DELTA HOTEL HALIFAX
Developer: Halifax Developments Limited
Architect: Page and Steele Architects
The biggest jigsaw puzzle in Canada-135 tons, 4,000 pieces, was the centerpiece of an extraordinary building project in the heart of downtown Halifax, combining painstaking restoration with ultramodern construction.
Barrington Place, consists of a 203 room Delta Hotel, a bi-level shopping mall, and will include a second high-rise office building.
The jigsaw puzzle is the west facade of a block of Granville Street.
The 4,000 plus pieces of granite and sandstone masonry were stacked the length of a city block before cleaning and reconditioning. They have now been returned to their former position and glory.
Climate controlled pedestrian Skyways connect the Barrington Place structures and also connect with the Scotia Square development.
Original plans to build the block-square, five-storey hotel and shopping mall without disturbing the Granville Street west facade had to be abandoned when the walls were determined to be unstable.
Halifax Developments Limited resolved to fulfill its commitment to retain the original appearance of this block of Granville Street. Services of an artisan mason were contracted.
The stones from the front of each building were removed individually, numbered, and carefully stored. The result of this care was to make this block of Granville Street once more the gem of the provincial capital’s architecture.
Barrington Place contains 630,000 sq. ft of office space, 95,000 sq. ft of retail space, and the 203 room Delta Hotel, Barrington Inn. The total area of 825,000 sq. ft stands on a 2.1 acre site approximately 200 yards from Halifax Harbor.
LONDON SQUARE GALLERIA LONDON
Developer: The Campeau Corporation
Architect: Architects Crang and Boake Inc.
This shopping centre, in the core of London Ontario, occupies a site on the north and south sides of King Street.
The block on the north side of King Street is entirely new, and contains a three level subgrade reinforced concrete flat slab parking structure, below the two level north portion, of the shopping galleria, with its lineal skylight which is framed in structural steel.
At the mid-length of the north block, there is a magnificent octagonal steel framed skylight over the Bay Store court which connects to the new three storey Bay store, which is framed with a combination of reinforced concrete beams, supporting oneway reinforced concrete slabs, and reinforced flat slab concrete construction.
Much of the work on the south block, was undertaken with the mall in operation. This included strengthening of existing foundations and erection of the steel structure through, and above, the existing mall. The south block was closed for only eight months during the overall construction period.
The upper parking level and garage were removed and replaced with an upper shopping level, with the new roof structure framed in structural steel. Portions of the second floor were also framed in structural steel, as was the new six theatre cinema level, above the upper shopping level.
The east end of the north block has been designed to carry a future high rise office tower. At the east and west ends of the main mall, of the north block, there are secondary malls, with skylights, leading to shopping bridges across King Street which link the north block, secondary mall, to the south block, secondary mall, which has a major structural steel framed skylight at its south ends, where it merges with the main east-west mall, of the south block.
In addition to the two shopping blocks, bridges and cinemas, the reinforced concrete York Street parking garage was removed and replaced with a new reinforced concrete parking garage, incorporating the criteria of CAN/CSA Standard S41 3-87.
The south block is a retrofit of a former one storey mall built in reinforced concrete over an extensive receiving area, connected by a trucking tunnel.
95 WELLINGTON STREET WEST – TORONTO
Developer: Prudential Developments Limited
Architect: Pellow Architect Inc.
This distinctive twenty three storey office tower is clad with a glass and granite curtain wall.
The clear spans, in the range of fifteen metres, are framed with bonded, post-tensioned, concrete beams, spanning from the perimeter columns to the central core, supporting one-way, one hundred and fifty millimetre thick, reinforced concrete slabs.
To satisfy the possible need for extensive computer areas, the floors were designed for a superimposed live loading of 3.6 kN per square metre, plus a partition allowance of 1.2 kN per square metre.
To optimize the sizes of the columns, and the thicknesses of the core walls, the concrete for same was designed considering the additional strength gain at 120 days that could be achieved by special concrete mixes as compared to normal portland cement concrete with a standard 28 days design strength.
The five level subgrade parking garage, below the office tower, was one of the first in Toronto to employ epoxy coated reinforcing steel along with special concrete mixes, and optimal slopes to drains, with a special membrane and traffic wearing surface, to achieve a more durable parking garage structure, to deal with the increasing use of road salts.
ESSO PLACE – 55 ST. CLAIR TORONTO
Owner: Bramalea Limited
Architect: The Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership
This precast concrete and glass clad terraced office building is located on St. Clair Avenue, west of Yonge Street in Toronto.
The reinforced concrete frame incorporates modified drop panels to frame the thirty by forty-five feet rectangular bays, and reinforced concrete transfer beams and spandrels to pick up the offset columns above, which create the set backs to frame the terraced levels.
The use of large modified drops, over the columns, of this unique structural system minimized the thickness of the slabs to only 91/2 inches normally used for spans up to 30 feet.
A three level subgrade parking structure is located below the office block. The same substructure also provides for a truck loading dock, and receiving area.
THE MADISON CENTRE NORTH YORK
DEVElOPER; CAMROST DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED
ARCHITECT: PAGE AND STEELE ARCHITECTS
This prestige 32 storey tall condominium tower residence is part of the Madison Centre, in the core of North York. The superstructure is composed of unbonded post-tensioned concrete one-way slabs spanning 11 metres, between supporting shear walls. The shear walls of the apartment superstructure are transferred onto columns which penetrate the shopping concourse and the subgrade parking garage, below the concourse. The concourse level is connected by a tunnel, to an underground network, linking the building to the Yonge Street subway station, at Sheppard Avenue.
