Modern Marvels
Season 12 Episode 28 - John Hancock Center
A steel giant standing 1,107 feet high on broad shoulders, this vertical city houses 1,200 people. Join us as we explore how a young architectural team from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill conceived of an innovative 100-story, multi-use tower. A construction crisis halted the project for six months, but once it resumed, it took just four years and 50 million man-hours to complete the John Hancock Center. In the heart of Chicago, the John Hancock Center rises 100 stories above the luxury shops and restaurants that line the famous Magnificent Mile. It opened on May 5, 1970 with 237,657 square feet of retailing, 812,160 square feet of offices, 703 rental apartments (converted to condominiums in 1974), 507-car parking garage, and an ice skating rink! There are 1,250 miles of wiring and 11,459 panes of glass. Nicknamed “Big John”, it cost $100-million and took 46,000 tons of steel to build.
Episodes in Season 12
Poison
44 min
Car Tech of the Future
44 min
The Arch
44 min
More Nature's Engineers
44 min
World's Biggest Machines 3
44 min
Blackbird Stealth
44 min
The Butcher
44 min
George Washington Carver Tech
44 min
Firefighting!: Extreme Conditions
44 min
Desert Tech
44 min
Sub Zero
44 min
The Great Bridge: 8 Miles of Steel
44 min
Howard Hughes Tech
44 min
Edwards Air Force Base
44 min
Taxidermy
44 min
SWAT
44 min
Deadliest Weapons
44 min
The Doomsday Clock
44 min
The Basement
44 min
Paint
44 min
Mega Movers
44 min
Punishment
44 min
Bricks
44 min
Glue
44 min
F/A-22 Raptor
44 min
Civil War Tech
44 min
Machines of D-Day
44 min
John Hancock Center
44 min
The Cape Cod Canal
44 min
Secret Japanese Aircraft of World War II
44 min
Future Tech
44 min
Edison Tech
44 min
Secrets of Soviet Space Disasters
44 min
Mountain Roads
44 min
Route 66
44 min
Cowboy Tech
44 min
Sewers
44 min
Challenger Tank
44 min
World's Biggest Machines 4
44 min
Dredging
44 min
Lube Job
44 min
Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of World War II
44 min
The World's Fastest
44 min
The B-2 Stealth Bomber
44 min
High Risk: Helicopter Lineman
44 min
Wiring America
44 min
Nature Tech: Lightning
44 min
HMS Victory
44 min
Engineering an Empire: Rome
44 min
Coffee
44 min
Sugar
44 min
Cereal: History in a Bowl
44 min
F-117 Nighthawk Stealth
44 min
German Small Arms of World War II
44 min
The Auto Store
44 min
Secret Allied Aircraft of World War II
44 min
Engineering Disasters 17
44 min
Brewing
44 min
The Lumberyard
44 min
Da Vinci Tech
44 min
Custom Cars
44 min
More Hardware
44 min
Weird Weapons: The Allies
44 min
More Snack Food Tech
44 min
Walt Disney World
44 min
Nature Tech: Hurricanes
44 min
Private Collections
44 min
