One of the largest excavation pits in the Greater Toronto Area is now buzzing with activity as work is under way to build two condominium towers—one of them the tallest building in Canada outside of a downtown area—and the sweeping podium they will rise from. Eau du Soleil, being developed by Empire Communities, will feature towers of 49 and 66 storeys, with the taller one rising to 228 metres, just 5 metres shorter than the easterly Harbour Plaza Residences tower in Toronto's South Core, making Eau du Soleil the second tallest building currently under construction in the city which has not already topped off.

Looking northwest across the Eau du Soleil excavation pit, image by Craig Whitea

The excavation pit for the development is a large rectangle, about 4 acres in area, located to the immediate southwest of the Jade Waterfront Condominiums seen at right in the image above. At ground level, Eau du Soleil is u-shaped, and separated from Jade Waterfront by a street. Above the six-storey podium, Eau du Soleil's towers rise out of terraced lower floors, the design by Zeidler Partnership Architects and Richmond Architects meant to evoke the feel of cruise ships. 

Garage floor poured at the Eau du Soleil construction site, image by Craig Whitea

The site can currently be read as four quadrants, each one with successively more completed than the quadrant to its side. Furthest along is the northwest corner where the second garage level has been poured and where several columns to hold up the next floor are already in place. To its right, the wooden forms where the concrete floor will next be poured can be seen. At the back the image below (click on it or any image to see it in greater detail), workers are placing the steel rebar mesh that will give the concrete slab its strength.

Garage floor forms at the Eau du Soleil construction site, image by Craig Whitea

To the right of the wooden forms, the walls, columns, and slab of the lowest level of the garage can be seen.

Garage floor columns at the Eau du Soleil construction site, image by Craig Whitea

In the southeast and furthest quadrant of the site from the camera—beyond where the lowest level of columns have been erected—three shovels break up rock and move it in steps to the surface, where it is then trucked away.

Once the excavation has been completed in the southeast quadrant, a fourth and last tower crane will be installed, promising to add to the cranes' aerial ballet seen in the video above.

A shovel drops earth into a truck at the Eau du Soleil construction site, image by Craig Whitea

Completion of this huge development is still a couple transits of the sun away. In the meantime, if you want to know what Eau du Soleil will look like when built, check out our dataBase file, linked below, for plenty of renderings and lots of facts and figures. What to talk about the development? Choose one of the associated Forum thread links to get in on the conversation, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.