THE FAIRVIEW SHOPPING CENTRE–NORTH YORK

Developer: The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
Architect: Architects, Crang and Boake Inc.

The original two level shopping centre was opened in 1965 with the mall extending between two anchor department stores.

In 1986, planning had begun to enlarge the mall by extending it into the former department stores, constructing a new two storey mall area, and a new food court and cinemas complex, all of which was enclosed by new skylights. 

The majority of the new roof and skylight framing, in structural steel, was carried out above a temporary scaffolding system to enable the customers to have access to the shops and services of the shopping centre, during the construction period. Not only was this a major structural steel contract but it involved major works in reinforced concrete, particularly for the extensive parking deck, which was built around three sides of the enlarged centre and new department stores.

With new department stores being part of the program, it was necessary to construct a new reinforced concrete parking deck.

The existing shopping and department stores were kept in operation throughout the period of construction, by strategic phasing of the work, and the incorporation of temporary scaffolding systems.

WOODBINE SHOPPING CENTRE REXDALE

Developer: The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
Architect: Architects Crang and Boake Inc.

This regional centre at Highway 427 and Rexdale Boulevard, in Etobicoke Ontario, was completed in 1985 as a completely new two level shopping centre including two major department stores, a major food store, nationally known retailers, cinemas, and a children’s amusement centre, complete with a Ferris wheel and a miniature railway.

The structure is composed of compositely designed structural steel beams and purlins supporting 61/4 inches thick concrete floor slabs, cast on, 3 inches deep, composite steel deck.

The malls are crossed by bridges on the upper level with barrel vaulted skylights above, at the roof level, converging to a central court area, with exposed structural steel framing, supporting a magnificent central skylight.

The east entrance to the mall features the Ferris wheel, which is presented through an extensive glazed wall, with exposed structural steel vaulted framing, which was a challenge both to design and to fabricate.

1001 BAY STREET CONDOMINIUM TORONTO

DEVELOPER; STRASSCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED 
ARCHITECT: OKUN ARCHITECTS

This downtown Toronto prestige residence was completed in 1989. It is a shear wall structure, with reinforced concrete flat plates, extending to a height of thirty-six storeys.

The entire superstructure is clad with a glass and marble curtain wall giving the building a unique appearance.

Commercial tenancies are provided for on the ground floor, and the entire complex is constructed over a three level subgrade parking.

3900 YONGE STREET CONDOMINIUM NORTH YORK

DEVELOPER: BELMONT CONSTRUCTION LIMITED
ARCHITECT: DIETRICH BOECKER ARCHITECT 

This prestigious residence located on the west side of Yonge Street. along the embankment of the Don Valley, was designed to nestle into the side of the hill at the south-west side of the valley, By so doing. the structure had to be designed to sustain the lateral soil pressures imposed by the 90 feet high slope which continues to rise to the south and west.

To sustain these lateral forces a combined system of permanent tie backs to dead men anchors and into the soil along with a tied down 1500 mm thick reinforced concrete raft foundation, located under the central core of the building, was designed and blended into the overall concept. The uplift forces of the foundation raft are resisted with a system of 26 permanent soil anchors with 8 anchors in reserve to be employed if necessary in the future.

These special foundation techniques were also combined with reinforced concrete shear walls and core walls which act with the diaphragm action of the reinforced concrete floor slabs to sustain all lateral forces acting on the structure.

At the north wing, the floor slabs were terraced to reflect the natural slope of the valley. The expansive cantilevered terraces were achieved by employing post-tensioned systems within the normally reinforced concrete slabs.

This structure is the only known apartment retaining wall ever constructed in Canada. 

MADISON 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 YONGE EGLINTON CENTRE TORONTO

Developers: Greenwin Horizon Limited
Architects: Bregman Hamann Architects

The complex incorporates two apartment blocks, two office towers and a three level shopping centre over a two level subgrade parking garage at the north-west corner of Toronto’s Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.

The apartment blocks are reinforced concrete shear wall structures, with the shear walls penetrating through the shopping centre levels and the parking levels. The reinforced concrete character of the apartments is expressed with exposed cast in situ concrete walls and balcony parapets.

The east tower is framed with nine inches thick flat slabs, with four inches deep drop panels, surrounding the central reinforced concrete core.

The west office tower is framed with bonded post-tensioned beams spanning from the exterior columns to the central reinforced concrete core and supporting reinforced concrete one-way slabs .

Both office towers are clad in precast panels, expressing the perimeter columns with precast spandrel panels between the columns supporting the glazing in aluminum frames.

