Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC

Take it further

Got a passion for engineering and technology? Find out about studying at The Open University.

How To Build on TV

How To Build is broadcast on Sunday evenings at 8pm on BBC Two. See full schedule details.

Use the links below to see more about how ideas are taken from sketch to structure, and the challenges faced by engineers trying to solve difficult problems.

 

 

The Open University team take on design and engineering challenges

What's the tallest paper structure you can build? Featuring: Video Copyrighted imageCredit: The Open University

Can Adam Hart-Davis and his team build a paper tower to support a person?  Watch now: What's the tallest paper structure you can build?

How to damp a wobbly bridge Featuring: Video Copyrighted imageCredit: The Open University

Inspired by the Millennium Bridge in London, Adam Hart-Davis investigates how to damp a wobbly bridge  Watch now: How to damp a wobbly bridge

Making the biggest paper balloon Featuring: Video Copyrighted imageCredit: The Open University

Is it possible to lift a person off the ground - with a huge paper balloon? Adam Hart-Davis and the team find out  Watch now: Making the biggest paper balloon

Building a reconnaissance robot Featuring: Audio Creative commons imageCredit: Robotic hand 2 / L D M / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

An extract from Radio 4's Material World as Open University students try to build robots at the Technology In Action summer school  Listen now: Building a reconnaissance robot

Learn about design and engineering with the Open University

Engineering The Future Creative commons imageCredit: soil-net under CC-BY-NC-SA

This free unit looks at the process of design – from assessing the complexity of design as an activity, to exposing the difficulty in...  Read more : Engineering The Future

Design and Designing Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC

This free album asks: How do you start to design a product? Can drawing techniques be learned? And why is modelling such a useful technique?  Read more : Design and Designing

Structural Integrity: designing against failure Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC

This album tells the story of the Kinzua rail viaduct catastrophe that occured in Pennsylvania in 2003 and the subsequent forensic investigation  Read more : Structural Integrity: designing against failure