Work is proceeding at a quick pace on Toronto鈥檚 SkyTower condo project, which will break all records for height in 新澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 when it is completed in two years鈥 time.
The project at from was originally approved for 95 storeys but last December Toronto City Council approved a zoning amendment adding an additional 10 storeys, making it 105 in total.
At 344.9 metres high the SkyTower will be at the same height as the viewing deck of Toronto鈥檚 CN Tower.
Anson Kwok, vice-president of sales and marketing with Pinnacle, said the building is now at 33 storeys and it鈥檚 rising at a rate of one floor every five days.
鈥淲e’re making great strides right now,鈥 said Kwok. 鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely in the skyline.鈥
To be classified as a supertall building by the authoritative , a building must be over 300 metres in height, and it must be built to be inhabited floor by floor, which excludes the CN Tower, which is a freestanding structure.
Prestigious address
The reigning tallest tower in 新澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 is First Canadian Place in Toronto, with a height of 298 metres.
![The SkyTower features a dodecahedron design resembling a 12-sided jewel, with a shape intended to pick up the natural bend of the lakeshore through the curving form of the podium that extends up into the tower and bisects it symmetrically.](https://cc-production-uploads-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/07/FRONT-DW-pinnacle-skytower1web.jpg)
SkyTower will be the second building completed among six planned for Pinnacle One Yonge, the former site of the Toronto Star. The 65-storey Prestige, the inaugural building in the development with 496 residential units, was completed and occupancy began in October 2022.聽
SkyTower will include a 220-room hotel and over 950 residential suites ranging from 520 to 2,300 square feet. Amenities include a pool, yoga studio, fitness centre and entertainment space. The building鈥檚 podium will include retail, connections to the downtown underground pedestrian network and rooftop amenities.
One Yonge is a prestigious address, Kwok said, noting his firm has already built 2,000 units across the street. One Yonge was destined to be one-of-a-kind.
鈥淲hen we purchased the site in 2012, we knew that this site was the next generation of the neighbourhood,鈥 he said. 鈥淔or us, it’s always been One Yonge, it鈥檚 the longest street, it kind of deserves the tallest building too.
鈥淪o we married the two together, and the lake as well. It’s that location that we all know, the best of the best collide.鈥
was the designer of the SkyTower with associate Nadine El-Gazzar serving as project architect. The extreme building height not only proposed esthetic challenges, she explained in response to written questions, but mechanical ones as well.
鈥淭he height of the building has design impacts related to structure, wind, mechanical systems, elevators and stairs, and building cladding,鈥 El-Gazzar said. 鈥淪tructurally, the taller a building gets, the more slender it becomes, which requires the design to widen at the podium base, as well as the addition and lengthening of structural walls throughout.鈥
Increased sways up top
鈥淭he height also leads to increased sways at the top of the building,鈥 El-Gazzar said. 鈥淭he SkyTower will utilize a custom-designed tuned mass damper to slow down the acceleration of the sway at the top of the building, maintaining occupant comfort.鈥
The mechanical design divides the building into 30-storey sections to optimize the distribution of fresh air throughout the building, she explained.
![Work is on schedule for a fall 2026 opening of the SkyTower. A major green initiative for the Yonge Street site is the Enwave Deep Lake Water Cooling system. Enwave Energy Corp. has a network of underground pipes that bring water from the bottom of Lake Ontario where it remains 38 degrees F all year to a heat transfer station downtown.](https://cc-production-uploads-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/07/PG-3-DW-pinnacle-skytower3web.jpg)
The height of the building also creates a wind pressure condition referred to as stack effect that pulls air upwards at high speeds through the elevators and stairs, El-Gazzar said.
In order to prevent this from creating winds within the interior spaces, the design divides stairs into four quadrants, each with a wind break that features pressure sensors and relief corridors to balance wind pressures within the building.聽
The elevators are also isolated on each level with added doors in the corridor to prevent wind from moving between elevator lobbies and suites.
The building鈥檚 exterior cladding is enhanced with reinforcement and stronger connections to the building structure where required to deal with increased wind pressure.
Hariri Pontarini associate partner Jodi Buck added, 鈥淲ith its distinctive glazed exterior and a tapered form featuring wind slots and chamfered corners, the building emerges as the pinnacle of the development on Toronto’s iconic skyline.鈥
Kwok acknowledged the first building, the Prestige, is still being marketed two years after completion but said the full-page ads are mainly to sell the larger top floors. The SkyTower, he said, is 鈥渄efinitely, sales-wise, in a strong position.鈥
The SkyTower is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2026.
鈥淭here’s definitely some challenges in the marketplace鈥ust pricing to re-establish itself across the GTA in terms of price points and so forth,鈥 Kwok said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been pretty fortunate because of our location, that the pricing for our projects is pretty substantial, but in the grand scheme of the GTA, in terms of what you get and where it is and obviously being the tallest building in 新澳门六合彩开奖结果2023, it has its little trophy investments for the investors, and then obviously a really desirable location for end users to live as well.鈥
The third phase of the north parcel will be a 92-storey tower.聽Kwok said no timetable has been announced for its launch.
The remaining phases on the south parcel are slated for 1.5 million square feet of office and hotel spaces.聽
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