each other.
14:00It would have a spiraling ramp all around it from top to bottom.
14:04This way, cars could reach the top of the lighthouse.
14:07All along the way, a 2,000-seat restaurant would be ready to serve excited diners who would eat enjoying
14:14the best of views.
14:16Aren't you just glad these designs never saw the light of day?
14:20Meanwhile, did you know that Benjamin Franklin suggested that the U.S. national bird should be a turkey?
14:26And that the U.S. Capitol Hill had a turkey-looking statue on top of it?
14:31Well, in 1792, Thomas Jefferson held an architectural competition to decide on the Capitol building's design.
14:40Jefferson, an architect himself, was the judge of this competition.
14:44The current building's design appeared late in the competition.
14:48So late that George Washington, the president at the time, was starting to become impatient.
14:53Amongst all the terrible entries, one certainly stood out from the crowd.
14:58Instead of the Capitol's beautiful dome, amateur architect James Diamond designed a building with a bird on top of it.
15:06Now, in his defense, it was a weather vane, supposedly representing a bald eagle.
15:11But it sure didn't look like it.
15:13Finally, in 1793, William Thornton's design appeared and pleased President Washington.
15:19He believed the building was an expression of grandeur and beauty, everything he expected of a place that would house
15:26the American Congress.
15:28Now, moving back to Paris, another monument looked a tad different than it is today.
15:34Strolling along the Champs-de-Lazer, you'd eventually stumble upon an iconic monument,
15:39the Arc de Triomphe.
15:42Napoleon commissioned this astonishing, 160-feet-tall arched monument to celebrate France's many victories.
15:50Jean Chalgrin, the landmarks architect, actually drew inspiration from a Roman monument, the Arco de Tito.
15:58However, 45 years before its construction, French architect Charles Ribas submitted another design,
16:05the so-called Elephant Triomphe.
16:07The design was, for lack of a better word, weird.
16:11He'd enter the elephant through its underbelly and find an astounding spiral staircase on the inside.
16:17The inside would be filled with extravagant decor and even a garden.
16:21The whole monument would stand three stories tall,
16:24and the original design even planned on installing a complex drainage system.
16:29Why?
16:30Because if you have an elephant monument in the middle of the city, it better spew water from its trunk.
16:35And in case you're wondering why the statue of an elephant was ever considered part of Paris's skyline,
16:41well, let's say it was due to a Renaissance-era fixation.
16:45Back then, elephants symbolized nobility and strength, everything the French were going for.
16:51Now, down under, Sydney's skyline almost looked like an entirely different landscape than the one we know today.
16:57In 1956, the city opened an international competition to choose a design for Sydney's new opera house.
17:05Danish architect Jorn Utzen eventually won the contest.
17:09He designed the sculptural, one-of-a-kind building we know today.
17:13Now, in second place, another design from the Philadelphian Cooperative Group almost made the cut.
17:19Their design was much more brutal than Utzen's.
17:22It was inspired by a nautilus shell and consisted in a spiral form.
17:27It had big, full-height windows and a roof made from folded concrete.
17:31It almost looked like a vertical dish rack.
17:35And what if I told you that back in Washington, Lincoln's memorial almost looked like a pyramid?
17:41The memorial's design was down to two architects, John Russell Poe and Henry Bacon.
17:46Congress brought home the Bacon's neoclassical style design, but Pope submitted some interesting sketches that never saw the light of
17:55day.
17:56Inspired by monuments and memorials from other cultures, Pope suggested that the Lincoln Monument be many different things.
18:03It could have looked like a 250-feet-tall Greek Parthenon.
18:07Or it could have been a colossal ziggurat, a classical Mesopotamian pyramid.
18:13Well, that would have been different.
18:15Hey, anybody seen that elephant in the room?
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