A documentary that focuses on Hampton Court Palace, from its origin through today. It was originally built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favorite of King Henry VIII, in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favor, the palace was passed to the King, who enlarged it. Today, the palace is open to the public, and a major tourist attraction. Along with St. James's Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces of the many owned by Henry VIII.

Using a combination of spectacular location sequences and cinema-quality animation, the program surveys France's most famous churches. Travel back to 1214 to explore the design of Notre Dame de Beaulieu, a representative Gothic cathedral.

Using empty beer cans, old tires, plastic bottles and other garbage, iconoclastic architect Michael Reynolds, based in New Mexico, has been building ecologically sustainable structures for 35 years. Calling his structures "earthships," Reynolds has had conflicts with government officials over inflexible zoning and housing laws, but his architectural ideas were put to use in the Andaman Islands following the 2005 tsunami.

Carved from a hundred million pounds of stone, soaring effortlessly atop a spiderweb of masonry, Gothic cathedrals are marvels of human achievement and artistry. But how did medieval builders reach such spectacular heights? Consuming the labor of entire towns, sometimes taking a hundred years to build, these architectural marvels were crafted from just hand tools and stone. Many now teeter on the brink of catastrophic collapse.

The ancestors of today's Maya people thrived in hundreds of cities across Central America. Caracol and Tikal, with over 100,000 inhabitants at their peak, were among the biggest cities anywhere in the world at the time.

A meditation on the changing nature of cities, while celebrating the influential work of Danish architect Jan Gehl (and others at Gehl Architects) who have long championed a "human-centered" approach to city building.

Resource for teachers and administrators which illustrates best practices for creating sustainable schools and integrating environmental education across a variety of curriculum areas. Part I showcases actual projects undertaken by U.S. schools, including effects on student health, attendance, test scores and preparedness for green jobs. Part II is a guide for administrators and school boards to determine how to create eco-friendly buildings, retrofit...

A biography of the man who made public parks an essential part of American life. He made enormous contributions to the American landscape, believing a park was both a work of art and a necessity for urban life. Olmsted's efforts to preserve nature created an "environmental ethic" decades before the environmental movement became a force in American politics.

For 25 centuries the Parthenon has been shot at, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, looted for its sculptures, and disfigured by misguided restorations. Now, a team of architects and engineers is investigating the many mysteries of this icon of Western civilization : How did the ancient Greeks design and build their masterpiece so quickly? How did they achieve such precision and perfection without modern tools and architectural aids that we take...

In 1120 A.D., the heir to the English throne dies when the royal ship burns at sea. The King calls on his subjects to accept his daughter Maud as ruler until her son comes of age, but the church backs his nephew Stephen. Squire Bartholomew pledges his loyalty to Maud and is thrown in jail, leaving his daughter Aliena and son Richard alone. Maud goes raises an army in France and attacks Stephen. Meanwhile, Tom Builder is destined to construct a cathedral...