Architectural secrets of the world's ancient wonders | Brandon Clifford

Do you think the things we build today

will be considered wonders in the future?

Think of Stonehenge,

the Pyramids,

Machu Picchu and Easter Island.

Now, they're all pretty different from what we're doing today,

with those massive stones,

assembled in complex but seemingly illogical ways,

and all traces of their construction

erased,

shrouding them in mystery.

It seems like people could not have possibly built these things,

because people didn't.

They were carefully crafted by a primordial race of giants

known as Cyclops.

(Laughter)

And I've been collaborating with these monsters

to learn their secrets for moving those massive stones.

And as it turns out, Cyclops aren't even that strong.

They're just really smart about getting material to work for them.

Now, the videos you see behind me of large, stone-like, wobbly creatures

are the results of this collaboration.

OK, so Cyclops might be a mythical creature,

but those wonders are still real.

People made them.

But they also made the myths that surround them,

and when it comes to wonders, there's this thick connective tissue

between mythology and reality.

Take Easter Island, for example.

When the Dutch explorers first encountered the island,

they asked the people of Rapa Nui

how their ancestors could have possibly moved those massive statues.

And the Rapa Nui said,

"Our ancestors didn't move the statues,

because the statues walked themselves."

For centuries, this was dismissed, but actually it's true.

The statues, known as moai, were transported standing,

pivoting from side to side.

OK?

As spectacular as the moai are for visitors today,

you have to imagine being there then,

with colossal moai marching around the island.

Because the real memorial was not the objects themselves,

it was the cultural ritual of bringing a stone to life.

So as an architect, I've been chasing that dream.

How can we shift our idea of construction to accommodate that mythical side?

So what I've been doing is challenging myself

with putting on a series of performances

of the ancient but pretty straightforward task

of just moving and standing big heavy objects,

like this 16-foot-tall megalith designed to walk across land

and stand vertically;

or this 4,000-pound behemoth that springs itself to life

to dance onstage.

And what I've found is that by thinking of architecture

not as an end product but as a performance

from conception to completion,

we end up rediscovering some really smart ways to build things today.

You know, so much of the discussion surrounding our future

focuses on technology, efficiency and speed.

But if I've learned anything from Cyclops,

it's that wonders can be smart, spectacular

and sustainable --

because of their mass and their mystery.

And while people still want to know how those ancient wonders were built,

I've been asking Cyclops how to create the mystery

that compels people to ask that very question.

Because in an era where we design buildings

to last 30, maybe 60 years,

I would love to learn how to create something

that could entertain for an eternity.

Thank you.

(Applause)