"High-Risk High-Rise" (2022 release; 54 min.) is a documentary that hopes/intends to explain the science behind the risks of skyscrapers in terms that you and I can actually understand. As the documentary opens, one of the talking heads reminds us that worldwide 200,000 more people move into urban centers EVERY SINGLE DAY. With the lack of space, this means that ever more skyscrapers are needed. But can we trust them with our lives?
Couple of comments: this is a new episode in the long-running series NOVA on PBS. I am in no way, shape or form a scientist of any kind, but I do love understanding the science behind a lot of things. This episode looks at how building engineers have in the past looked at safety issues involving skyscrapers, and what is done to continue this into the future. Basically 3 elements are high-risk for high-rise buildings: fire, wind, and earthquakes. The latter in particular poses fundamental risks, and a large segment of the program looks at how San Francisco is dealing with it. Along the way, we are treated with amazing footage of skyscrapers all around the world. (I have seeing the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, with my very own eyes on my bucket list.) Kudos to the NOVA production team for a very entertaining yet educative episode that was well worth my time, and then some.
"High-Risk High-Rise" premiered on PBS this first week of 2022, and is now available on PBS on Demand and other streaming platforms, with a DVD release not far behind. If, like me, you are fascinated by skyscrapers, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.