This week's Throwback Thursday takes us to University Avenue and Dundas Street in Downtown Toronto, where an 18-storey, 1968-built office building is having 37 new residential levels constructed above. Back in December 2015, construction had recently started for Residences of 488 University Avenue, a 55-storey tower designed by Core Architects for Amexon Development Corporation. First job: crews had begun removing the office tower's crumbling mid-Century concrete grille facade. A new structural frame to carry the new weight—designed by Sigmund Soudack & Associates—was just starting to be installed were the grille was gone.

Re-cladding and structural work for The Residences of 488 University Avenue, December 2015, image by Forum contributor Towered

Two years and some months have since passed, and the scene now looks entirely different. The structural steel exterior frame now surrounds the office tower (occupied throughout the work), and carries the load of the new levels around the original building and down to the foundations. The frame has been enclosed in curtainwall glazing, and now connects with a thick concrete transfer slab atop the old building that will support the new levels. The residential levels are now beginning to rise above the transfer slab, and over the next several months the tower will climb to a height of 207 metres.

Construction of The Residences of 488 University Avenue, February 2018, image by Forum contributor Towered

We will return next week with another look at the changing face of Toronto!