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The Self-Access Centre - English - TV Documentaries - Built Environment & Architecture

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	Title	Author	Subcategory	Subtitles	Length	Rating
From its early years until the present day, London has provided powerful, emotional inspiration to artists.This documentary evokes the city as seen by painters, photographers, film-makers and writers through the ages. 1	A Picture of London	BBC 2	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Safety and security are two of the biggest challenges faced by each and every metropolis. Whether earthquake, terrorism, flood or just crime, it's the geology, politics and social makeup of the megacities that make them some of the most profitable and dangerous places to live. 2	Andrew Marr's Megacities - Cities on the Edge	BBC 1	Built Environment & Architecture	English	60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Andrew Marr looks at how people live in London, Dhaka, Tokyo, Mexico City and Shanghai. 3	Andrew Marr's Megacities - Living in the City	BBC 1	Built Environment & Architecture	English	60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Andrew finds out how megacities stay fed, and joins Mexico City's traffic cops in the air. 4	Andrew Marr's Megacities - Sustaining the City	BBC 1	Built Environment & Architecture	English	60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Three-part series exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works. 5	Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's - Episode 1	Waldemar Januszczak	Built Environment & Architecture		58 mins	Like (0 likes)
Waldemar Januszczak takes us on a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works. He follows Baroque to its dark heart in Spain, focusing on the route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and featuring star painters Velasquez, Caravaggio and Zurburan. 6	Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's - Episode 2	Waldemar Januszczak	Built Environment & Architecture		59 mins	Like (0 likes)
Episode Three brings the Baroque home with an exploration of the English Baroque tradition that finds its climax through a tour of London's Hawksmoor churches, and Christopher Wren's iconic St Paul's Cathedral. 7	Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's - Episode 3	Waldemar Januszczak	Built Environment & Architecture		59 mins	Like (0 likes)
Dan Cruickshank takes a rewarding trip to Blenheim Palace. Sitting serenely in the picturesque landscape of rural Oxfordshire, the palace is actually a lavish monument to human pride and militarism. 8	Britain's Best Buildings - Blenheim Palace	Dan Cruickshank	Built Environment & Architecture		8 mins	Like (0 likes)
Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (otherwise known as Bess of Hardwick), was one of the most capable and ambitious women in Elizabethan England. Hardwick Hall has become her lasting monument and is full of coded references to her desire for one of her descendents to sit on the throne of England. 9	Britain's Best Buildings - Hardwick Hall	Dan Cruickshank	Built Environment & Architecture		10 mins	Like (0 likes)
Dan Cruickshank's visits Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world. Inextricably linked to the monarchy through the ages, the castle has also served as a lunatic asylum and a mausoleum 10	Britain's Best Buildings - Windsor Castle	Dan Cruickshank	Built Environment & Architecture		8 mins	Like (0 likes)
Germaine Greer searches out the best and worst architecture in the East of England and explores options for the future of the region. This programme complements David Dimbleby's series "How We Built Britain" 11	Building Britain with Germaine Greer	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture		30 mins	Like (0 likes)
A look at British architecture and its design, influences and development over the centuries. Presented by English Heritage Chief Executive Simon Thurley, who sets out to demonstrate the uniqueness of British architecture and its links to the national character by visiting buildings as diverse as a secret military bunker in Dover and Holkham Hall in Norfolk 12	Building Britain with Griff Rhys Jones	Simon Thurley	Built Environment & Architecture		30 mins	Like (0 likes)
The next step in Jonathan's journey takes him to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. 13	Climbing Great Buildings : Blenheim Palace	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	30 mins	Like (0 likes)
The next step in Jonathan's journey takes him to Burghley House in Lincolnshire. Built to impress Queen Elizabeth I on her many trips around the country, it's the finest example of an Elizabethan house in Britain. 14	Climbing Great Buildings : Burghley House	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	30 mins	Like (0 likes)
Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, to reveal the buildings' secrets, his journey begins in the North East of England at Durham Cathedral. 15	Climbing Great Buildings : Durham Cathedral	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	30 mins	Like (0 likes)
