[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Winds of over 60 miles per hour have been known to hit Singapore.
So extra strength was needed to protect the fragile grid-shell domes of the Gardens by the Bay.
The answer was to crane in 28 radiating steel arches, which would stretch over the roofs.
These arches were then bolted together, connected at their bases to a concrete ring beam, which itself was anchored to the deep piles driven down through the reclaimed land.
Then they were bolted to the lattice work frame.
The domes could now absorb any high wind pressures, and avoid a catastrophic structural failure.
Now it was ready for the glass.
NEIL THOMAS: In the conceptions we have the arched ribs, which provide the resistance to forces which are sideways, which shells are not particularly good at resisting.
So there we've got two things combined, the shell stiffness, the shape, and the arch ribs, which are very stiff horizontally.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: The success of the two grid cells is clear, with over 100,000 healthy plants thriving inside.
