AWARDS
Mississauga’s Absolute Towers
best in the Americas
The dramatic Absolute Towers that have transformed the skyline of Mississauga, west of Toronto, have won an international award.
Visible for miles, the curvaceous twin structures, dubbed the “Marilyn Munroe” buildings, have won one of four 2012 regional awards from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The 56 and 50-storey residential towers, rising 179.5 metres and 158 metres, won as “Best Tall Building Americas.”
Sigmund Soudack is the structural engineer for the towers. MAD architects did the design, and Burka Architects is associate architect. Conestoga-Rovers with Stantec are the mechanical and electrical engineers (correction), and the owner is Fernbrook and Cityzen.
The CTBUH awards jury commented: “There have been several curvaceous towers completed in recent years — some using balconies to achieve the free-form edge, and others using the whole facade. With Absolute we see the entire building twisting to achieve the organic form, creating a beautiful new landmark for a developing urban area.”
CITIES
Kids, go and play
under the road
A typically dark and dank space below a highway underpass has been transformed into an urban park in downtown Toronto.
Located below the Gardiner Expressway near Richmond and Adelaide Streets, Underpass Park provides shelter from the elements under the massive concrete columns and beams that support the highway above.
The constructed first phase of the park includes benches, climbing structures, skateboarding and basketball courts. LED lighting accentuates the concrete structure, and a public art installation suspends mirrored stainless steel panels to reflect and bounce light into the space.
The park is part of the West Don Lands, a brownfield area being developed for the 2015 Pan Am Games by Waterfront Toronto.
Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg with The Planning Partnership designed the park. Consultants were SCS (civil), Golder (geotechnical), Quinn Dressel (structural), Smart Watering Systems (irrigation) and Hammerschlag + Joffe (lighting).
TRANSPORTATION
Overpass relief for
Roberts Bank rail corridor
In July, Buckland and Taylor were selected as the bridge engineering sub-consultant for the 232nd Street overpass in the town of Langley, B.C. The engineers are part of a design-build team led by BA Blacktop.
The 232nd Street overpass is the last of eight similar projects in the $307-million Roberts Bank Rail Corridor Improvement program in the Lower Mainland.
The other new overpasses along the corridor are either under construction or completed. The 80th Street Overpass in Delta, for example, opened in July. It intersects 80th Street and Ladner Trunk Road, improving access to Boundary Bay Airport.
Stretching 70 kilometres through Delta, Surrey and the city and township of Langley, the Roberts Bank rail corridor intersects with roads at over 60 points, causing traffic delays and frustration. Over 340,000 cars and vehicles per day have to cross the tracks.
In 2007, a partnership of 12 organizations began studying how to relieve the congestion along the corridor and collaborated on the project. The partnership includes Transport Canada, the B.C. Government Pacific Gateway program, Translink, Port Metro Vancouver, rail companies including CN and CP, and the municipalities. Each of the nine improvement projects has a different partner from the group as the lead proponent.
The rail corridor is part of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and carries up to 18 trains a day loaded with containers and coal from the port in Delta. With the anticipated increase in Pacific trade, the number of trains is expected to increase to 38, and they will be longer, increasing from 9,500 feet up to 12,000 feet long.
ASSOCIATIONS
New chairs at CEO and CEA
Michael Snow, P.Eng. of Golder Associates has been elected chair of Consulting Engineers of Ontario.
At its annual general meeting in Edmonton, Consulting Engineers of Alberta elected Sheldon Hudson, P.Eng. of Al-Terra Engineering as its new president.
INDUSTRY
Massive construction for nickel processor in Newfoundland
A $3.6 billion facility to process nickel concentrate from Vale’s operations in Voisey’s Bay, Labrador is under construction in Long Harbour on the west coast of Newfoundland.
The hydrometallurgical facility is designed to produce 50,000 tonnes per year of nickel metal, copper and cobalt. Construction is slated to finish in 2013.
Fluor were engineers for 10 buildings in the process area and port. Fluor also provided services for the residue holding basin, the water intake at Rattling Brook Pond, and an expansion of the on-site wharf. The infrastructure and civil engineering were designed in St. John’s, while the engineering of the process facilities was done in Vancouver. Six pre-engineered buildings were designed by Colony.