The next step in Jonathan's journey takes him to Layer Marney Tower, a Tudor skyscraper nestled in the countryside near Colchester in Essex. 16	Climbing Great Buildings : Layer Marney Tower	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	30 mins	Like (0 likes)
Jonathan's journey takes him to New College in Oxford. Built in 1379, this college set the blueprint for universities all over the world for the next 600 years. 17	Climbing Great Buildings : New College Oxford	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	30 mins	Like (0 likes)
Architectural historian Jon Cannon goes in search of the clues that shed light on how our medieval forebears were able to build the wonders of their world 18	Dispatches - Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth	Channel 4	Built Environment & Architecture		57 mins	Like (0 likes)
Tony and Jo, musicians with Scottish Opera, had long dreamed of a home in the countryside. They found a perfect site on the Clyde estuary in Argyll and Bute. Located in a small village on a hillside, it had glorious views as far as the Isle of Arran and was less than an hour's drive from Glasgow. Inspired by local oak-framed barns, they gave architect Andy McAvoy an open brief. 19	Grand Designs - Argyll: The Oak Framed House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Martin Pease is a successful commercial architect, used to designing large scale prestigious offices. However, he's about to embark on a much more personal project - a home for his wife Katherine and their two lively children 20	Grand Designs - Bristol: The Modernist Sugar Cube	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Andrew and Lowri Davies embark on a project to build an environmentally friendly farmhouse in rural Wales. Encouraged by their architect, they opt for some state-of-the-art experimental building materials; but do their builders know how to use them? 21	Grand Designs - Carmarthen: The Eco House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
When lawyers Jeremy and Louise Brown walked into Upthorpe Farm in Gloucester, they couldn't believe their eyes. It was like stepping back in time. Apart from a few minor alterations, the Grade II listed 16th-century farmhouse had barely been touched for over 400 years and was completely unmodernised with lots of original features. Now that they've purchased the property their ambitious design plan is to bring the farmhouse into the 21st century 22	Grand Designs - Gloucester: The Farmhouse	Kevin McCloud 4	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Jim Fairfull considers himself a very lucky guy. He was out fishing with a friend when he came across a beautiful, secluded loch. It's a magical place with stunning views over the nearby hills. He got chatting to the farmer who owned it and discovered the site was for sale. Within a week, he'd done a deal and bought the land 23	Grand Designs - Killearn: The Loch House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Bill and Jean Letley are building a new bungalow in their back garden, but this will be no ordinary bungalow. Embracing the latest home technologies, this will be a modern, accessible, efficient home 24	Grand Designs - Maidstone: The Hi Tech Bungalow	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Jo and Shaun Bennett are in love with the past, particularly Gothic architecture. Inspired by their love of all things medieval, the house that they dream of building is pure Addams family 25	Grand Designs - Monmouth: The Gothic House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Oxford is an architecturally inspiring place to live, but building plots are rare. So when a prime site came up, surveyor Henry Chopping jumped at the chance to build something special. And for once, it's just for himself 26	Grand Designs - Oxford: The Decagon House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Hillcott Barn looked more like a Tuscan monastery than an English barn. When the farmer put it up for sale, most people who viewed it walked away. It was dark and isolated and could only be reached by a half mile farm track with a steep gradient. 27	Grand Designs - Ross-on-Wye: Contemporary Barn	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Every Englishman's home is his castle but for Francis Shaw this is quite literally true. He and his wife, Karen, and their two young daughters, bought the ruins of a 14th Century castle in Yorkshire and took on the remarkable challenge of turning a pile of stones into a beautiful home 28	Grand Designs - The 14th Century Castle	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		90 mins	Like (0 likes)