The diagonal bay grid employs a modified drop flat slab system, with the flat pyramidal like drops designed to reduce the thickness of the reinforced concrete slabs, thereby reducing the loading on the central core and columns.
In addition, the core wall thicknesses, and the column sizes, were optimized by employing 120 days concrete strengths of special concrete mixes, rather than the standard twenty-eight days strength of normal portland cement concrete.
At the east side of the twenty-five storey reinforced concrete tower, which is clad in stainless steel and glass, there is a steel framed glass enclosed five storeys high, atrium space containing a fountain and a bridge designed in conjunction with stairs leading down to the concourse level.
THE ATRIUM ON BAY–TORONTO
Developer: Trizec Twigg Developments Limited
Architect: Page and Steele Architects
This exciting complex of prestige offices, and a two level shopping centre, constructed in three blocks, ranging in height from eight to fourteen storeys, is arranged on the north and south sides of a central east-west atrium space. A two level subgrade parking garage occupies the entire site below the lower shopping level.
The overall structure is six hundred and ninety feet long by two hundred feet wide, and is designed, for the most part in thirty feet square bays, employing modified drop flat slab construction; a framing system which was developed in-house. The modified drop flat slab differs from the conventional flat slabs in the slope and size of drops. The flat inverted, pyramid like, drops extend over 50 percent of the spans.
The superstructures on opposite sides of the atrium, are linked by various bridging elements, which in some cases are also employed to access the elevator cores, in the centre of the atrium space. The atrium spaces, which extend up to the roof level are capped off with continuous linear skylights.
The use of the modified drop system for the typical office level bays reduced the floor slab thickness by two inches. In addition, cost savings were realized by employing concrete mixes, incorporating fly ash with additional concrete compressive strength at 120 days compared to the conventional 28 days strength development.
36 TORONTO STREET–TORONTO
Developer: Counsel Property Corporation
Architect: Strong Associates Architects
This project in the heart of downtown Toronto integrates an existing 12 storey historical building with a new modern 16 storey office tower. The two buildings are linked by a 12 storey glazed atrium with a skylight roof.
Extensive structural modifications were carried out to the adjacent historical building due to the vertical addition of three new office floors, which were framed in steel using composite deck and composite beam design.
In order to support the existing three storey brick and stone facade during construction of the tower, a temporary bracing system was designed employing steel beams and trusses. This temporary bracing supported the free standing wall until it was connected to the new tower slabs.
The historical character of the development was maintained by the retention of the original existing building facade at the base of the new tower.
The columns extend down through three levels of underground parking and are supported on caissons socketed into shale bedrock.
The new tower consists of reinforced concrete flat slab construction with column spacings up to 8.5 metres. The slab thickness is typically 220mm, with 110 mm drop panels.
THE PARK LANE PROJECT HALIFAX
Developer: Park Lane Developments Limited
Architect: Pellow Architect Inc.
This multi use development is unique, not only in Halifax, but in the Atlantic Canada region.
It contains a three level specialty shopping centre with eight cinemas and a food fair, on the lowest subgrade level.
There is an eight storey atrium type terraced office building, above the south end of the shopping centre. Provisions have also been made in the structure to carry a future seven storey centre-core office building.
To satisfy the complex nature of the development various systems of reinforced concrete slabs, beams, and related framing were designed to satisfy not only the architectural criteria, but the needs of all the other design disciplines, whose requirements had to be coordinated within the structure.
The 18 metre clear spans required by the cinemas, located in the basement of the structure dictated the extensive use of transfer beams, up to 2.2 metres in depth .
NATIONAL REVENUE TAXATION DATA CENTRE-SUDBURY
Developer: Government of Canada
Architect: Page and Steele Architects and Townsend, Stefura, Baleshta, Nichols Architects
The poor soil conditions, requiring steel “H” piles to be driven from eight metres to twenty metres below grade, to bedrock, together with the available labour force, and the ten metre square bay sizes, combined to demand that the structural frame be built of structural steel.
The building serves to process tax returns from central Canada and therefore incorporates a major mail receiving area along with large floor spaces for computer facilities supported on elevated access flooring.
In general, the floors have been designed to support the specialized loadings of the various computer installations and sorting areas. The floor system is typically a 150 mm deep composite steel deck, 75 mm of concrete reinforced with welded wire fabric cast over 75 mm deep composite steel deck.
The steel deck typically spans 2.5 metres between compositely designed structural steel purlins, which in turn span 10.0 metres, between the main structural steel beams which are also designed to behave compositely with the deck, by means of 19 mm diameter steel stud connectors, which are embedded into the concrete of the deck system.
The building has a glass and precast concrete cladding system which is supported on structural steel brackets which cantilever out from the perimeter spandrel beams.
NATIONAL BANK BUILDING – TORONTO
Developer: Oxford Developments Limited
Architect: Pellow Architect Inc.
This reinforced concrete office block, located at the north-west corner of York and Adelaide Streets was one of the first office buildings in downtown Toronto to employ flat slabs with modified drop panels, at the heads of the columns, as developed by this office in the mid-seventies.
This office block was constructed as the completing element of the development which includes the Hilton hotel, and another office building, over a three storey subgrade parking garage, which was integrated with the existing parking garage, below the adjacent office building.
The building is connected by a tunnel below York Street to Toronto’s underground network, which links to the Yonge Street subway.
The glass and metal curtaIn wall gives the building its distinctive sophisticated appearance.