Some of the process buildings are among the largest structures in Newfoundland. The Neutralization Building, for example, is about 1,100 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 60 feet high.
From a file by Andrew Safer
EXHIBITION
Seismic Design on the Edge
An architectural exhibition with a difference is being held at the Design Exchange in downtown Toronto September 13 to November 9.
“Seismic Design on the Edge” features building projects by international star architects — investigated through the lens of earthquake engineering.
Exhibits include buildings in China, Italy and Japan, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. On display will be full-scale seismic technology, architectural and structural models, and multimedia platforms.
The curators are Dr. Effie Bouras, and Professor Ghyslaine McClure,
P.Eng. of the McGill University department of civil engineering.
EVENTS
ASCE coming to Montreal
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is holding its 2012 Annual conference in Montreal this year. The conference is being held October 18-20 at the Palais des Congrès on the theme, “Civil Engineering in the New Global Economy.”
SOLID WASTE
Montreal puts in a vacuum
Canada’s first vacuum underground garbage collection system is being constructed in downtown Montreal.
Envac Systems Canada is installing a system of 1,000 metres of 500-mm carbon steel pipe two metres underground in Les Quartiers des Spectacles. The area is approximately one square kilometre near Places des Arts and St. Catharines.
Trash is dropped into inlets on the street and then sucked through the pipe at a speed of about 60 kilometres an hour to be collected in a concrete bunker-like terminal building. The terminal includes the fans and blowers, and has filters to clean the air before it is released into the atmosphere.
Sensors indicate when the pipe is full and ready for evacuation, or the system can be sequenced to operate at certain times during the day.
Underground vacuum waste collection systems were invented in the 1960s. They have been installed in large hospitals, airports, and even Disneyland. There are over 600 installed in 40 countries around the world, including municipal systems in London and Barcelona.
The systems have environmental advantages because they eliminate the need for trucks to collect garbage, and they make it easier to separate the waste into different streams for recycling.
Envac has been contracted to install another underground system in La Cité Verte in Quebec City. The “ecocity,” located in the Saint-Sacrement district between University Laval and the Sainte-Foy-Sillery districts, is a sustainable development of 800 homes.
AWARDS
Mississauga’s Absolute Towers
best in the Americas
The dramatic Absolute Towers that have transformed the skyline of Mississauga, west of T
oronto, have won an international award.
Visible for miles, the curvaceous twin structures, dubbed the “Marilyn Munroe” buildings, have won one of four 2012 regional awards from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The 56 and 50-storey residential towers, rising 179.5 metres and 158 metres, won as “Best Tall Building Americas.”
Sigmund Soudack is the structural engineer for the towers. MAD architects did the design, and Burka Architects is associate architect. Stantec is the mechanical and electrical engineer, and the owner is Fernbrook and Cityzen.
The CTBUH awards jury commented: “There have been several curvaceous towers completed in recent years — some using balconies to achieve the free-form edge, and others using the whole facade. With Absolute we see the entire building twisting to achieve the organic form, creating a beautiful new landmark for a developing urban area.”
CITIES
Kids, go and play
under the road
A typically dark and dank space below a highway underpass has been transformed into an urban park in downtown Toronto.
Located below the Gardiner Expressway near Richmond and Adelaide Streets, Underpass Park provides shelter from the elements under the massive concrete columns and beams that support the highway above.
The constructed first phase of the park includes benches, climbing structures, skateboarding and basketball courts. LED lighting accentuates the concrete structure, and a public art installation suspends mirrored stainless steel panels to reflect and bounce light into the space.
The park is part of the West Don Lands, a brownfield area being developed for the 2015 Pan Am Games by Waterfront Toronto.
Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg with The Planning Partnership designed the park. Consultants were SCS (civil), Golder (geotechnical), Quinn Dressel (structural), Smart Watering Systems (irrigation) and Hammerschlag + Joffe (lighting).
TRANSPORTATION
Overpass relief for
Roberts Bank rail corridor
In July, Buckland and Taylor were selected as the bridge engineering sub-consultant for the 232nd Street overpass in the town of Langley, B.C. The engineers are part of a design-build team led by BA Blacktop.
The 232nd Street overpass is the last of eight similar projects in the $307-million Roberts Bank Rail Corridor Improvement program in the Lower Mainland.