A couple convert a flat originally built as a solarium in the 1920’s into a modern, luxury penthouse in Bournemouth 29	Grand Designs - The Bournemouth Penthouse	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Kelly and Masoko Neville set about building not just a spectacular oak frame and straw bale house, but a whole new way of life in the Cambridgeshire Fens. 30	Grand Designs - The Cambridgeshire Eco Home	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Kevin McCloud meets Julie and Mark Veysey, whose Grand Design is a stunning Miami-style beach house on a beachfront plot overlooking the south Devon coast 31	Grand Designs - The Miami-Style Beach House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Deni Daniel and Doug Ibbs don't hang around. The couple, in their mid-50's and from Dorset, bought a 19th century manor house in Creuse, Limousin - in central France - on a Sunday, having seen it for the first time ever on the previous Tuesday on the Internet and visited it on the Thursday. They don't mind hard work too, which is even better news because the house was a wreck. 32	Grand Designs Abroad - Creuse: The French Manor House	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Nicky and James Dobree were raised in France and in a mountainous area respectively. Nicky was raised in France, James in Beirut - both have fond memories of the mountains as children. So it was natural for them to one day look to buy a place amongst France's tallest peaks, the Alps. 33	Grand Designs Abroad - Les Gets: The Alpine Chalet	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Mark and Deborah (Debbie) Sampson and daughter, Tilley, like to practice an ecologically sound way of life. Following a period of eight years living elsewhere in France, where they found it difficult to be fully accepted by their neighbours, the Sampsons decided to move to Martel in the Lot region in southwest France, where life's pace is relaxed, and start afresh. 34	Grand Designs Abroad - Lot: The Eco Cabin	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Gil Briffa, an architect, and his wife Hilary, from St Albans, Herts, wanted a house they could retire to in southern Spain, but not just any old place would do. 35	Grand Designs Abroad - Malaga: The Modernist Mansion	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Four years ago artists David Westby and Leonie Whitton bought a derelict olive farm in Puglia, a beautiful region of Italy. Three years after Kevin last visited, have they finished their home and created the artists' paradise they had always envisaged? 36	Grand Designs Abroad - Puglia: The Villa	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
This week Kevin meets a couple who bought a ruin and moved to Italy in 1999, hoping to start work building their dream home in Tuscany. Since then they've spent all their time trying to get planning permission, but finally, after four years, they are about to start work. 37	Grand Designs Abroad - Tuscany: The Ancient Castle	Kevin McCloud	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Michael Palin visits the Potala Palace and the great monasteries of Tashilunpo and Sera, where the traditional Tibetan towns are being replaced by modern Chinese cities, he then accompanies some pilgrims to the holy Namtso Lake. 38	Himalaya With Michael Palin - The Roof Of The World	UKTV	Built Environment & Architecture		47 mins	Like (0 likes)
Using newly-released files, concealed by the KGB in Moscow and held in archives for nearly 50 years, the programme exposes the events behind the planning and building of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Professor Gerald Fleming, a researcher into Nazi war crimes and architect Robert van Pelt, investigate these files and reveal evidence which shows how German civilian engineers and Bauhaus-trained architects deliberately colluded with the SS to plan the genocide. 39	Horizon - Auschwitz, The Blueprints of Genocide	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture		11 mins	Like (0 likes)
Documentary discovering how our medieval forebears built the wonders of their world. 40	How to Build a Cathedral	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture		58 mins	Like (0 likes)
David Dimbleby travels north of the border to find out how Scotland developed a style of building quite different from that in England. Join him on a journey from the extraordinary visions of Stirling Castle to the Scottish baronial of Dunrobin; from the crofter's community of Gearrannan on the Isle of Lewis to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece, The Glasgow School of Art; and ending up at the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh 41	How we Built Britain - Part 01: Scotland: Towering Ambitions	David Thompson	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
David Dimbleby starts his journey in Ely in the spectacular cathedral that dominates the Fens. He explores the world of medieval knights at Hedingham Castle, travels to Norwich to discover the workings of a great medieval city and visits Lavenham which grew fat on the cloth trade 42	How we Built Britain - Part 02:The East: A New Dawn	Nicky Illis	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
David Dimbleby looks at how England was transformed by the extraordinary flowering of architecture, ideas and exploration of the Elizabethan Renaissance. Take a journey that tracks the newly rich to stately homes like Burghley House and follows those who hid, in fear of their lives, in the secret spaces in Harvington Hall. Discover the bizarre secret codes of Triangular Lodge and the wonders of Chastleton House, one of Britain's most complete Jacobean houses 43	How we Built Britain - Part 03: The Heart of England: Living it Up	Jonty Claypole	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