BANKERS HALL CALGARY

Developer: Trizec Corporation Ltd.
Architect: The Cohos Evamy Partnership

The first tower of the Bankers Hall project was topped off on June 26, 1989. The post modern architectural expression of the project employs an optimized reinforced concrete frame with a clear span of 12 metres from the perimeter columns to the central core.

In addition to the special concrete mixes, designed to achieve 120 days design strengths for the columns and core walls, the structure also incorporated several unique features such as the largest foundation raft in Canada, placed in one monolithic casting. The foundation rafts (two) are located under each of the towers and were designed to compensate for the uncertain soil conditions of the site. The rafts were 2.7 metres thick containing approximately 10,000 cubic meters of concrete and 1,800 tons of reinforcing steel each.

The concrete for the raft was specially designed incorporating superplastizers, as well as other constituents, to minimize the heat of hydration. The substructure incorporating parking levels and loading dock areas was specified with epoxy coated reinforcing steel and many of the criteria set out in CSA/CAN – S413-87, Parking Structures.

The superstructures of the towers were designed to resist wind forces by employing the tube in tube system, consisting of the central core and rigid frames located at the perimeter of the floor plates. The lateral sway of the structure was minimized to assure the comfort of its occupants.

The superstructure also employs some unique systems such as the two storey deep transfer beams which were monolithically cast at the north and south ends of the east tower, between levels five and eight.

The ground floor incorporates a series of four continuous bonded, post-tensioned, beams spanning twenty-six metres, and carrying the six storey podium structure above. The above beams were post-tensioned in three stages in accordance with the progress of construction.

When completed the project will be a notable landmark in downtown Calgary, providing a total of 3 million square feet of rentable space.

HOLIDAY INN–AIRPORT TORONTO

Developer: Commonwealth Hospitality Limited
Architect: Armstrong Molesworth Architects and Klein Taylor Architects

The first stage was constructed of prefabricated, factory cast precast concrete room size box units. These were transported to the site and erected on top of a two storey high reinforced concrete transfer structure. This office designed the structure of the hotel, the precast units, the factory, in Milton, and the platforms on which the concrete boxes were transported, from Milton to the site.

 Although the system performed well and was erected in record time the fabricator was no longer in business when the second stage was to be built, some twelve years later. Therefore, the northeast wing was designed and built as a conventional reinforced concrete shear wall and one-way slab structure. 

THE PROMENADE SHOPPING CENTRE VAUGHAN

Developer: The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
Architect: Architects Crang and Boake Inc.

A regional shopping centre at Highway 7 and Bathurst Street in the Town of Vaughan, north of Toronto, was completed in 1986, after having first been designed as a structural steel structure, which was subsequently changed to a reinforced concrete structural frame, to reduce the construction period by six months.

The two level mall is located between two major department stores, and in addition to providing retail spaces for national chains, and other unique merchants, it includes cinemas, and a diversified food court.

The six inches deep deck and twenty-four inches deep steel beams were replaced by thirty inches deep reinforced concrete beams spanning forty feet to support one-way reinforced concrete slabs. The beams were spaced at twenty feet on centre, forming typical twenty feet by forty feet bays, for the shopping malls. The Promenade Centre Mall is probably the only major shopping mall built entirely of reinforced concrete in Canada.

2 BLOOR STREET EAST TORONTO

Owner: Bramalea Limited
Architect: Architects Crang and Boak Inc.

This multi use project in downtown Toronto, combines an office tower, an apartment hotel, a major department store, and a shopping centre, with an above grade and a subgrade parking facility.

It is built over the intersection of Toronto’s two main subway lines, with the thirty-five storey office tower, which rises to a height of four hundred and forty-four feet above grade, being carried on four, ten feet wide by sixteen and one-half feet deep, post-tensioned, girders, which were stressed in five stages, as the dead load of the structure was applied.

The girders span seventy-six feet over the Bloor Street subway tunnel, and are supported on clusters of forty-two inches diameter, by one hundred and forty feet deep, caissons which are socketed into rock.

Since the roof of the Yonge Street subway tunnel was designed with a limited capacity. the upper levels of the department store, located above the subway tunnel, are carried by storey high steel trusses, at the sixth floor level, which span over the subway.

The typical floors of the office tower are nine inches thick, post-tensioned, flat plates, spanning thirty-six feet, from the central core to the exterior columns, which are spaced at thirty feet, centre to centre. The slabs of the office floors are cast of semi-lightweight concrete, with expanded shale aggregates, weighing 120 pounds per cubic foot.