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Few construction projects in Toronto had have the amount of scrutiny that Cityzen, Castlepoint, and Fernbrook Homes' L Tower has had. The Studio Daniel Libeskind-designed tower with its curving north face, staggered runs of pocket balconies, and its peaked top has been a source of fascination throughout the sales and construction process. With the top few floors of the L Tower nearly fully clad now—some balcony railings and some window glass still is to come—we took the opportunity to return to catch up with what has been going on inside, where lots of equipment has recently been installed.
We start with the image above, by UrbanToronto Forum contributor 'kotsy' of the building's top, seen from the north. Taken on July 13, the image highlights four vent pipes sticking out over the building's concrete crowning ridge, a sight that from below had some photographers with long lenses rather concerned. The concern was premature however; the final strips of cladding are still to come. The clips for them can be seen fastened to the concrete above, while in the shot below taken from just below shows that more of the framing is now in place; the effect of the vents will be minimized by the final cladding soon enough.
So, what else can you see when you look up? Well, the biggest base for a window washing crane that we've seen yet at the top of a Toronto building. The crane and swing stage are yet to be hoisted into place, but once they are, they will rest below the lip of the building in the slot that will be left in the cladding. The crane will be able to raise the window washing stage up and over the sides of the building. Those are our hosts, Ajmal Temor and Mitch Lee with us.
You can see the finished north edge of the slot in this next image, where I-beams hold the top of the building's curtain wall cladding in place.
There are another three mechanical levels below this of varying heights before we get to the penthouse. These floors are full of equipment that make life in the tower function, like the giant evaporators below that are part of the L Tower's HVAC system.
How do these things all relate to each other? Check it out, here:
This next level is not much more than a walkway beside the windows, with a large damping system hidden behind a concrete block wall. Dampers work to counteract the effects of a strong wind on a tall tower, resisting the force by shifting liquid in the tank in the opposite direction. Without the damper, residents in the building might notice unsettling sway in high winds.
Everyone wants a hot shower in the morning of course, so huge amounts of space are taken up with making sure that hot water will pour when the taps are turned on in the suites below.
Speaking of the suites below, the first suite below all of that equipment is the two-storey grand penthouse on the 57th and 58th storeys. On the north side, the penthouse has single floors—below is the northeast corner—while the south side includes some double-height space and an internal bridge spanning it.
The suite will include a sweeping terrace along the south side of the living area. The upper storey of the terrace is sheltered by a course of windows, while another line of windows will seal the terrace off from the interior when the weather is inclement.
Want a quick walk through the space? Come along…
Finally, what does it look like when you look down from up here? This, is you're doing it with a camera…
…or like this if you have a video camera on a long monopod pole:
We have more to show you of L Tower, but the next stuff is much more grounded. We will be back with that shortly, but in the meantime you can always learn more about the L Tower in our dataBase file, linked below, including getting an idea of what it will look like when all done. Want to get in on the conversation? Choose on of the associated Forum thread links, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
| Related Companies: | Castlepoint Numa, Milborne Group, Rebar Enterprises Inc |