At the start of Victoria's reign, the north of England seemed out of control. Enormous industrial cities lacked basic amenities whilst many of their inhabitants lived in slums. David Dimbleby travels to Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, to tell the story of Britain's greatest construction boom. Find out how factories, town halls, sewers, churches, hospitals and dance halls were built in a dramatic attempt to deal with the rapidly expanding urban population 44	How we Built Britain - Part 04: The North: Full Steam Ahead	Jonty Claypole	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
The 20th century was driven by the ideal of progress, and the heart of that movement was in London and the South East. David Dimbleby embarks on a journey that explores how the idea evolved, from the commuter's dream of a house in the suburbs, to the modernist vision of streets in the sky, and the breathtaking scale and ambition of hi-tech building in the City of London. 45	How we Built Britain - Part 05: The South: Dreams of Tomorrow	Nigel Walk	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
David Dimbleby encounters the grace and elegance of the Georgian terraces of Bath and Bristol, the magnificent country houses of Blenheim and the gardens of Stourhead. He discovers where the seeds of the Industrial Revolution were sown, in the canals and locks of the West Country and the tin mines of Cornwall. He also travels across Wales to Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge and to Ireland to tell the story of Georgian Dublin 46	How we Built Britain Part 06: The West: Putting on the Style	Nigel Walk	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
A look at the one environment that's been made by us for us - the city. Over half of the world's population now lives in the urban jungle. The city is built to keep untamed nature out - but nature can't be pushed away. From bed bugs sucking our blood at night to rats in our restaurants, many animals have adapted to a life with us. 47	Human Planet - Cities - Surviving the Urban Jungle	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Film about the architect John Portman, capturing his approach in an intimate portrait that, by turn, assesses and appreciates his work, using dramatic time-lapse footage to show off his buildings at their best 48	John Portman: A Life of Building	Ben Loeterman	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
Following the front line of engineering and high-tech construction 49	Mega Builders - The Olympic Aquatic Centre	Channel 5	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
The inside story of the building of the clever arena, which was the centre of world attention in the 2012 Olympic games. 50	Megastructures - London's Olympic Stadium	Channel 5	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
Building an eight lane freeway under the city of Boston. 51	Megastructures - Americas Biggest Dig		Built Environment & Architecture		56 mins	Like (0 likes)
In the Persian Gulf, the world's largest artificial islands are being constructed in the shape of the earth's continents. This ambitious engineering feat is part of a plan to transform Dubai into one of the world's premiere tourist destinations 52	Megastructures - Building the World	Jeremy Hall	Built Environment & Architecture		57 mins	Like (0 likes)
The Finnish construction of cruise liner Freedom of the Seas, which was launched in 2006 and, at 18 storeys in height and a quarter of a mile in length, is the largest in the world. As cameras show the many features such as the surf park and ice rink, experts investigate whether at 160,000 tonnes this is the maximum size ocean-going technology will reach before having too great a mass to float 53	Megastructures - The World's Biggest Cruise Liner	Jeremy Hall	Built Environment & Architecture		58 mins	Like (0 likes)
Documentary looking at the design, structure and features of the North Sea Wall, a massive coastal defence system built along Holland's coastline 54	Megastructures - The World's Biggest Sea Barrier	Jeremy Hall	Built Environment & Architecture		57 mins	Like (0 likes)
Michael makes a remarkable visit to Göreme, where the rocks have been carved to form homes and some of the most remarkable churches of the early Christian era. Leaving the Cappodocia region by balloon, he sails east towards the borders of the New Europe, which if Turkey were to join the European Union would include Iran, Iraq and Syria 55	Michael Palin's New Europe - Eastern Delight	Michael Palin	Built Environment & Architecture		59 mins	Like (0 likes)
Michael travels from Transdniester, a breakaway state from the Republic of Moldova, to the Vaser Valley in Romania, where he joins 80 lumberjacks as they board a wood-fired steam train. He finally ends up at Bran Castle in Transylvania, the ancestral home of Vlad the Impaler and alleged home of Bram Stoker's Dracula 56	Michael Palin's New Europe - Wild East	Michael Palin	Built Environment & Architecture		59 mins	Like (0 likes)
Augustus Northmore Welby Pugin is far from being a household name, yet he designed the iconic clock tower of Big Ben as well as much of the Palace of Westminster. 57	Pugin: Gods Own Architect	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