The other new overpasses along the corridor are either under construction or completed. The 80th Street Overpass in Delta, for example, opened in July. It intersects 80th Street and Ladner Trunk Road, improving access to Boundary Bay Airport.
Stretching 70 kilometres through Delta, Surrey and the city and township of Langley, the Roberts Bank rail corridor intersects with roads at over 60 points, causing traffic delays and frustration. Over 340,000 cars and vehicles per day have to cross the tracks.
In 2007, a partnership of 12 organizations began studying how to relieve the congestion along the corridor and collaborated on the project. The partnership includes Transport Canada, the B.C. Government Pacific Gateway program, Translink, Port Metro Vancouver, rail companies including CN and CP, and the municipalities. Each of the nine improvement projects has a different partner from the group as the lead proponent.
The rail corridor is part of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and carries up to 18 trains a day loaded with containers and coal from the port in Delta. With the anticipated increase in Pacific trade, the number of trains is expected to increase to 38, and they will be longer, increasing from 9,500 feet up to 12,000 feet long.
ASSOCIATIONS
New chairs at CEO and CEA
Michael Snow, P.Eng. of Golder Associates has been elected chair of Consulting Engineers of Ontario.
At its annual general meeting in Edmonton, Consulting Engineers of Alberta elected Sheldon Hudson, P.Eng. of Al-Terra Engineering as its new president.
INDUSTRY
Massive construction for nickel processor in Newfoundland
A $3.6 billion facility to process nickel concentrate from Vale’s operations in Voisey’s Bay, Labrador is under construction in Long Harbour on the west coast of Newfoundland.
The hydrometallurgical facility is designed to produce 50,000 tonnes per year of nickel metal, copper and cobalt. Construction is slated to finish in 2013.
Fluor were engineers for 10 buildings in the process area and port. Fluor also provided services for the residue holding basin, the water intake at Rattling Brook Pond, and an expansion of the on-site wharf. The infrastructure and civil engineering were designed in St. John’s, while the engineering of the process facilities was done in Vancouver. Six pre-engineered buildings were designed by Colony.
Some of the process buildings are among the largest structures in Newfoundland. The Neutralization Building, for example, is about 1,100 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 60 feet high.
From a file by Andrew Safer
EXHIBITION
Seismic Design on the Edge
An architectural exhibition with a difference is being held at the Design Exchange in downtown Toronto September 13 to November 9.
“Seismic Design on the Edge” features building projects by international star architects — investigated through the lens of earthquake engineering.
Exhibits include buildings in China, Italy and Japan, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. On display will be full-scale seismic technology, architectural and structural models, and multimedia platforms.
The curators are Dr. Effie Bouras, and Professor Ghyslaine McClure,
P.Eng. of the McGill University department of civil engineering.
EVENTS
ASCE coming to Montreal
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is holding its 2012 Annual conference in Montreal this year. The conference is being held October 18-20 at the Palais des Congrès on the theme, “Civil Engineering in the New Global Economy.”
SOLID WASTE
Montreal puts in a vacuum
Canada’s first vacuum underground garbage collection system is being constructed in downtown Montreal.
Envac Systems Canada is installing a system of 1,000 metres of 500-mm carbon steel pipe two metres underground in Les Quartiers des Spectacles. The area is approximately one square kilometre near Places des Arts and St. Catharines.
Trash is dropped into inlets on the street and then sucked through the pipe at a speed of about 60 kilometres an hour to be collected in a concrete bunker-like terminal building. The terminal includes the fans and blowers, and has filters to clean the air before it is released into the atmosphere.
Sensors indicate when the pipe is full and ready for evacuation, or the system can be sequenced to operate at certain times during the day.
Underground vacuum waste collection systems were invented in the 1960s. They have been installed in large hospitals, airports, and even Disneyland. There are over 600 installed in 40 countries around the world, including municipal systems in London and Barcelona.
The systems have environmental advantages because they eliminate the need for trucks to collect garbage, and they make it easier to separate the waste into different streams for recycling.
Envac has been contracted to install another underground system in La Cité Verte in Quebec City. The “ecocity,” located in the Saint-Sacrement district between University Laval and the Sainte-Foy-Sillery districts, is a sustainable development of 800 homes.
