Building Big with David Macaulay: Domes (2000) Reviews

David Macaulay, the renowned author/ illustrator of The Way Things Work, has a knack for demystifying mechanical structures by explaining the engineering, physics, and human ingenuity that have gone into their design -- although in sum, his explanations usually make the man-made world seem ever more curious and phenomenal. In WGBH Boston's Building Big series, Macaulay visits the world's great architectural structures to tell their stories and the stories of the men who built them; here he discusses the unique design of the Hagia Sophia's dome, uses archival photos to literally reconstruct the Capitol Dome in Washington, DC, explains how (and why) a circus tycoon decided to build the Houston Astrodome, and explores the geodesic dome design of Buckminster Fuller. The video includes a mini dome-building exercise. ~ Sarah Welsh, Rovi