A BBC Television documentary film which tells the story of the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza through the commentary of the fictional builder Nakht. 58	Pyramid	Jonathan Stamp	Built Environment & Architecture		58 mins	Like (0 likes)
Why is the tallest building on earth less than half a mile high? Why don't we have mountains as tall as those on Mars? 59	Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2010 03: Why Mountains Are So Small	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture	English	60 mins	Like (0 likes)
At a time when most ships were built to traditional designs in wood, and powered by sail, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s colossal ship, the Great Eastern, was almost 700 feet long and built of iron. His vision was that it should carry 4,000 passengers, in magnificent style, as far as the Antipodes - without needing to refuel. 60	Seven Wonders of the Industrial World - Episode 01: The Great Ship	Christopher Spencer	Built Environment & Architecture		8 mins	Like (0 likes)
In 1869, John Roebling won the contract to build the largest bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It was to stretch 1,600 feet, in one giant leap, across the wide and turbulent East River that separates New York from Brooklyn. 61	Seven Wonders of the Industrial World - Episode 02: The Brooklyn Bridge	Paul Wilmshurst	Built Environment & Architecture		45 mins	Like (0 likes)
In 1800 Robert Stevenson set about building a lighthouse on the deadly Bell Rock reef off the east of Scotland. 62	Seven Wonders of the Industrial World - Episode 03: The Bell Rock Lighthouse	Christopher Spencer	Built Environment & Architecture		40 mins	Like (0 likes)
Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. He uncovers stories of bronze-age relics emerging from the Vauxhall shore, of why London Bridge was falling down. 63	The Bridges that Built London with Dan Cruickshank	BBC	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)
The most iconic of the royal tombs however was built as the tomb for Khufu. Located at Giza, the Great Pyramid is the last of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’ that still survives. Although built to be the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, his actual tomb was never found. 64	The Great Pyramid	UKTV	Built Environment & Architecture		46 mins	Like (0 likes)
Dyckhoff explores how the design of our homes works secretly to influence our behaviour. Light, room size, layout, proportion and materials all have measurable effects on our lives. So why do we accept the smallest windows and the smallest room sizes in Europe? And what can we do about it? 65	The Secret Life of Buildings - Episode 01: Home	Channel 4	Built Environment & Architecture	English	48 mins	Like (0 likes)
Our workplace - from schools to offices and factories - should inspire us, motivate us and bring out the best of our abilities. But are these spaces doing just the opposite? Tom Dyckhoff makes some revelatory and shocking discoveries about how the buildings in which we spend our working life can physically change our brain, and shows why open-plan offices are bad spaces to work in. Armed with this new knowledge, Dyckhoff meets and challenges pre-eminent architects including Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid to re-evaluate their creations. He brings them face-to-face with the people who use their buildings every day. He even tries working in their buildings himself while taking part in an experiment to measure the impact on his brain. What do the results show about working in these spaces? Have we become so obsessed with iconic exteriors that we've stopped thinking about the people inside them? And is it possible to design a building that makes us feel happy while making us more productive too? 66	The Secret Life of Buildings - Episode 02: Work	Channel 4	Built Environment & Architecture	English	47 mins	Like (0 likes)
Tom Dyckhoff looks at how we're affected by the design of buildings we visit in our leisure time. He argues that architects are now designing buildings that are all about spectacle and cheap thrills (however expensive to build), and have forgotten the true purpose of 'play': to bring people together for a communal experience. From shopping malls to football stadiums and museums, Tom discovers how important play is in our lives and argues controversially that, ever since the commercial success of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the buildings we're being given to play in are damaging us. With their increasingly crazy, computer-designed looks, they may seem playful, but these individualistic, flashy, narcissistic icons produce an increasingly alienating and fragmented landscape where we feel less joined up and less playful, and make less sense of our world, not more. 67	The Secret Life of Buildings - Episode 03: Leisure	Channel 4	Built Environment & Architecture	English	47 mins	Like (0 likes)
The story of The Shard - the colossal glass skyscraper that has transformed London's skyline. 68	The Tallest Tower: Building the Shard	Channel 4	Built Environment & Architecture		60 mins	Like (0 likes)

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